Criterium Training Tips Needed.

The difference between beginners and experienced racers is most notably their sustainable power. Whether it's in road races or criteriums, those with the highest sustainable power (absolute or in terms of Watts per kilogram of body weight), are either going to be the winners or the freshest non-winners. On this forum you'll see it frequently referred to as FTP (functional threshold power). For someone with limited training time, the best way to increase your FTP is through Sweet Spot Training. I suggest you search this forum for that term (or SST) and go from there. You'll find plenty to read.

Piotr said:

The difference between beginners and experienced racers is most notably their sustainable power. Whether it's in road races or criteriums, those with the highest sustainable power (absolute or in terms of Watts per kilogram of body weight), are either going to be the winners or the freshest non-winners. On this forum you'll see it frequently referred to as FTP (functional threshold power). For someone with limited training time, the best way to increase your FTP is through Sweet Spot Training. I suggest you search this forum for that term (or SST) and go from there. You'll find plenty to read.

Not just that, experienced guys are more apt to be able to sit on a wheel, pick "the wheel" to follow and spend more time out of the wind than in it. It's not always the strongest that win - it's often those who have conserved more during the race that have the freshest legs at the end.

Get used to forcing yourself to stay in the first 20 in a crit. It might take a little 'forced will' upon others in the bunch in order to do this. I'm not saying that you're going to have to push people into the nearest ditch - but the odd 'elbows out' or leaning on someone mid corner isn't always out of the question.

If your deal is crit racing and you're pretty new to the sport, keep going around corners faster and faster until you start falling off. Good technique and good tires help. Then... go find someone who's faster than you going around corners and get some pointers off them. Leave your fancy wheels at home. If you're afraid of falling off then take up pursuit racing on the track. Just sayin' :p

Not afraid of a fall Swampy and I should have mentioned I am not completely foreign to crits, however havent done them since I was 19 (oh they were the days......so long ago too.lol). Im now 31. I have no problems staying in the front and holding position etc. Im 6ft 3 and 100kg's, would take a couple to move me! lmao

Wanted to stay in the front as much as possible and thought I had picked some fresh legs to follow (wasnt the case as I was left to fill a gap that cost me energy and top 5 finish).

Piotr, I will try and find as much as I can on SST so thanks for the heads up on this. Thanks again for your input.

Cheers

Short intervals....

5-10s sprint (as if you need to accelorate out a corner - not your race winning dash for the line kind of effort) then 20-30 secs at comfortable pace - repeat until you feel like throwing up 2 x per week.

Mix in some sweet spot, and some L4, and one recovery session.

Everything as stated above plus short (30s), hard (90%, not necessarily sprinting), repeated (recovery time equal to effort time) efforts - a little longer than Bullgod's suggestion.

Also, do a forum 'search' and you'll be reading for a few days on the subject, I imagine...

Timbo77 said:

Not afraid of a fall Swampy and I should have mentioned I am not completely foreign to crits, however havent done them since I was 19 (oh they were the days......so long ago too.lol). Im now 31. I have no problems staying in the front and holding position etc. Im 6ft 3 and 100kg's, would take a couple to move me! lmao
Cheers

100kg's aint nothing a quick tap on the front wheel could 'solve' :p

If you're confortable with positioning yourself in the bunch then the indoor sessions on the trainer will work well for you. If you have a good level of fitness and can stay with a bunch right now at crit speeds then proceed straight to intervals and get used to making those short sharp efforts just like Bullgod mentioned. He hit the nail on the head with the puking thing. At 140lbs and 5'11 I f#$king hated crits but damn, they were good for training but alas the only times I ever yacked up on a bike was after a couple of time trials and a hill climb. 😄

Timbo77 said:

Hi all,

Did my 1st Crit on the weekend and enjoyed it a great deal. :eek:
rar rar
Cheers

Melbourne is my town.

If you want decent advice head over to the Thread About Nothing (TAN) in the Aus/Nz section. Jono and GPlama are pros, I race A grade in Melbourne, hitchy is one of the better known coaches in Melbourne, Classic1 is former gun and dad was an Australian champion. There is a guy called Ed too...he could handle a bike in a big way.

