# Criterium warmup? What are your warmup routines like?



## IAmSpecialized (Jul 16, 2008)

I raced a few road races in July-September this year as a Cat 5. I'm planning on starting my racing career (as a 34 year old I hope you get the humor here) in 2011 and will be racing criteriums and road races.

I am a bit "concerned" about warmup routines for criteriums. As a Cat5 most of the crits will be 30 minutes + 3-5 laps.

What sort of warm up routines do some of you guys use? Could any of you guys who actually race offer me any advice or suggestions for warm up? 

Yes I realize it's several months away. But I think I'd like to start getting some ideas and then start doing some of the warm ups and experiment to see how my legs feel with different routines. I just need some direction so I'm not shooting in the dark here.

Chris.


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## Andrea138 (Mar 10, 2008)

1. Prepare 1 bottle of carb/electrolyte beverage of your choice.
2. Get on the trainer about an hour before your start time. Bring a towel, headphones, and your drink.
3. Ride aerobically for about 30 minutes
4. Do a few intervals- I usually go with about 4 min of zone 4 then 2 or 3 one-min zone 5 efforts
5. Spin for a couple of minutes to let your hr go down
6. Get your bike off the trainer, go pee, put your jersey on, have a gel, and finish off the last of the bottle. 
7. Ride a lap if you have a chance, then line up in front. 
8. Attack at the gun (optional)


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## Undecided (Apr 2, 2007)

My (overly structured) short crit warmup is:

15 minutes warmup in endurance zone
5 minutes endurance zone at fast cadence
3 minutes sub threshold
3 minutes recovery
3 minutes above threshold at fast cadence
3 minutes recovery
attack interval (sprint, wind out gear for remainder of 30 seconds)
1 minute recovery
attack interval
3 minutes recovery
2 or 3 15 second sprints with 2 or 3 minutes recovery
5 minutes easy spin


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## sdeeer (Aug 12, 2008)

What you need as far as a warm up to perform at your best for crit is somewhat individual and can even depend on where you are in your training year. 

What Andrea and Undecided said is good. Basically you should have a normal warm up of 15-30 minutes endurance pace, followed by some moderately hard efforts. Enough so that you are ready to go all out for the whole race, but not so much that you are already getting tired at the end due to long warm ups.

I always try to get in 45 min to 1h of warm up before a race, but that never seems to work out. 

For a Crit that I did this summer I had 8 minutes. I basically sucked down a gel and some gatorade while riding enduranace for about 2 min, then hard for 4. And then back to line up moderate. I felt great in the race and placed well, but I had been tapering due to being too busy to train.

I have noticed that when my training volume is high (hours and intensity), I NEED more of a warm up. But when I am not doing structured training (like this cross season) and late into last summer, I need almost no warmup to be ready.


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*One more thing*



IAmSpecialized said:


> I am a bit "concerned" about warmup routines for criteriums. As a Cat5 most of the crits will be 30 minutes + 3-5 laps.
> 
> What sort of warm up routines do some of you guys use? Could any of you guys who actually race offer me any advice or suggestions for warm up?


In addition to the good advice already offered, lots of people have a good experience if they bring some caffeine into the picture as part of the before-race drinks. A can of Coke 20-30 minutes before the race starts might be helpful if you're not a heavy caffeine user.


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## alexp247365 (Dec 29, 2009)

My method - 

Ride around in circles in the parking lot seated for 10 minutes. Then stand up and start pedaling, slowly raising the heart rate to LT. Sit down and spin for another 5 and call it good to go. After that, go hang by the start line and stretch. 5 minutes before race, down two packs of cliff-shot blocks.


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## IAmSpecialized (Jul 16, 2008)

alexp247365 said:


> My method -
> 
> Ride around in circles in the parking lot seated for 10 minutes. Then stand up and start pedaling, slowly raising the heart rate to LT. Sit down and spin for another 5 and call it good to go. After that, go hang by the start line and stretch. 5 minutes before race, down two packs of cliff-shot blocks.


