training for next year

Sounds like you need to do lots of interval and tempo work. Not sure on the age thing but 10 miles at 17mph really isn't that impresive (sorry). You should be able to do at least 20 mph for 1 hour+. From what others have said, you body adapts really well to what ever type of traning you do. Train Slow, race slow. Train fast, Race Face...

Good Luck.

Lonnie Utah said:

Train Slow, race slow. Train fast, Race Face...

Race Face, Lonnie? Care to elaborate on that? 😄

To OP: I agree with Lonnie that what you're asking sounds like a pretty tall order for one off-season. The only way to keep from getting lapped in a crit is to stay in the pack, and that'll mean riding quite a bit faster than 20mph for much of the time in addition to accelerating out of the corners several times a lap. Before you start the intervals that Lonnie suggests you'll need to start riding longer distances just to get used to riding the length of the race (ie, 25+ miles).

Sorry for the gloom and doom. Definitely keep doing the training crits, and make it a goal to stay in the pack longer each week. If you get dropped, then rest for a few minutes while the pack laps you and then jump back in the next time they come around. You'll have to get used to riding that fast pace.... or else you'll end up with Race Face. :p

I apologize in advance for the fact that much of my discussion is in watts. This is for two reasons: (1) watts is more predictable than speed, because speed is a function of the course and wind conditions and thus varies from race to race; and (2) I don't know how to express some concepts such as accelerations in other terms. So, here goes.

First, as frenchy said, I don't think you are riding enough miles/week to be competitive in masters races. I would think that you need to be riding about 150 miles/week to be at the bottom end of the "competitive" range and >300 miles/week to be at the top end of the range. As I read your post, you are now riding ~60 miles/wk. You can use your time on the bike brilliantly, but you still need a certain amount of time on the bike. Second, depending on how competitive the masters scene is where you live, I'm guessing you need to be able to ride with a group at a pace of ~25mph on the flat. That requires about as much power as riding solo at ~20mph. As a target, I would think you want to get your 40K max TT power up to ~275w, to be able to stay with the pack on a 25 mile ride, including surges. Then, you need to be able to push your power up to ~400w for short climbs, then recover at ~200w. Finally, for crits you need to be able to accelerate out of corners at 500w+ for 100 yds, then settle into a steady pace of ~250w-275w. All of these capacities can be developed at your age, if you're willing to put in the time and follow a structured training program, including intervals. Personally, I follow Andy Coggan's training zone schema and I am realizing the predicted results. You can convert all the power numbers above to speed at the Analytic Cycling site. Hope this helps. Good luck.
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