Firstly, lose some weight. Secondly, race more criteriums. Thirdly, never take racing advice from Americans (I prefer the term 'seppo' but they get a bit touche). They cant race criteriums to bloody save emselves.

Basically BullGod is the guy to listen too from above. Less time available = greater need for specificity which generally means more race type efforts.

Also get off the ergo trainer. Its summer. It doesnt get dark until 9pm. Stop making excuses.

The end.

Another good crit trick is to think about the circuit. Let's say you have one long strait, then a backside section with lots of corners, then a good training might be a 1 minute L4 effort, followed by 4 10s sprints, with 10s recovery after each.

When you ride crits, think about where you are struggling, what is happening in the race when you are hurting, and address your weaknesses. This applies as much to bike handling and positioning as much as fitness.

Usually I ended up right at the back of the peloton getting totally fcuked up by the accordion effect in the corners, and spending 30 minutes yoyoing on and off the back before getting dropped. But one day there was a very small peloton of just 19 starters and I was able to get near the front and it was a completely different experience. It was almost easy, I swear.

I sucked at crits. Holland is very strong on crit racing and I can remember thinking I was going to die hanging on the back of a 30 man single file peloton through the cobbled streets of Enkhuizen with new Milram pro Wim Stroetinga on the front.

I was delighted to see that Stroetinga was 2nd in the Cancer Crit in Australia the other day just behind McEwen ;-)

BullGod said:

Another good crit trick is to think about the circuit. Let's say you have one long strait, then a backside section with lots of corners, then a good training might be a 1 minute L4 effort, followed by 4 10s sprints, with 10s recovery after each.

When you ride crits, think about where you are struggling, what is happening in the race when you are hurting, and address your weaknesses. This applies as much to bike handling and positioning as much as fitness.

Usually I ended up right at the back of the peloton getting totally fcuked up by the accordion effect in the corners, and spending 30 minutes yoyoing on and off the back before getting dropped. But one day there was a very small peloton of just 19 starters and I was able to get near the front and it was a completely different experience. It was almost easy, I swear.

I sucked at crits. Holland is very strong on crit racing and I can remember thinking I was going to die hanging on the back of a 30 man single file peloton through the cobbled streets of Enkhuizen with new Milram pro Wim Stroetinga on the front.

I was delighted to see that Stroetinga was 2nd in the Cancer Crit in Australia the other day just behind McEwen ;-)

Hi Bulldog, assuming good positioning, drafting, ability to to sprint out of corners etc are the guys that do best at dutch crits still the one with good FT power?

Thanks for all the great tips guys. Great stuff Bullgod and will be looking to target specific areas. Last time it was at the end of the race and just lacked enough to go bridge the gap, then kick for a sprint. Will work on that.

Swampy, will be watching out for your wheel tap !! lol

As Geoff kindly put.....I need to get fitter. Getting there on that. As far as excuses go.......as mentioned in my initial email, long work hours and family commitments reduce the available hopurs in the day. Assuming you dont have the same problems? If you do, and you manage them, let me know exactly how your able to juggle them.

Cheers

Timbo77 said:

Thanks for all the great tips guys. Great stuff Bullgod and will be looking to target specific areas. Last time it was at the end of the race and just lacked enough to go bridge the gap, then kick for a sprint. Will work on that.

Swampy, will be watching out for your wheel tap !! lol

As Geoff kindly put.....I need to get fitter. Getting there on that. As far as excuses go.......as mentioned in my initial email, long work hours and family commitments reduce the available hopurs in the day. Assuming you dont have the same problems? If you do, and you manage them, let me know exactly how your able to juggle them.

Cheers

You mentioned gym work - unless you're doing that just to looked ripped then forget about that being of much use on the bike. That'd give you more time straight off the bat.

If you use the time for the gym to train on the bike longer then you should burn a few more calories and lose a bit more weight.

As far as the family commitments go - try and get the family involved a bit with your training. I started looking at my diet in order to lose a bit of weight and took a bit of time to figure out what'd work for me and everyone else AND allow me to get to my daughters' dance class and t-ball games, eat the food and digest it well enough to train on later. I've recently been given a long list of stretches to do from a physio and got my 6 year old daughter to do those with me so she can spend a bit more time with me and it helps her with the dance. There's always ways to make a bit more time - sometimes just finding an extra 10 or 15 minutes before or after sessions helps alot.

as mentioned in my initial email, long work hours and family commitments reduce the available hopurs in the day. Assuming you dont have the same problems? If you do, and you manage them, let me know exactly how your able to juggle them.