First, I asked a legitimate and serious question. Are you so bored, or are you just such an ass that you actually bothered wasting your time posting this?

Secondly, if you're determined to be an ass (or perhaps you just can't help it, in which case I sympathize with your lowly place in life), surely you can do much better than this?

For the other posters, I appreciate your responses. I think I get the general idea/structure (to use the term loosely) for warmup. Thanks a lot for the help gentlemen. :thumbsup:


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## Infini (Apr 21, 2003)

IAmSpecialized said:


> First, I asked a legitimate and serious question. Are you so bored, or are you just such an ass that you actually bothered wasting your time posting this?
> 
> Secondly, if you're determined to be an ass (or perhaps you just can't help it, in which case I sympathize with your lowly place in life), surely you can do much better than this?
> 
> For the other posters, I appreciate your responses. I think I get the general idea/structure (to use the term loosely) for warmup. Thanks a lot for the help gentlemen. :thumbsup:


You know, maybe that's what he does and he feels it works well for him? 

Or he may have been trying to suggest (given, in a passive aggressive internet forum trollish kind of way) that it doesn't make a big difference exactly how you do it.


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## IAmSpecialized (Jul 16, 2008)

Infini said:


> You know, maybe that's what he does and he feels it works well for him?


*We both know that's not the case. It is absolutely ridiculous for anyone to think his post was a serious suggestion.*



Infini said:


> ...(given, in a passive aggressive internet forum trollish kind of way)...


*So basically being an ass, but I've said that already*.

As far as his post is concerned, I can not figure out why people on the internet are unable to either 1. make meaningful contributions, or 2. resist posting at all. And I am not directing this at you Infini.

Now can we please get back to the original topic?


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## dust3313 (Jul 30, 2010)

I once dated a girl that now works for the phone company.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

IAmSpecialized said:


> *We both know that's not the case. It is absolutely ridiculous for anyone to think his post was a serious suggestion.*


Not really - it's not the warmup routine I would use but I know guys who routinely start races with less than that and do fine. 

Myself, I'm not nearly so structured but in general I ride around for at least 30 mins, get a few hard to max efforts in, break a good sweat / get breathing up, and ask myself the question "could I go full speed from the whistle?" If the answer's yes, I'm good. If not, I warm up more.


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

IAmSpecialized said:


> First, I asked a legitimate and serious question. Are you so bored, or are you just such an ass that you actually bothered wasting your time posting this?
> 
> Secondly, if you're determined to be an ass (or perhaps you just can't help it, in which case I sympathize with your lowly place in life), surely you can do much better than this?
> 
> For the other posters, I appreciate your responses. I think I get the general idea/structure (to use the term loosely) for warmup. Thanks a lot for the help gentlemen. :thumbsup:


Well maybe extra caffeine is not necessary. 

It pretty much described my warmup as well, guess that makes me an ass......


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## filtersweep (Feb 4, 2004)

If it is Tuesday night, your first race is your warm-up for your second race?

Lining up at the front is more important than warming up.

---there, I said it.

As for the "ridiculous suggestion"--- I believe you will see quite a bit of that in reality. Especially with after work crits where I was lucky to be able to drive across town in rush hour, change out of my work clothes, stand in line at registration, and be at the starting line before the race started. Just saying....


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## chase196126 (Jan 4, 2008)

IAmSpecialized said:


> *We both know that's not the case. It is absolutely ridiculous for anyone to think his post was a serious suggestion.*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wow that was hostile!  

I know several people (myself included) who have done warmups just like that and done very well in crits and TTs. Some of my best races have been done with 15 minutes or less, or no warmup at all. 

Mostly you have to know your own body. Some days I do great with little to no warmup (days where a warm up would be detrimental to my performance) where others I need a solid hour with hard efforts to get my body going. Same thing goes for the pre race ride. Some days it works great, others it just makes me sleepy and lethargic. 

