How much do you race?

there are training races twice a midweek in the summer that I always go to and Try and race every weekend on top of that in actual races.To be honest I almost prefer not having those training races instead just focusing on what I need to do rather than being dictated by the events of the race.

I do club TT Tues and APR Thurs with an open race ( TT or RR ) at the weekend.
My quandry is whether I'd be better training more specifically for the open races with specific sessions.
At the moment I'm recovering on a Mon, racing Tues, recovering Wed , racing Thurs then tapering / recovering for the weekend race.

When should I be doing quality turbo intervals / lactate sessions ????

The ultimate schedule would be racing every 3rd day. Life is not so simple, unless you were lucky enough to find your way to the Belgium kermesse scene, where you could race any day you want. Add a number of stage races of 4-9 days and I'd be in heaven.

Waitforme said:

I do club TT Tues and APR Thurs with an open race ( TT or RR ) at the weekend.
My quandry is whether I'd be better training more specifically for the open races with specific sessions.
At the moment I'm recovering on a Mon, racing Tues, recovering Wed , racing Thurs then tapering / recovering for the weekend race.

When should I be doing quality turbo intervals / lactate sessions ????

the problem with so much "racing" is that you will actually detrain in large part to the high level of acidosis created from your schedule. if you are set on this schedule try splitting the season in two sections where you race in the spring early summer, then stop racing and rebuild your aerobic base/build phases and race late summer and early fall. it will allow you to push harder during the early spring/summer races knowing you don't have to keep racing thru to the fall and by rebuilding fitness with some LSD's and backing off on high end work you won't utterly destroy your body by beating it up week after week. otherwise, i would recommend racing every two weeks, easier emotionally and psychologically, and allows for recovery and compensation after training and racing. think that over, remember the idea is to want to do this until your 65 years old or older - beating the body up now will make that far more difficult to achieve.

marmatt said:

The season is in full swing here in the beehive state and theoretically I could race tues,wed,thurs and sat;throw in a sunday inter-club hammerfest and I could literally race 5 days a week. I know guys who do this and I know guys who at the other extreme hit only about two races a month. I am just curious to find out how often other racers aout there race.

Where do you live that you have so many races?🙄

Utah,we have a weekly crit/TT/hillclimb series during the week and usually a race most weekends.

Virenque said:

Where do you live that you have so many races?🙄

Virenque said:

Where do you live that you have so many races?🙄

I am with the ACT veterans in Australia and we have a race every week. 😄

Good mixture of Road and Crit's with a overall points system for the winter and summer seasons

marmatt said:

The season is in full swing here in the beehive state and theoretically I could race tues,wed,thurs and sat;throw in a sunday inter-club hammerfest and I could literally race 5 days a week. I know guys who do this and I know guys who at the other extreme hit only about two races a month. I am just curious to find out how often other racers aout there race.

When I raced, it was a 50-mile criterium on Wednesday nights, a 40-60 mile club roadrace on Saturday mornings, and the odd 60-100-mile open crit or roadrace about 1-2 times a month.

Sunday was for fooling around with pals; Monday evening for jumps & sprints (1 hour); Tuesdays for an easy 100 miles with friends if my pulse was OK in the morning; Thursdays, visiting or a steady 100K around Central Park; Fridays, fartlek depending on my fatigue.

(If I awoke with a high pulse on any day, it was a day off. Very important. If a big race was coming up, I'd manage an easy or off day the day before.)

Hummers, let me get this straight:

Mondays - sprints
Tuesdays - "easy" century ride
Wednesdays - 50 mile criterium
Thursdays - "steady" 100 km
Friday - fartlek
Saturday - ~ 50 mile road race

Wow, that is easily the most insane training schedule I have ever seen. It boggles my eyes. What level did you get to?

Catabolic_Jones said:

Hummers, let me get this straight:

Mondays - sprints
Tuesdays - "easy" century ride
Wednesdays - 50 mile criterium
Thursdays - "steady" 100 km
Friday - fartlek
Saturday - ~ 50 mile road race

Wow, that is easily the most insane training schedule I have ever seen. It boggles my eyes. What level did you get to?

Not that far -- I went from Cat IV to Vet (I started when I was 31) and only ever placed in the occasional club race. It was easy to put in the miles, as I lived one mile from Central Park, where each lap of the roadway is a hilly 10K, and we could go up to the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey and north to Bear Mountain for the centuries after work (which I got off at 4:00 -- it was still light when we got home).

My racing weight was 123 lbs, so I was a climber; the only times I placed were from breakaways on hills, but I was beat in the sprints by whoever I was with.

I had some Cat I friends who would put in 500-600 miles a week and who were amateurs in name only. After all was said and done, I didn't have the sands to really compete, but I had bags of fun!

There's only four races this season for me (in my province). I'm an XC rider though, so it's a lot more difficult to organize as many events as for Road. Also because last year it flooded like a b**** here, so everything was destroyed. I have only done ONE race this season, next one is in one month, then maybe another in July. Next year I'm saying f it, and I'm getting a road bike. 4 races a season is just pathetic in my mind. All that training for small events is a waste! I want to get really fast, and I'm not getting younger. I didn't get to race last year because of the floods, the year before because of University summer classes and no money, and the year before I only did one race...Time marches on. Next year though, I'm gonna give'r from May-July for sure in road and XC.