Pro tip for anyone racing any crit ever, but especially Bound Brook today.

EXIT SPEED
This is a concept that is oft-discussed in the context of cyclocross racing, but I cannot emphasize enough how important this is in ANY race with "slow," tight, narrow or otherwise tricky corners.

Part of what makes crit racing so tough is the fact that you might be asking your body to interval after interval after interval, with very little recovery in between. Fortunately, it seems like Training Peaks Tim has been coaching many of you and included workouts that have emphasized these demands.

But beyond being trained and ready for these kinds of efforts, what else can you do? Well if we think about the accordion/rubber band effect, we already know that the closer you are to the front, the more consistent your speed will be going through any corner. And the higher your speed through the turn, the less dramatic your jump out of the turn will have to be. And then instead of looking at an 250 to 500 watt jump like those poor souls in the middle to back of the pack, you maybe go from 250-350, then back to 270 watts as you settle in on the following straightaway.

We can recover from that kind of "jump" no problem. The other one? Well, how many of those do you have in you?

So, if you AREN'T at the front, what to do?

Well, this is where you need to really race with your head and your eyes. You need to think about taking the line through the turn that will allow you to carry the most speed through the turn, the line with the LEAST amount of braking possible.

And sometimes that means backing off the gas while others are charging desperately to grab the wheel in front of them, only to have to hammer the breaks to avoid getting that rider's derailleur jammed up their noses as the turn hits seconds later.

That moment where you let some air between you and the pack in front of you, also allows you to breath, and see where there might be room for you to swoop through/past those more anxious riders in front of you, wasting a good burst, only to have to brake hard then accelerate even harder.

Often, at Bound Brook and other crits the hardest part of the race comes shooting out of the last turn onto the finishing straightaway. Yesterday at Rariton, I spent a lot of mental energy going through a series of quick alternating turns focusing on being able to carry the most speed possible out of turn 6 onto the straightaway. But that meant I was actively thinking/positioning myself heading into turn 3. TURN 3, to ultimately save me energy on the strung-out home stretch where the V12 engines at the front would be testing my four cylinder at the back.

Today at Bound Brook the hardest part of the course/race will NOT be the fast right/left chicane after the start-finish. Not necessarily. It will be the narrow long straightaway leading into that chicane. Why?

Because on that course, the backside straight away is long and wide and windy and depending on the mood of the field, might/will be strung out. Then comes a 90 degree left from a super wide road, to a residentially narrow street, then just a few pedal strokes later another slow left onto the homestretch that seems even narrower. I can see all the crashes happening already.

The difference in speed from the backside straightaway to this series of turns is going to be brutal. If I'm not in the front, or if it's not single file going through/approaching the turns, I'm backing off the gas, positioning myself so that I don't have to do 40 intervals coming out of just one turn in a 40 mile race today. I just don't have that in me.

Most of you are doing 20 miles today at Bound Brook, but still, 20 intervals? Not including all the fun on the other parts of the course?

EXIT SPEED. You must maximize your exit speed. And then you will be happy. Good luck everyone.

Recent comments on the Training Peaks thread regarding training for cross has me thinking, if I had the time, of writing a series of articles called:

Training for Cross: A City-Slicker's Guide

Specifically, Tim has called for doing most/all workouts on grass/off road. Eloy noted that for us, finding such off-road loops as difficult at best. There are probably times when all of us can sneak in a few bandit passes through/around our local parks, but to think we can get in 30-60 minutes of repeatable efforts on grass where the public and park employees have little tolerance for us?

And I feel the frustration too. Because there is no denying, that the more time you can spend on your cross bike, on grass and/or dirt doing recommended workouts, the better. That's just fact. But don't give up, don't despair here are a couple of CX "training hacks" for those of us bound in concrete and asphalt.

"Watts is watts, and more watts is more better"
I don't mean to minimize the importance of actual cross training on cross terrain, but there's a good chance there are number of OTHER things that are keeping you from your best performances too. Namely your general level of watt-atude.