When you intervals in training, how long does it usually take you to feel warmed up? The best thing to do would be to simply do what you normally do before a hard workout. If you get it a little bit off you will be fine after the first few accelerations. 

The technique that is effective for me during warmups (especially short ones of 15-20 min): do about 5-7 minutes of a pace a bit lower than tempo, then do 3x2 minutes of seated big gear, low cadence (55-60 rpm) intervals with 1 minute rest in between. Spin for the last few minutes then head to the line. Pushing the larger gear really opens my legs up and makes a high cadence feel easier and more comfortable. Be careful not to push so hard you fatigue yourself. 

Good luck!


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## waldo425 (Sep 22, 2008)

Creakyknees said:


> Not really - it's not the warmup routine I would use but I know guys who routinely start races with less than that and do fine.
> 
> Myself, I'm not nearly so structured but in general I ride around for at least 30 mins, get a few hard to max efforts in, break a good sweat / get breathing up, and ask myself the question "could I go full speed from the whistle?" If the answer's yes, I'm good. If not, I warm up more.


Ive started races where I didn't even do that. Ive also just ridden around to get the blood flowing and use the first part of the race to warmup. Nothing quite like race efforts to warm you up. While I may not like it, it can work. It just means that a good portion of the race doesn't have you factoring into it.


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## alexp247365 (Dec 29, 2009)

IamSpecialized/Chris,

My post wasn't meant to be facetious or condescending. Like you, when it was time to start racing (which for me was this year,) I came to the forums looking for any information that would help me get up to speed.

In the world of cycling and racing, this isn't the first time this question has been asked, nor will it be the last. 

Now, after a year of reading the forums daily in an effort to learn more about the sport (rbr,bikeforums,weightweenies,fairwheelbikes,road.cc,cyclingnews,bikeradar, testrider, etc.) This is what I've learned, and what I'll share with you.

Experience of getting out there and racing will tell you what your body needs to have for a good warmup.

When I first started, I would take half-days off of work to prepare for my Tuesday night series of races in some un-named industrial park. I'd be the first one there, and usually have an hour+ to kill. As Cat-5 races were the first to go, I had an hour to ride around the course at any pace I wanted, for as long as I cared to ride. My first 6 races this year were all 45 minute + warmups, and I never did well in any of them  

In a 20+ race season, chances are that you're not going to get to every race in a timely manner, or as you move up through the categories, you're not going to have 30+ minutes of access to the course. When I show up to a race now as a cat-3, there is a race going on, and if I'm lucky, another race will start soon, so I have time to register and get kitted up. The only place I'll have to warm up is that parking lot, over there --> so I use it.

Like I described previously - I'll ride circles in the parking lot if its a big parking lot, or go find some side roads to do the same. I'm basically spinning at 90-95 cadence in a low resistance gear to loosen up and get the blood flowing. after 5-10 minutes, I'll stand and continue to do the same, except my cadence has dropped to about 60-70. This isn't a hard effort, just enough to make my HR constantly keep ticking up towards LT. I've found that if I start my warm up off to aggressively and push into anaerobic too soon, it ends up having a negative effect.

After I've done the standing part, I'll spin back down to about a 120 heart rate. Now, my muscles feel warm at this point. This is where I'll go and take a seat on some grass and start stretching out. While my first post mentioned by the starting line, it doesn't have to be. But being close to the starting line ensures you won't miss your start. 

Lastly, while I'm stretching, I'll down two packs of Cliff-shot blocks. I've found that the carbo-loading and caffeine shots keep my heart-rate down an extra 10-15 beats for the first 20 minutes of the race.

Sorry if you took my post the wrong way - have fun out there this year. Oh, also I have your bragging bike as my wallpaper.. I really like the way you did it up. My 2011 specialized frame is on order, and will be picking up the same wheels as you.

