Cat 3 training

The transition from Cat. 3 to Cat. 4 is extremely difficult. As a 4, one can typically get by with a modicum of talent. Once you step up to the 3's, all bets are off. Those guys can roll! As a 4 I was training, on average, 300 miles a week doing 2 interval sessions per week.
After upgrading, that modest schedule left me vastly undertrained compared to the rest of the field. Since then, I have upped my weekly mileage to around 500 miles and have incorporated 4 interval sessions into the weekly schedule (not including 2 races per weekend).
I think that as long as you can handle the 500 miles per week plus the added intensity, you'll do fine. If you find that you get dropped when the action heats up, I would suggest adding one more interval session per week for a total of 5. The only way to race fast is to train fast!
Good Luck! 😉

Ah.......300 miles a week for a cat 4??? A bit excessive don't you think. 5 interval days for racing cat 3??? No rest days??? I think something is wrong with your training program. Quality training. Not quantity.

Wet Pave said:

The transition from Cat. 3 to Cat. 4 is extremely difficult. As a 4, one can typically get by with a modicum of talent. Once you step up to the 3's, all bets are off. Those guys can roll! As a 4 I was training, on average, 300 miles a week doing 2 interval sessions per week.
After upgrading, that modest schedule left me vastly undertrained compared to the rest of the field. Since then, I have upped my weekly mileage to around 500 miles and have incorporated 4 interval sessions into the weekly schedule (not including 2 races per weekend).
I think that as long as you can handle the 500 miles per week plus the added intensity, you'll do fine. If you find that you get dropped when the action heats up, I would suggest adding one more interval session per week for a total of 5. The only way to race fast is to train fast!
Good Luck! 😉

BlueJersey said:

Ah.......300 miles a week for a cat 4??? A bit excessive don't you think. 5 interval days for racing cat 3??? No rest days??? I think something is wrong with your training program. Quality training. Not quantity.

my thoughts entirely! i've coached elite riders who've only had 8 hrs a week training time availability (due to work, family etc).

if you're doing 500 miles/week (Wet Pave) i'm thinking you're it's all downhill and not nearly enough quality!

When i was a 2nd cat a few years ago, i was doing around 12 hrs/week on average (most likely less than 400 km/week or 250 miles/week).

ric

whoa-the first reply scared me. No way could I find the time to do 500 miles a week. Currently I'm not even doing quite three hundred. I average 12-14 hours in a normal training week with three or four hard workouts, mostly intervals with maybe one fast group ride. The distance required for cat three is greater, but do I need to consistently train as far as my races will be?

whoawhoa said:

whoa-the first reply scared me. No way could I find the time to do 500 miles a week. Currently I'm not even doing quite three hundred. I average 12-14 hours in a normal training week with three or four hard workouts, mostly intervals with maybe one fast group ride. The distance required for cat three is greater, but do I need to consistently train as far as my races will be?

I agree with everyone else. I'm a cat 4 with what I think are pretty average genetic attributes and do just fine with 10 to 12 hrs a week - more like 8 in the winter...

Knock knock....who's there? Sarcasm! 😄

Wet Pave said:

Knock knock....who's there? Sarcasm! 😄

Sarcasm who?

I would agree with Wet Pave although I would also add a few sets of 650 lb. squats after each interval session followed immediately by some hot yoga and plyometrics.

I'm upgrading to cat 2, and i have been doing between 12 an 17 hrs/wk. Lots of tempo, but now I am starting more intense work.

I don't think I even did 100 miles last week...

but they were QUALITY miles!

-Bikeguy

upon moving to the 3's, and i would reccomend do not hurry this unless you have some wins, here are some things you may find.
-the positioning of the final sprint is more important than being the most gifted talent often.
-sprints can be slower to develop, more savvy riders are patient. 50 to go?
things happen there.
-the overall pace is fast, but the anaerobobic efforts surpass what is seen in the 5's at times. when you go hard, it is really hard. remember it will be uncomfortable at times.

you need to find your limits in the areas of:
-hard efforts and quick recovery for sprinting two or three times.
-being comfortable at close proximity and high speed. do this with good bike handling and not (so much) reckless bravado.
-ability to read the race, pick a wheel, use your talents and not follow every doomed break.
-sometimes it is enough to get to 30 and hold it to hang. often the selection is made this way.
-avail yourself of any coaching you can get, if you are fast get all you can about strategy and tactics.

good luck let us know howya doin'

whoawhoa said:

Just interested in how and how much any cat 3's are training. I'm looking to upgrade there later in the year and am just curious about roughly where I should be training wise. So please divulge all your secrets.

the plyometrics should be perfomed from off a rooftop or stairwell to just before the point of avulsion of the quads...then yoga.

Catabolic_Jones said:

I would agree with Wet Pave although I would also add a few sets of 650 lb. squats after each interval session followed immediately by some hot yoga and plyometrics.

Ho, yes, i have done that and it works fast. Great results. My quads ballooned like zeppelins under the torque pressure.

Another thing you might want to try is hooking a number of bungee cords together into a belt, and looping one end around your waist, and the other around a pole, sprint on the spot for 30 seconds on/ 30 off, trying to snap the belt. If you can do it, add another bungee cord to the belt and repeat.

Hypnospin said:

the plyometrics should be perfomed from off a rooftop or stairwell to just before the point of avulsion of the quads...then yoga.

at any level of amateur racing it seems to me that the successful break is the exception to the rule and it all boils down to hanging in the bunch through any big surges, then ability in the sprint.

one excercise you can use to develop this is known as the unsupported leg press
http://www.usawa.com/ed.jpg

Hypnospin said:

upon moving to the 3's, and i would reccomend do not hurry this unless you have some wins, here are some things you may find.
-the positioning of the final sprint is more important than being the most gifted talent often.
-sprints can be slower to develop, more savvy riders are patient. 50 to go?
things happen there.
-the overall pace is fast, but the anaerobobic efforts surpass what is seen in the 5's at times. when you go hard, it is really hard. remember it will be uncomfortable at times.

you need to find your limits in the areas of:
-hard efforts and quick recovery for sprinting two or three times.
-being comfortable at close proximity and high speed. do this with good bike handling and not (so much) reckless bravado.
-ability to read the race, pick a wheel, use your talents and not follow every doomed break.
-sometimes it is enough to get to 30 and hold it to hang. often the selection is made this way.
-avail yourself of any coaching you can get, if you are fast get all you can about strategy and tactics.

good luck let us know howya doin'

Thank you for your help. I'm not hurrying my upgrade to 3, but I race against juniors who are at a high level in cat 3, so i believe my general fitness is there, whereas my pack positioning skills are probably not quite.

As far as the short hard efforts go-in road races, not crits-do these tend to be short, out of the saddle sprints as if accelerating out of a corner in a crit, or more like accelerations but then holding a brutal pace for a few minute? I don't do many crits, but when I do, the 10 second or so sprints out of corners are what get me. Anyone have suggestions for improving this ability?