(One of the reasons that I love cross and crit racing is that you don't have to be the strongest dude out there, you can and HAVE to incorporate other skills into putting together a complete and good race. My favorite example of this is a few years ago, when Myles had a chance to jump into the club race, with literally one or two rides in his legs all year leading up to the big day, he still spanked so many of us because his skills are so eff'n righteous.)

BUT if you can't drill yourself on CX skills on the grass/dirt multiple times a week, that is not going to prevent you from continuing/starting to get stronger by riding the road and/or your trainer. You just have to get relatively stronger than your competition is skillful.

Don't "Fall" off the healthy eating wagon this Autumn.
Just because App Gap, Devil's Kitchen and other epic w/kg dependent climbs are in your rear-view mirror, doesn't mean that you can start letting those unhealthy calories sneak back into your eating plan, adding extra cush to your tush.

There is a lot of acceleration and deceleration in CX A LOT. And the less cush you have to push, the easier your life is going to be. You want to be as lean and powerful as you can be. Because while accelerating out of those corners is mostly always going to be a certain kind of brutal, you can extend your relative advantage over your competitors if you continue to maintain a healthy race weight. Making your "brutal" their "impossible" and helping you say, "see you at the finish line" as you leave them behind.

Why are you still riding your road bike?
In terms of geometry and fit, folks' cross bikes range from "pretty close" to "holy crap this is different." And just like those who are serious about going fast on their TT bikes ride their TT bikes, it's a good idea to get used to hard efforts on your CX bike. Even if it's doing intervals on the road or trainer.

Put those MTB pedals on, wear your MTB shoes, get used to clipping in and fast starts on group rides or by yourself. Lots of CX races start on pavement. Those curbs you hop on the way home to your apartment? Consider adding in a dismount/shoulder/remount combo. Heck, I'm pretty sure that even NYC cops can't give you a ticket for running with your bike on the sidewalk.

Live in an elevator building? Not anymore. Take the stairs with your bike shouldered. Stairs always suck and will suck more after a ride, but huffing you and your bike up a narrow/steep staircase just might give you an advantage for those steep run-ups at Northampton and other races.

Do the right thing intervals
This is NOT a problem I think for most of you anymore, especially those who are working with a coach like Tim, but you need to make sure that at some point you are doing intervals that mimic the demands of CX racing. 2x20s have their place, but if you are not also doing intervals that take you from VO2 to threshold and back and around again, repeatedly, you probably aren't going to be ready to race at the front of a CX race.

Get to some grass (you CAN do it!)
Now this tip is more for folks who tend to race once per weekend, rather than doubling up and racing both days. Consider getting out on your cross bike to some trails or out to a field on the other day you are not racing. That might mean extending your rental car an extra day, or riding the rails to a destination workout, but if you can get in two solid days of CX training and/or racing per week, then that's honestly not too shabby.

Do Extra Laps (before and after your race)
This is a win-win situation. If you time your race day activities to allow for extra warm-up laps, not only do you get to know the course better for your race, but you just get in more time on that cross bike. And then a good cool down ride of a few laps is not only going to help you recover better for the week ahead, but you are going to get more time on that cross bike. See?

Yes, need to think that through.  Was thinking parks but seems to be more of a challenge then anticipated.  Will post some stuff over weekend to help translate.

Posting new Road plans tomorrow.  Need to get some feedback about "the season", when is it over, when do most rest?

TimCusick said:

Posting new Road plans tomorrow.  Need to get some feedback about "the season", when is it over, when do most rest?