Happy Monday!


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## IAmSpecialized (Jul 16, 2008)

chase196126 said:


> Wow that was hostile!
> 
> !


Not meant to be. I can see how it could have been read with a hostile tone, but I wasn't being hostile. It was meant with more a very "matter of fact" sort of tone.

Perhaps I misread the post in question. I actually thought it was a serious response too until I got to the stand up and start pedaling and slowly raise HR to LT (I took that to mean just from pedaling around a little bit which would make it sound kind of assanine). But even then I thought maybe he means getting out and realy pedaling to get the HR up. BUt when I read the last sentence where he says he downs TWO PACKS of Shot Blocks. It was at that point that I thought the entire post was done in a sarcastic trollish "passive-aggressive" sort of way. 

Perhaps he actually downs two packs of shot blocks just before a crit. If so, and if the post was a serious post, then I owe him an apology. Perhaps I misread the entire post.

BTW, I cut out the rest of your post from the above quote, but thanks for the advice. The crits I will be racing will not be "after work" crits. They will be done on the weekends and unless I encounter an unforeseen mechanical or something, I will have plenty of time to warmup before the crits so I do not have to just get by on a 5 -10 minute warmup or use the first part of the crit to warm up. And since I'm only racing cat5, crits will be 30minutes + a few laps, so I figured warmup would be a little more important given the short nature of the race itself.

I didn't really worry about warm up in the road races I did since there was plenty of time in the race itself to warm up.


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## IAmSpecialized (Jul 16, 2008)

Alex, thanks for the clarification. I apologize for calling you an ass. I totally misread your post. I absolutely can not believe you down two packs of Shot Blocks just before racing??? Really, that doesn't send your stomach into a downward spiral??? 

I get the carbo part. It seems to me if you've loaded a day or so before race day and then just start sipping on some Gatorade a couple hours before and leading up to race (or your preferable sugar sports drink) and maybe have a gel 20-30 minutes before race that this would be perfectly adequate to provide the muscles with enough stored CHOs and have circulating sugars for the latter part of the race when depletion starts.

I certainly took in more for the road races last year but they were 2+ hour races. Here I am talking specifically about criteriums. I find it very interesting though, the 2 packs of Shot Blocks.

BTW, started racing this year and your Cat3? Congrats. That's a hell of a move up. :thumbsup: You will LOVE your 2011 frame! If you are getting the Easton EC90sls, you will love them too! Don't forget to send the rear wheel in to Ron Ruff to have him stick a Powertap in it. ;-) It has totally changed my riding.


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## alexp247365 (Dec 29, 2009)

I just chew the shot blocks pretty thoroughly while I'm strecthing out. Gatorade is garbage. Ideally, if you can stomach the taste - any 4:1 ratio carbohydrate/protein drink will be better for you. I like Accelerade, but most people say it tastes like you left soap in your bottles. It did for me as well for the first two weeks, but the benefits are noticeable.

If you haven't allready - start riding the trainer this year - and trying to build up a good solid base. Chapple's Base Building for Cyclists has been an enormous help this off season. I highly recommend that book.


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## DMH1721 (Aug 30, 2010)

Agreed that the more hours I am putting in, the more time I need to warm up.
Big fan of bringing a trainer and doing about an hour. The structure people have outlined is pretty much spot on.

The only other thing I do is, if I had a crit late in the day or night -- after 2:00 pm, I'd ride easy for an hour in the morning, come home, stretch, eat and then do the normal warm up (or a bit less) at the race. This seems to help keep blood pooling in your legs through out the day, leaving you with that "heavy" feeling in your legs. 

If the race is nearby, by all means, ride to and from! Best warm up and cool down and a great way to add a few more hours. 

