[The Toninator]

I have a 9.5 miles xc race in two weeks. I really want to place in the top 10. Here is what I’m going to do. This race is the largest in the fall series. There will probably be a 100 people in my cat alone.

Tue – 20+ moderate pace with some sprinting up hills and some light spinning
Wed – 1:00+ hours with bike coach. Spinning, sprinting and endurance. 1 round of weights, upper only
Thu – probably same as Tuesday
Fri – rest day
Sat – 3 laps of race course. 1st moderate pace. 2nd fast pace maybe 85% of max or even all out. 3rd moderate and maybe a 4th and 5th light pace. Weights if I can get them in, upper only
Sun – undecided (20+ miles)
Mon – rest day
Tue - same as last week
Wed – same
Thu – same
Fri – same
Sat – preride race 2 laps
Sun – race

 

[Heidi]

First of all I am not a coach of any sort so these are just my personal opinions. Your schedule looks good, glad to see the rest days in there. My two points, you may want to eliminate the 2nd, lap of preride the day before the race, one should be enough. how long will the 9.5 miles take you? You want to ride at least that long on some of your training rides. Make sure you can go all out for the whole time. Ok, I have three points. Third, dammit - GOOD LUCK!
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Uggs

 

[The Toninator]

Originally posted by Heidi
First of all I am not a coach of any sort so these are just my personal opinions. Your schedule looks good, glad to see the rest days in there. My two points, you may want to eliminate the 2nd, lap of preride the day before the race, one should be enough. how long will the 9.5 miles take you? You want to ride at least that long on some of your training rides. Make sure you can go all out for the whole time. Ok, I have three points. Third, dammit - GOOD LUCK!

Hey thanks i knew i could count on you. i did it in :47 minutes a couple of weeks ago. My goal is actually way lower that that i hope to be in the below :44.
Ok on the second lap i just get board so i ride. I'll find something else to do.
My training rides are ave. around an hour and a half.
Once again you are my hero!

 

[Heidi]

I'd like to add a fourth point to my previous post:DON'T CRASH!!
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Classaction Lawsuit

 

[igjr]

Here's some genuine advice to help out. Bear in mind that fitness gains usually take 2 weeks to actually take effect. Since you are within that window, you won't really see any gains, so don't overdo it. You want to complete most of your difficult training before this 2 week window, so I'm going to assume you're in pretty good shape - at least in shape enough to finish top 10.

I would start by not basing this on miles, but on time instead. How long will the race take you to finish? You are at the point now where you should have a good base fitness. The final weeks should be spent towards more race specific training. Don't cut out intensity, just cut down on duration as time progresses. Rides in between hard efforts should be easy so you can fully recover for the next ride. It will feel like you're not doing enough the week prior to the race, but you want to be well rested.

Here's what I would do based on a 2 hour race if I had a race in two weeks. (I don't use weights during the season - just make sure your arms are recovered 100%).

Tue – 2-2.5 hours. Keep it on the lowdown, easy spinning.
Wed – 1.75 hours hard (interval day) make sure to rest well between intervals
Thu – probably same as Tuesday (yes, but I'd do maybe 1.5 hrs)
Fri – rest day (ok)

Saturday – undecided (20+ miles) sounds good, I'd go spin for a couple hours.

Sunday – Race Sim. How many laps is the race? I'd do either that many, or 1 less. Do the whole thing at race pace or just under.

Mon – rest day
Tue - same as last week (minus .5 hrs so 1.5-2 hrs spin)
Wed – same (minus .5 hrs so 1.25 hr w/intervals)
Thu – kick it down to 1 hour
Fri – same
Sat – preride course 1 hr. Get a couple hard efforts in. Just a couple short ones.

Sun – 1/2 hour warmup with a couple hard efforts. race

I've been doing this for several years and this is what works pretty good for me. What do you think of it?

 

[The Toninator]

Looks good Igjr. Thanks for the input,
t