Thanks Tim, I know everyone on the club appreciates how responsive you are to our specific needs. I'm going to post the question on the cyclocross thread so that your athletes can respond. I just don't want to try and speak for all.

http://kissenacycling.vanillaforums.com/discussion/794/cyclocross#latest

One thing that might be helpful, is a link to "our" team page on crossresults.com. You can see there pretty specifically what people did last year in terms of racing dates.

http://www.crossresults.com/team/277

In the meantime, generally speaking, in the past most folks start first or second weekend of September and will go through mid- to late-November calling our club's UCI race, Supercross, their last.

A handful of us, however, go to the bitter end, mid-December, and maybe a few might go to Master's Nats? But I don't know how many of them are on the Training Peaks plan.

TimCusick said:

Posting new Road plans tomorrow.  Need to get some feedback about "the season", when is it over, when do most rest?

Marc - I think Tim was asking when Road season was over. #crossobsessed

Craig Zolan said:

TimCusick said:

Posting new Road plans tomorrow.  Need to get some feedback about "the season", when is it over, when do most rest?

Marc - I think Tim was asking when Road season was over. #crossobsessed

Oh, duh. You're right!

Hey Tim -- personally my road season will officially end on 9/7. I'm doing a weekend of cx racing on the 12 and 13th just because I didn't want to miss it but plan to keep it chill that week leading in. After that, I'll rest. 

Putting this here because I don't know where else it belongs:

So, I'm racing Tokeneke on Sunday in the Cat 4 U35, and it's a race that really suits me. Needless to say, I have high hopes heading into it. However, I'm also prepping for GMSR and working toward getting my final upgrade points.

On Saturday, there's the Jersey Devil in Central NJ, that's a 4.4 mile circuit on a road I know quite well (my inlaws live 15 minutes away) https://www.strava.com/segments/1141445.

My race is 8 laps (35 miles), and that climb isn't insignificant. The times I've rode it, it's always been towards the end of a long ride, and it ends up hurting like hell. There's no shade, and it's damn steep in sections. The rest of the race is flat, but that area tends to be windy. Definitely think the field will shred, and a break could even get away.

The question is: Do I double up, with hopes of snagging a few extra points and getting some extra racing in my legs for GMSR? Or, do I play it conservative and skip The Devil and instead stay rested with the singular goal of winning on Sunday?

A part of me thinks I can do really, really well on both days, and that knowing I have Tokeneke on Sunday, I'll play it conservative on Saturday, doing only the bare minimum to get the result I want instead of riding super aggressive.

OTOH, I could fuck it all up and get nothing. So, if you were me, what do you do? 

Adam Fabian said:

The question is: Do I double up, with hopes of snagging a few extra points and getting some extra racing in my legs for GMSR? Or, do I play it conservative and skip The Devil and instead stay rested with the singular goal of winning on Sunday?

A part of me thinks I can do really, really well on both days, and that knowing I have Tokeneke on Sunday, I'll play it conservative on Saturday, doing only the bare minimum to get the result I want instead of riding super aggressive.

OTOH, I could fuck it all up and get nothing. So, if you were me, what do you do? 

Okay, an easy question!

Do both. Do both to win. Race smart, but don't overthink it. You'll have plenty of time to recover and it will be good mental and physical prep for the 4 days of Green Mountain.

These next few weeks should be filled with your regular hard training and racing. We're 5 weeks out from GMSR. Then you and your coach will dial things back in the two weeks leading up to the race.

Thanks, Marc -- it's good to get that confirmation. I'm reg'd for both, so let's see how this goes. 

Any advice for racing in Central Park?

Jill Sink said:

Any advice for racing in Central Park?

Soooooooooo much advice already on the forum.

On the Spring Series
http://kissenacycling.vanillaforums.com/discussion/1089/nyc-spring-series/p1

On the Mengoni GP
http://kissenacycling.vanillaforums.com/discussion/994/mengoni-grand-prix/p1

On the Dave Jordan Race
http://kissenacycling.vanillaforums.com/discussion/968/crca-dave-jordan-central-park-classic/p1

I think if you also go through the women's racing thread and a coaching thread, you'll find more.