Another thing is if it is the 2nd day of a race weekend or I am racing multiple days in a row (like doing Superweek), I need almost no warm-up as my legs are "wide open" from the previous day. Oh and yes to a little boost -- Red Bull is my drink of choice pre-crit (or 3rd hour of a RR). 
YMMV


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## IAmSpecialized (Jul 16, 2008)

alexp247365 said:


> I just chew the shot blocks pretty thoroughly while I'm strecthing out. Gatorade is garbage. Ideally, if you can stomach the taste - any 4:1 ratio carbohydrate/protein drink will be better for you. I like Accelerade, but most people say it tastes like you left soap in your bottles. It did for me as well for the first two weeks, but the benefits are noticeable.
> 
> If you haven't allready - start riding the trainer this year - and trying to build up a good solid base. Chapple's Base Building for Cyclists has been an enormous help this off season. I highly recommend that book.


It is certainly a debated topic, but there is a considerable amount of data that says Gatorade or any simple sugar combination is perfectly fine to use in-ride. I realize this is over-simplified, but the entire point is to get sugar to the muscle. I won't get into the debate here...lol...but Gatorade will remain my IN-RIDE drink of choice. Making sure to do what's needed to provide adequate glycogen stores in muscle and liver pre-ride. Post-ride drink of choice will most certainly be a 4:1 mix for replenishment.

Trainer? Are you serious? <friendly saracasm> I do an interval session on the trainer once a week because it allows for a workout after work, that I would not be able to have without the trainer. The rest of my ride time is ON THE ROAD. This morning it's only 37 degrees out. There are VERY FEW days where I live that we are unable to be on the roads. Even in the coldest part of the winter, if we wait until 1130 am or so it's perfectly ok to get on the road.

As far as my winter base, I'm following some generally accepted plans from the guys over at the wattage group. I'm getting plenty of good base, that I will most definitely start spending in the spring.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

IAmSpecialized said:


> Trainer? Are you serious? <friendly saracasm> I do an interval session on the trainer once a week because it allows for a workout after work, that I would not be able to have without the trainer. The rest of my ride time is ON THE ROAD. This morning it's only 37 degrees out. There are VERY FEW days where I live that we are unable to be on the roads. Even in the coldest part of the winter, if we wait until 1130 am or so it's perfectly ok to get on the road.


Yah, serious... there are a large number of racers who are way faster than me who do just about all of their serious workouts on the trainer, regardless of the weather/daylight. They like the consistency and repeatability, the convenience, no stoplights, no hills / headwinds / tailwinds at the wrong part of the workout... lots of reasons.


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## IAmSpecialized (Jul 16, 2008)

Creakyknees said:


> Yah, serious... there are a large number of racers who are way faster than me who do just about all of their serious workouts on the trainer, regardless of the weather/daylight. They like the consistency and repeatability, the convenience, no stoplights, no hills / headwinds / tailwinds at the wrong part of the workout... lots of reasons.


Yeah, no...I completely understand. I wasn't knocking trainer time in that regard. I just hate the trainer, generally speaking. I was NOT knocking the guys who put a lot of time on the trainer. In fact, I have a lot of respect for them...I just can not do it. 

Lucky for me I live in eastern NC, completely flat land. No hills at all. I live outside the city, so nothing but open road in basically all directions. I just check for wind direction before my ride so I can make sure I'm riding INTO the wind. Makes training easier.

I completely understood the trainer suggestion though.


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## alexp247365 (Dec 29, 2009)

+1 for trainer time. I don't have to worry about cars, hills, cracks in the ground or ice. All thats left is my ability to concentrate on form, breathing, and increasing efficiency. 

Also, aerobic work on the trainer is like chinese water torture. Sure, its not too hard to keep your heart-rate at Zone 2 and pedal away, but two to three hours later, you'll look at it from a completely different perspective.


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## IAmSpecialized (Jul 16, 2008)

I can't stomach aerobic work on the trainer. One of the biggest reasons for me is the cooling issue. No matter how good your setup is, the cooling just sucks. It impacts me in a horrible sort of way. I prefer to ride in our 105 degree humid summer before indoor trainer work. 