Cheers

Most of the advice here has been pretty solid - FTP intervals are great for moving your Threshold fitness up, VO2 intervals are great for keeping you in position late in the race, and don't forget doing the sprint work to improve your finishing speed. As to time - now days everyone is advocating tempo and high intensity training, espcially for limited time guys - take that with a note of caution...you WILL see benefit from doing lower intensity workouts. Also - high intensity workouts should only be part of your program 2x per week forthe really high level stuff...if you try to hit it every day you'll just plateau early. Total volume of intensity (threshold and above) should probably be less than 30% of training volume even for time restricted guys...

best
matt mcnamara - elite coach
sterlingwins.com

Ade Merckx said:

Hi Bulldog, assuming good positioning, drafting, ability to to sprint out of corners etc are the guys that do best at dutch crits still the one with good FT power?

Ade....

don't know really. Some of the best crit riders round here are [censored] at time trials and climbing, and some of them only ride crits, no classics or stage races.

I guess an explanation might be that it is outright power, or "speed" combined with handling and tactics....

a cynical explanation might be that crits never ever have doping controls and have big money prizes

Most of the advice here has been pretty solid - FTP intervals are great for moving your Threshold fitness up, VO2 intervals are great for keeping you in position late in the race, and don't forget doing the sprint work to improve your finishing speed. As to time - now days everyone is advocating tempo and high intensity training, espcially for limited time guys - take that with a note of caution...you WILL see benefit from doing lower intensity workouts. Also - high intensity workouts should only be part of your program 2x per week forthe really high level stuff...if you try to hit it every day you'll just plateau early. Total volume of intensity (threshold and above) should probably be less than 30% of training volume even for time restricted guys...

best
matt mcnamara - elite coach
sterlingwins.com[/QUOTE]
I also competed in my first Crit on the weekend and after being seriously psyched out by being in a group of guys toting kikass big budget bikes team clothing and a heap of racing experience managed to stay with the lead group and finished in 8th with only a second behind the top3.Where can I get some good examples of vo2 max training workouts?
I have been using a carmichael type plan- which from what i have read on this forum may not be helping me finish strongly when it comes to the finish line sprint, which is where i dropped a heap of places. Hope you can help me, as I a cant find many useful training sites online and I am a bit remote so most of my training is solo,

Timbo77 said:

Hi all,

Did my 1st Crit on the weekend and enjoyed it a great deal. :eek:

I was wondering if some of the more experienced crit riders could share any of their successful training tips. At the moment my main training consists of nightly 45min sessions at 75% max HR on an Ergo followed by some Gym work. I would like to progress up a few grades and have enough in the tank to kick at the end.

KM's are low due to work and family commitments, hence more indoor work after work. Will regular indoor ergo work and weekend racing reap rewards?

Thanks for your help !!

Cheers

Sounds like you should hook up with Vader. Pay him lots of money to teach you how to go around corners fast and how to sprint out of corners. Pay him a bit more and he might let you call him 'Daddy' 😉

Piotr said:

The difference between beginners and experienced racers is most notably their sustainable power. Whether it's in road races or criteriums, those with the highest sustainable power (absolute or in terms of Watts per kilogram of body weight), are either going to be the winners or the freshest non-winners. On this forum you'll see it frequently referred to as FTP (functional threshold power). For someone with limited training time, the best way to increase your FTP is through Sweet Spot Training. I suggest you search this forum for that term (or SST) and go from there. You'll find plenty to read.

ffdd

I know sometimes the time slips away during the day and we all have to sleep, but one secret that I have is night riding. Mind you there are the obvious dangers of night riding but where I am (Richmond, VA) there is a Parkway west of the city that is lit, so you can safely ride at night and see well. Sometimes my ride starts at midnight.....little out there, but it's a way to get it done.

I know there are a few corporate parkways or business parks that are lit at night that provide this kind of environment. Sometimes it's all about taking advantage of the surroundings too