I’ve been racing ~10 years and finally got that elusive first win in a road race today. I give TR a lot of the credit here and not just for the training/fitness. I’ve been listening to a lot of the podcasts and also watching some of the race tactics videos. In particular, I had this week’s podcast fresh in my mind where Amber was talking about having a plan vs. just reading the race.
Today, I made it a point to read the race rather than sticking to my typical plan (attacking at the most predictable spots). I jumped off the front with another guy with around 6 miles to go. I kind of thought it was a dumb move, but I knew a group sprint wasn’t in my favor and there were a lot of crosswind to the finish (helping to neutralize the pack dynamic). I probably don’t try that move without listening to the podcast this week.
On the fitness front, my NP was about .85 of FTP for almost 3 hours today. I still had the legs to do ~15 minutes at threshold NP after the attack to finish the race. 25+ minutes (15%) of my time was in anaerobic zone and the legs never complained once. Best fitness of my life at 51. Thanks TR team for a great product!
263W NP for the day, 310W NP for the last 15 minutes during the break away, which is right at my FTP. 335w for the last 5 minutes as I could see the pack gaining on me. I was thinking of all the times I’ve watched cycling on TV when the sprinters swarm a solo rider within sight of the line. With a mile to go, I thought I was going to be that guy, but I finished less than 2 seconds in front of the field in full sprint (the field was sprinting, I was pedaling like I was having a seizure at that point).
It was a CAT3/4 field of 100. It is a newer format they have been using where there isn’t a separate masters race, but we are just racing by category with scoring and podiums for 40+, 50+, 60+ and open 3/4. I didn’t win the overall 3/4 (ended up 6th), but won the 50+. That said, I’m counting it as a legit win with 23 guys in the 50+ field. I really like this format compared to open masters racing because you’re not asking Cat3/4’s to line up against ex pros and CAT1/2 guys who are still physical freaks.
I’m doing a bit of hybrid plan. I’m using the TR HV plans as the basic framework for my training and stick to the weekday workouts pretty closely. I substitute in a long and hard Saturday ride most weeks which is a mix of group ride and solo riding to/from that ride. I push for ~300 tss on this ride and have targets for time in zone depending on where I am in build/base. I know it’s not as effective as pure structured training, but it’s my fun day and I feel it really helps for long events (My A events this year are 6-9 hours). My training plan is based on HVSSBase, HVSustainedBuild, and I’ll probably do XC Marathon specialty.