However, I do quite enjoy VO2 and AC sessions on the trainer. Because the resistance is so consistent it is very easy to get on the trainer and hold 120 or 130% very uniformly, within a few watts. Suffice it to say the one night a week I do use my trainer it is for level 5 and 6 work.


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## seppo17 (Dec 7, 2008)

If I take my trainer:

10-15 minute riding easy
3 min hard
2 min rest
2min hard
3 min rest
sprint for 30 seconds
rest 90 seconds
sprint for 30 seconds
ride easy for 5-10 min

I usually down a gel and drink some during this. 

If I don't have my trainer I just ride around for 20-40 minutes near the course and try to do a few hard sessions and a few short sprints.

For the one local crit "series" near me I would just ride there. ~45 minutes with some serious hills.

I have never really noticed a difference in how I felt verse how I warmed up for crits. I can definitely tell for cross though. Of course, cross is always all out from the gun and crits can be all over the map.


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## heathb (Nov 1, 2008)

I usually don't time my warm up. I do however gradually build up to the point that I do two all out intervals about 2 minutes each and then cool it down. 

I also have asthma though and find that if I go all out and start a slight wheeze, about 30 minutes later my pipes are clear after hitting the inhaler and I won't start wheezing when the race starts. 

The most critcal part is to make those hard efforts really hard and keep them short. I don't think it's important at least for me that I spend a lot of time warming up, so I can usually finish a warm up in less than 20 minutes.


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## 32and3cross (Feb 28, 2005)

Wow you raced a couple crits so now your sure that everyone has a super planned out warm up and anyone that tells you different is an ass,... right. 

Well put me down as an ass too cause thats sounds like my warm up too esp for late season crits, I roll around (on the course if possible) I might do some jumps or I might not depends on how I feel and how big the field is and if Im planning on sitting in for the first part or not, all depends.

For TTs and track racing I do have a more planned out warm up, for road races I just roll around a bit.




IAmSpecialized said:


> *We both know that's not the case. It is absolutely ridiculous for anyone to think his post was a serious suggestion.*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## IAmSpecialized (Jul 16, 2008)

32and3cross said:


> Well put me down as an ass too...



Will be more than happy to oblige you, ass.


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## 32and3cross (Feb 28, 2005)

IAmSpecialized said:


> Will be more than happy to oblige you, ass.


Yeah yeah your so clever, good luck with that loser.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

IAmSpecialized said:


> I can't stomach aerobic work on the trainer. One of the biggest reasons for me is the cooling issue. No matter how good your setup is, the cooling just sucks.


Learn to tough it out because crits can be very hard work and during very hot days. If you start to get too hot, just take a break and hydrate. Plenty of people are able to stomach aerobic work on a trainer and possibly beat you.

Cat 5 crits may be short and the riders may not be that good, but the chaos and somewhat pointless attacks and sprints can wear you down quick, especially if you're not warmed up or have to bridge really hard because you got stuck behind a slow poke. 

I'd much rather just ride the course to warm up, but at least where I'm from, I'd only get 15 minutes tops to warm up on the course. Personally, I need more than 15 minutes to warm up for a crit or TT.


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## 32and3cross (Feb 28, 2005)

careful this answer is not what iamspecalized is looking for, you'll make him mad and he will be forced to insult you.




spade2you said:


> Learn to tough it out because crits can be very hard work and during very hot days. If you start to get too hot, just take a break and hydrate. Plenty of people are able to stomach aerobic work on a trainer and possibly beat you.
> 
> Cat 5 crits may be short and the riders may not be that good, but the chaos and somewhat pointless attacks and sprints can wear you down quick, especially if you're not warmed up or have to bridge really hard because you got stuck behind a slow poke.
> 
> I'd much rather just ride the course to warm up, but at least where I'm from, I'd only get 15 minutes tops to warm up on the course. Personally, I need more than 15 minutes to warm up for a crit or TT.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

32and3cross said:


> careful this answer is not what iamspecalized is looking for, you'll make him mad and he will be forced to insult you.


