Racing Interferes/Helps with Training

wiredued

I have heard a triathlete say racing can interfere with training and I have also heard from cyclists that racing can increase FTP. So are there certain races that are beneficial and other types of races that are not?

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daveryanwyoming

Racing can interfere in a number of ways. A lot of folks back off their training for all racing because they want to do well in the races. That costs big time as you're always tapering and never building. Also the smarter you try to be in the race, the less you're working above tempo and the less you're building FTP. Racing can also leave you pretty worked over and encourage you to take more rest which can also hinder progress relative to steady training.

On the other hand racing can give you speed work that's very hard to get on your own. It can teach you fast pack riding tricks like how to get back on a wheel in a heartbeat, how to know where you are in the field at all times, how to back in and create a hole after taking a turn at the front, how to predict and respond to attacks, how to corner at speed with folks to your left and right..... Racing can teach you to race and can give you the high end work that's otherwise tough to get.

So yeah, racing can help or hurt your overall training plan depending on how seriously you take each race, how cagey vs. how aggressive you ride and how often you race. From a training value standpoint a moderate to long TT is hard to beat for raising your FTP. A fast flat crit can be incredible for developing snap and emphasizing neuromuscular work and a road race with a long climb can also be a killer L4 workout. But a flat road race ridden to win won't do much for threshold unless you get away alone or in a small group.

-Dave

Spunout

1) Don't listen to Triathletes about training for road cycling.

2) Make sure you don't lose too much training by racing (train through your low priority events).

morana

This reminds of a story of a team mate who was riding as an amateur in Belgium (team Trois Frontier) and he hated training. So he got his team to enter him into 20 consecutive races. These varied from short crits to long road races/stage races. He went ok until race 10 and then started to win (5 on the trot) and finished in the top 6 of all the rest! This was before the advent of PM's.

Laurent Jalabert used to break during the year for a training period but I guess in the current climate......

Anyway, I never felt races interfered you can do the training in the race and it is at race speed...

rayhuang

Its within your control to get a good workout in a race or not. if it is an A-priority race to you and you dont do a lick of work till the last mile and win, then that race was a success. But if the race is just for training and you sit in for the entire race and complain that racing is holding back your training then I dont think its racings fault (not attacking anyone in particular).

The saying "racing into shape" is true I think. Also, if the racing isnt hard enough for you, then cat-up or make the race. Roll off the front and TT for as long as you can or try bridging to a break thats up the road, attack every time a break gets caught, the list is endless.

Besides, and this is just me, but if your "training" then what are you training for if not racing (road or individual event)? Not to mention theres suprises in races that you simply cannot duplicate in training (tactical or efffort). I have set almost all my personal bests (power vs time) in races or in training after big blocks of hard races so for me it is definately improving my fitness.

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Ade Merckx

I like ya Blog Ray. But don't forget to paragraph - reading huge chunks of text without a break is hard work on the eyes

rayhuang

Ahh-good point and thanks!!

Ray

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grahamspringett

Don't we train to race? Or am I missing something? If you don't train to race and do it to keep fit or whup the Saturday/Sunday bunches, why enter a race?

dm69

best post yet! We train to win races dont we??? You can race every weekend if you want. It doesn't mean you have to taper for all your races! You can do a 5 hour ride on the saturday, race on the sunday and do another workout after the race if you have sat in and conserved your energy.

This idea about "training" in the races is a joke. Why pay the entry fee if your just going to work turns all day and get rolled in the sprint??? Race to win all the time otherwise you look like a nuff nuff sitting at the front of the pack for hours riding at "FTP".

The end goal should always be winning a race or races not to increase FTP...no one really cares what your FTP is when your "palmares" is blank. Funnily enough racing provides the best workout for racing, you cant get much more specific than that!

Before an A-race make sure you taper well beforehand, this might be one example where racing is not suitable eg. weekend before an A-race.

If all you do is train then you will be at a disadvantage with tactics, bike handling and you probably wont have a strong racing relationship with your teamates. Another reason you should race whenever possible is this: what if you get sick a week before an A-race??? you have absolutely nothing to show for a years hard work except for a pretty new FTP PB (who cares?). It is also possible to win races without a taper...my best results have come when i least expected it.

grahamspringett

It's often been said there's no training like racing. You can push yourself harder and further if it's a race. Numbers in a diary mean nothing if you can't perform on a race day.

BullGod

truth be told I think a lot of forum members don't actually race, but spend their time training alone, often indoors on a trainer, trying to improve their FTP so they can "move up" the Coggan chart and feel like they're getting somewhere.....fair play if it's what you like, but they're gonna have very different priorities to someone who rides 3 races a week.

as far as racing to win vs racing as training is concerned - i don't entirely agree with you - in a relatively easy unimportant race I will go all out from the off, constantly attacking, riding solo, or just pulling the bunch into the wind at 40 just to make the most of the time and get a good workout.

Put me in a serious race and I'll look to save energy and get up front when it matters.

Squint

Yeah, some of them even quote big FTP numbers from their Tacx Flow trainers and wonder why they are off the back at races.

BullGod

well - those "big numbers" on the flow seem to be getting me some good results in elite / Cat 1 Europe this season.....

daveryanwyoming

Yep, or you can sit in and be cagey, stay sheltered and get one big windup and sprint per race. I used to live in northern California where we could race Tuesday crits, Wednesday track, Thursday crits, Friday Track and usually had a couple of choices for weekend races. I knew a lot of folks that tried to do way too many of the weekly race options and then wondered why they plateaued and their racing suffered across the board. Sure we train to race but racing isn't always the best training.
-Dave