by Toks » Wed Nov 29, 2006 12:57 pm
[quote]People have always told me that you should take it easy this time of year and I agree. The only thing is that last night was supposedly easy compared to September/October. My view is that these people train fairly hard all year round because they need to make sure that they keep close to form and can build up to a higher level the next season.
For me this is an essential ride for people who want to feature in races next year. I know road racing doesn't appeal to everyone - but this ride was brilliant. Beats the turbo trainer!
great stuff Tim. I think the key to remember with 'race pace' training is getting the balance right. If you can't put in a lot of hours weekly (say less 7/8 hours) this is probably the perfect session - especially if you're gonna be racing. Obviously if you're gonna be doing lots of big endurance miles on top of chain gang training then long term there is a danger of overtraining.
Also its important, psychologically at least, to see the rides as training and not actual races otherwise 4/5 months down the line you might get a bit stale. As I keep on saying for competitive club riders 'intensive short rides' kick 'interminable slow rides' in the goolies ever time. In the winter, I'd much rather do short, hard and fast rides twice or occassionally three times a week and then get the fcuk outta there.