It's a more complicated course than Prospect and you need to be more focused as a result.  

Somewhere there exist a video made by another....and I literally wrote/narrated every corner of that course.

If you happen to have a/this Friday off, I believe JP usually still rides 3 or so laps in CP around 11am.

So, anyone who has ridden with me in the winter knows that one of my favorite "conversation starters" is to ask you about your goals. I think good goal setting is hugely important and am always surprised by the number of vague/non-answers I get from both experienced and new racers alike.

As the cross season winds down (or is done), and winter approaches, I would encourage you to think about your goals for 2016. Team coach Training Peaks' Tim Cusick agrees it seems:

"All goal setting begins with a specific objective (what?) and a deadline (when?). This makes the goal specific, measurable, and time bound, typically focused on success in an event or series of events. This is usually the easy part, but just setting a general goal typically leads to general results. Here are a few tips to improve your goal setting to build an annual periodized plan."

Read more here:

http://www.hunterallenpowerblog.com/2015/11/annual-periodized-planning-part-1.html

For me, I also like to set a series of goals, much like we did when applying for college. I have my "dream" goal, my "realistic" goal and my "safety" goal.

By setting up a tiered series of goals, it keeps me pushing harder, but also not being emotionally shattered if at the end of a season/cycle I haven't reached said goals. It's not a hedge, it's an acknowledgement that despite our best efforts, life happens and sometimes we have to adjust both our goals and expectations based on what we can put into attaining them. And that's okay.

I guess posting more rides is a goal, or simply riding more, but here's a more traditional example, in the context of competitive cycling...

Goal: Top 20 Cat 3 @ Battenkill
How to:

• find data or estimate on what the avg power of the full race is at Cat 3 level, (let's say it is 210 W for a 150LBS rider)
• find data or estimate power/duration on critical moments of the race (hardest climb, finishing sprint) Let's say it is 8 minutes at (320 W for a 150LBS rider)
• Create a plan that helps you achieve both, be specific, but here in general terms:
• Test, what is your FTP now?
• FTP goal is 260W -- you'll have to build up to this.
• 8 minutes at 320W -- what is the longest you can hold at 320W now? how can you build up to 8 minutes.
• etc, etc...

Another example:
3 Top 10 Cat 4 @ Prospect Park
How to will require a similar break down, what is the FTP requirement, what needs to happen in the sprint finish. Add strategy concerns as goals too.

Another example:
Ride 100 miles in 4:30 hours.

etc, etc...

ymwv.

Bruce, I think you are already on the right track and basically answered your own question.

That said, generally speaking when I think of goals I think of them as bigger picture items. And "tasks" are the means to achieve those goals.

So, if I had to breakdown/categorize your goals/tasks, as you've described above, I would call "motivating others/giving back to the club" a goal. And how you've decided you can do that is by posting/encouraging others to join you on your early morning training rides in PP. That is the task required to help you meet your goal.

A goal may require multiple tasks and kinds of tasks, and multiple approaches to achieve. And as Eloy details above, specific race prep/goals end up being pretty complex and require multiple kinds of tasks to achieve.

(And even then, if you check off all the boxes, race specific goals may not get achieved. I had this issue last year, FWIW. Checked off a lot of "task boxes," but didn't manage to get the kind of results I was expecting/wanted. And that's okay too, and to be expected. So many variables out of your control when talking about race/performance related goals. When those become your driving goals, it becomes important to take a more nuanced approach to post event/post goal evaluation. Not simply give yourself an "F" because you didn't place top 20 at Battenkill. Or whatever.)

Now it might just be semantic, but to me, as I re-read your post above, your goals read more like tasks. And the problem with just having a list of tasks you want to accomplish is that it can be easy to lose motivation to complete an individual task.  What I would encourage you to think about more is what are the goals corresponding to your tasks.

"Train more consistently." To that I ask, WHY? Weight loss, fitness, race performance, etc? And the reason why I ask THAT, is because if your ultimate goal is simply to train more consistently, I fear that it will be too easy to fall off track when things get rough. It's too easy to say, "well, I AM training MORE consistently than last year, so that's good enough. It's okay if I skip a few days of riding this week." But if you are training more consistently to reach a mileage goal, or total KJ goal or saddle time or whatever, then you know more specifically what you have to do to keep on track.

And in a way, I see that you have answered the "why?" question. You want to "motivate others and give back to the club." And that's pretty big in and of itself. If you have committed to being a fixture on group training every Tuesday and Thursday morning in PP, not only are you training with perhaps increased regularity, but you are also allowing me to say to prospective new members this weekend, "yes, we have group training rides on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6am in PP." That by the way, is probably one of the most FAQ I get on these new member rides.

I guess, what I'm getting at here, is that the more precise you can be with your goals, the easier it is to determine what your tasks should be to accomplish those goals. And that's not to say that racing and/or specific kinds of placings are what YOUR goals should be. But if one of your goal is to ride more than you did last year, then I suggest you give yourself an hour or mileage goal.

Over the years I've found it helpful to have goals of different types:

Racing
Training
Skills

This gives me the flexibility throughout the season to switch my focus if/when I get a little singed on a single category.

#ymmv

A couple quick notes regarding some recent posts on the Training Peaks thread.

The low-cost training plans are without question a great benefit to being a member of KCC. But don't forget to join the club on group rides, and attend mentor-led discussion groups where many of your questions can/will be answered by your more experienced teammates.

Training plans are great in so many ways, but, especially for those who are new to the sport, I think you'll do much better if you combine the plans with face-to-face interaction with knowledgeable teammates.

And for the more experienced members who are continuing or starting with the plans, it's also worth considering/reminding yourselves that training plans are meant to build on itself, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year. Every coach understands that their athletes cannot necessarily always stick to the schedule verbatim. BUT, to get maximum benefit from said plan then the closer you are to following it in its entirety, the better you are going to be.

That said, by all reports, these training plans are RACING training plans and are HARD. One very experienced teammate once told me that he couldn't complete some of the workouts. There could be a thousand reasons why this was the case and I'm not saying THIS was the reason he couldn't, but I guarantee you, if you spend the weekend being "King of the Training Ride," you might not have the legs during the week to crush a good LT or VO2 workout (you can probably suffer through a tempo workout regardless, but tempo isn't exactly the level you should feel like you are "suffering" at, right?).

And if you can't crush a VO2 workout then you are not going to fully develop that high end explosive power and subsequent recovery period to keep up with a fast race that is filled with high intensity efforts. You'll develop some fitness, get pretty strong, and stay trim for your favorite party outfit, but you are still going to suffer when things get REALLY hard in a race.

And while I understand that the social aspect of bike riding is huge and a big part of why many of us do it, it's also important to understand that training for racing, and racing, actually kind of sucks. It's a different beast altogether. It hurts, it's often lonely, and it's a huge time suck. Naturally there are degrees of commitment to racing and training, but I find that the competition is so deep these days, that if you want to rise above pack-fill in local races, and be in mix in regional events, and hang on tight in national caliber events, then you've got many days of hard miserable work ahead of you. And even then, maybe not...#geneticsmatter

You lost me with these paragraphs.  Total buzzkill. 

Marc Bertucco said:

A couple quick notes regarding some recent posts on the Training Peaks thread...

...but I guarantee you, if you spend the weekend being "King of the Training Ride," you might not have the legs during the week to crush a good LT or VO2 workout (you can probably suffer through a tempo workout regardless, but tempo isn't exactly the level you should feel like you are "suffering" at, right?).

And if you can't crush a VO2 workout then you are not going to fully develop that high end explosive power and subsequent recovery period to keep up with a fast race that is filled with high intensity efforts. You'll develop some fitness, get pretty strong, and stay trim for your favorite party outfit, but you are still going to suffer when things get REALLY hard in a race.

And while I understand that the social aspect of bike riding is huge and a big part of why many of us do it, it's also important to understand that training for racing, and racing, actually kind of sucks. It's a different beast altogether. It hurts, it's often lonely, and it's a huge time suck. Naturally there are degrees of commitment to racing and training, but I find that the competition is so deep these days, that if you want to rise above pack-fill in local races, and be in mix in regional events, and hang on tight in national caliber events, then you've got many days of hard miserable work ahead of you. And even then, maybe not...#geneticsmatter

To start with, training is as much art as it is science.  

That's because humans have to do the workouts.  The same training plan given to two people might result in one person's soul getting crushed and quitting the sport, while the other finds greater fitness, happiness, and purpose, not only on the bike but in life.  Some need to train harder than they can race, while others need to go easier while training in order to go harder while racing. 

Let's stipulate that one person plays "King of the Training Ride" one weekend.  The efforts might be their VO2 or threshold efforts, or both, with some tempo and sprints tossed in.  That they can't crush their trainer when alone is not terribly important.  Maybe they'd be best served by going harder in a group and just building the aerobic base by doing tempo or "sweet spot" during the week.

There are many different ways to train.  It's not like you hand in your training log when you enter a race and you're given a result based on that log.

I categorically disagree with this statement:
"it's also important to understand that training for racing, and racing, actually kind of sucks."

Training is awesome.  Racing is awesome.  In many respects, the former might be more important, as that's what most will be doing most of the time.

If it makes you happier to feel it sucks, embrace the suckiness.  Sure, if you're in that frame of mind, believe that "you've got many days of hard miserable work ahead of you,"  but if that's not your bag, don't.  If you need to lock yourself in a dark room with a trainer to get the workouts you want, do it.  If you find that experience is enervating, do the workouts outside and if the weather doesn't allow for it, adjust accordingly.  Since we don't race on trainers, yet, just riding outside might well provide benefits that a more precise indoor workout might not.

Training is as much an individual exploration of what both the body and mind respond to as any other pursuit.  And it changes over time, a result of experience, wants, and needs.  At some points in one's bike racing career, group rides should be paramount, at others, focusing on the finer points of particular rates of perceived exertion for set amounts of time or distance should be paramount.

To reiterate:

Training is awesome.  Racing is awesome.  

People joined Kissena.  They must believe there's awesomeness to be had. 

Stay for the awesome.

Basic. If riding bicycles is not your job, then you do it for fun. Duh.

Didn't mean to be a buzzkill.

A lot of this rests on how one defines fun.

I raced 59 times in 2015, expect to do a similar amount of events in 2016. So I guess I was having fun, or something.

And as far as using group rides as a replacement for midweek interval training? Well, sure, you can try to do that. I find that structured intervals in our group rides hard to manage.

Sure you can get in VO2 efforts in there, but most interval sets are designed to have a series of specific "on" periods followed by "off" recovery. Even if you could find a single 20-40 minute section of roads around here that would allow that kind of reliable interval pacing, placement and timing (which you totally can't, unless you are just going back and forth on 9W), then you also have to hope that enough of the group is on board with what you are doing. ("Hey guys wait up, I'm recovering from my 3-minute attack that no one wanted/expected!")

More relevantly, most can't get away for longer endurance/tempo road rides during the week, so the weekend ride becomes the defacto time to train those energy systems.

I find group rides valuable and useful and will attend many this winter. However, IMO, they are not a good substitute for finely structured midweek interval work on the trainer.

David, a time-crunched racer asks:

"Can I substitute X hours of Z3 endurance miles with X minutes of Z6 FTP (or VO2Max, etc.)? 

Can longer and lower intensity training be approximated or replaced by shorter and higher intensity but shorter duration workouts?

I'm crunched for time and can't afford many hours of base miles: What do I do?"

Strictly speaking, you can't really substitute training one energy system/zone for another. Of course there are shades of grey, and bleeding over from one zone to another but if you are scheduled for an endurance road ride, doing five VO2 max intervals on the trainer is not exactly a 1-1 substitute.

But those are kind of at the extremes of workout types. Endurance vs VO2. If I were your coach I'd be comfortable if you didn't have time for a long endurance ride, if you spent 60-90 minutes on a trainer doing a combination of endurance/tempo/LOWthreshold work at varying cadences as a substitute.

That's not to say you can't build strength/endurance/speed by doing a different kind of training, but if you've got an endurance ride scheduled of say 3 hours and you can't get that done, you can't really substitute another kind of workout (e.g. VO2) and expect the same kind of results.

Remember, it's not just about THAT day, it's about the days, weeks, months, years after that. If you were supposed to ride endurance and you instead trash yourself doing VO2 intervals on a Sunday, will you be recovered enough for your next hard efforts in the days that follow?

I do find it interesting that the "base miles" question continues to pop up every winter. Most of you know, I'm a proponent of base miles, and in the past, others have suggested "sweet spot" training as an alternative. (I'm guessing that since David is asking the question and he is on the Training Peaks plan, that Tim is also a fan of base mile training and has set it up in the team's plans?)

In general though David, what I would suggest, barring better/different advice from Coach Tim, is that if you are finding yourself unable to complete the workouts from a time point of view you...

• Switch to the lower mileage plan (if you aren't already on that one) OR

• Edit it down! Take your current plan and edit it down equally so that you are essentially doing all of the prescribed workouts; simply shorter versions. This way, you continue to reap the benefits of consistent and methodical training designed to build upon previous workouts and recovery periods. So your endurance ride day stays an endurance ride day, you just do a shorter ride. But also, your harder effort days stay hard. If Tim has you doing 5 efforts, and you are on a self-edited shorter plan, think about doing say, just 3 high quality efforts on that day for example.

And yes there are limitations to this approach, obviously, there's no such thing as a 1 hour endurance ride, but if you've got 2 hours, I would say, go for it at endurance pace. And if you only have 1 hour to 90 minutes indoors, I would do a endurance/tempo/LOW threshold at varying cadences (at specific intervals to keep your mind from drifting too much) as a substitute.

I mean, if you were getting a truly individual training plan, then there's a good chance that you might be doing a different kind of training altogether. Higher intensity, shorter workouts, more rest, etc. But if you are on the group training plans, then I would try to stick to them as much as possible in philosophy, if not actual quantity.

Finally, the most recent comments regarding HIIT training, before you jump on that training plan, I would as that you re-read Tim's original post about that style of training. The point that stands out to me is when he notes,

"HIIT training can be effective but tends to make plateaus and hard to maintain over time.  I would estimate a rider training 6-8 hours a week could go from just riding around to maximal fitness (for training 6-8 hours a week) utilizing HIIT techniques in 4-8 weeks (assuming not stepping off the couch and some basic fitness)."

I mean, as much as I would love for other guys to be physically and mentally pumped to race Grant's Tomb with me and JP and other crit racing fans on March 12 this year, I feel like most of you would be MORE interested in strong and building fitness throughout the summer racing months.

Of course, whatever gets you excited and motivated to train is ultimately your "best" training plan. I get that too.

Max, Tim will no doubt answer your questions, but since we're both clearly up at this late hour and some of your questions are pretty straight forward, I thought I'd "pitch in" with a response or two.

First, here's a Training Peaks article with some charts and graphs that I have found useful.

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/blog/article/power-training-levels

MaxThorn said:

My new numbers raise a few more questions. I'm using a heart rate monitor. First, when doing 30-second VO2 Max intervals, by the time I have confirmation that I'm in the right zone, the interval is over. I was basically turning up the effort by feel, with after-the-fact verification that I'd hit the target (or hadn't). Am I doing something wrong, or is this how training with a HR monitor works?

Second new-number question: what does it mean if it's more difficult than I thought it might be to hit my target VO2 Max heart rate? I mean, it should be pretty difficult...right? According to my (maybe premature) test, my threshold HR is 181. My TrainingPeaks account then calculates my VO2 Max at 191-255, using the Andy Coggans (5) method for Lactate Threshold. My resting heart rate is 60. Do these numbers raise any red flags?

First, are you training with ONLY a HR monitor? Or do you have a power meter as well?

Assuming that you only have a HR monitor, however, you should know that for efforts in the 30 second range, trying to gauge the effort by heart rate is not something you can do with any kind of reliability. As you have noticed already, your heart rate will not get to the target zone with such a short effort.

Typically with VO2 efforts (see the article for more), you're pedaling at that effort level from 3-8 minutes. Assuming that you have had a good warm-up, and are not sick, or tired or jacked up on caffeine, or too hot, or too dehydrated, then after a couple of minutes of pedaling, maybe even just a full minute, you can use your HR to guide your effort level. But for 30 second efforts? You are better off just going by Perceived Rate of Exertion, and understanding what VO2 is supposed to feel like. From the article:

"Typical intensity of longer (3-8 min) intervals intended to increase VO2max. Strong to severe sensations of leg effort/fatigue, such that completion of more than 30-40 min total training time is difficult at best. Conversation not possible due to often 'ragged' breathing. Should generally be attempted only when adequately recovered from prior training - consecutive days of level 5 work not necessarily desirable even if possible. Note: At this level, the average heart rate may not be due to slowness of heart rate response and/or ceiling imposed by maximum heart rate)"

Back in the day, when I was just training by HR, I found it imperative to also use/understand PRE to help accurately gauge your effort levels. Because, for example, if I was loading up on the trainer at 8pm after a day of work/commuting etc, there was NO WAY my tired body, my heart was going to be nailing those ideal HR zones.

Also, as with power, HR zones and numbers can differ pretty severely when comparing on the road riding/racing with indoor training.

Speaking of...I'd check those HR zones again. Not necessarily test yourself again, but there is no way that your VO2 max zone has an upper limit of 255. Also, I'd be surprised if your resting HR was as high as 60. Spend a few weeks tracking your HR in the morning after you wake up before you get up and do anything.

Finally, if you DO have a power meter, then I would use your defined power zones as your primary guiding force. Once you are in the correct power zone, ideally the HR and PRE will match up with the power zone. If not, that might be an indication that your zones are not correct (if your efforts felt too easy) or that you are tired/sick (if they felt too hard).

Hard to say it better then that!  The simple other reality is HR is a trailing indicator, not a measurement of what you are doing but a measurement of what you have done.  BTW, typically trails about 30 seconds.  Will post answer over in the other forum but will read like yours.

Two things.

1. Tactics Talk.  2/23/16 8:15pm at Redbeard.  If you're new to racing, it's a must.  If you're experienced, it still is a good idea.  It has its own thread.

2. All Hands on Deck ride.  Tentatively 2/28/16.  This is where we try to get EVERYONE out for a group ride on the last weekend before the season.  Ride with your teammates.  Take part in a race simulation and post-race discussion.  Ride more with those of your category to prepare for racing.

Looking ahead to this year's women's racing series in Central Park, and possible open spring series, (both in early March) I'd be happy to lead a course recon ride, where we pedal and talk about the things that make racing in Central Park so uniquely challenging. That said, specifics discussed are often also applicable to racing EVERYWHERE. This pedal & chat mentor event should pair nicely JP's upcoming sit-down talk on racing tactics and strategy. Choose your preferred date! The one with 5 votes wins!

Vote over here:

http://kissenacycling.vanillaforums.com/discussion/1256/cracking-the-code-racing-in-central-park#latest