If he doesn't like my suggestions, that's his deal.


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## IAmSpecialized (Jul 16, 2008)

32and3cross said:


> Yeah yeah your so clever, good luck with that loser.





32and3cross said:


> careful this answer is not what iamspecalized is looking for, you'll make him mad and he will be forced to insult you.


Man, seriously, lighten up. I'm afraid there is a misunderstanding. I think you read my response to you very differently than it was meant. So to clear up any misunderstanding I was using what was meant to be witty sarcasm, but certainly with no ill intent. However, your original post was presumptuous because you clearly did not read the conversation Alex and I had further down the line where the "ass" comment was completely cleared up. I digress...




spade2you said:


> Learn to tough it out because crits can be very hard work and during very hot days. If you start to get too hot, just take a break and hydrate. Plenty of people are able to stomach aerobic work on a trainer and possibly beat you.
> 
> Cat 5 crits may be short and the riders may not be that good, but the chaos and somewhat pointless attacks and sprints can wear you down quick, especially if you're not warmed up or have to bridge really hard because you got stuck behind a slow poke.
> 
> I'd much rather just ride the course to warm up, but at least where I'm from, I'd only get 15 minutes tops to warm up on the course. Personally, I need more than 15 minutes to warm up for a crit or TT.


Spade, thanks for the insightful post. This is certainly not the first time you've replied to one of my post and I'm always appreciative for your suggestions. :thumbsup: Do you really think specifically work on the trainer can be beneficial for crits?

Where I am from I can get as much warm up time as necessary. I can get 3 hours if I need it, at just about any crit I will be racing in. This is really what prompted me to pose the original question, time will likely not be a factor for me. I know some people do longer warmup, some shorter, some non-existent, some structured, and some not structured. I was really interested to see just how diverse people's warmups are. But I really expected the general consensus to be longer structured warmups. 

It's very interesting to read the replies and see the diverse of warmups people use.


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## IAmSpecialized (Jul 16, 2008)

spade2you said:


> If he doesn't like my suggestions, that's his deal.


Not the case. I appreciate every suggestion made here. And as I've already mentioned, Alex and I have the first "ass" comment completely cleared up. 

In any case, how exactly do you deal with the initial hard effort that dumps lactate in the muscle? I'm assuming your warmup accounts for this? Or am i just totally off base altogether?


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

IAmSpecialized said:


> Spade, thanks for the insightful post. This is certainly not the first time you've replied to one of my post and I'm always appreciative for your suggestions. :thumbsup: Do you really think specifically work on the trainer can be beneficial for crits?
> 
> Where I am from I can get as much warm up time as necessary. I can get 3 hours if I need it, at just about any crit I will be racing in. This is really what prompted me to pose the original question, time will likely not be a factor for me. I know some people do longer warmup, some shorter, some non-existent, some structured, and some not structured. I was really interested to see just how diverse people's warmups are. But I really expected the general consensus to be longer structured warmups.
> 
> It's very interesting to read the replies and see the diverse of warmups people use.


We're all different so our needs are different. Given that fitness is an ever changing thing, our own need may vary, too. I've had days where I didn't need a warm up and some days I just really needed it for whatever reason. 

I suppose the big thing is to have time to touch the zones you'll hit in the race, perhaps some power intervals, some high cadence exercises, low cadence resistance, etc. I seem to get equal benefit from the intervals as the time to loosen up. 

I'm not sure one warm up is better than another, but don't rush it or eat too soon before the race. I made the mistake of doing both of these at one of my last crits and did embarrassingly poor. 


While we're on the subject, any opinions on the day before warm ups? A friend of mine gave me one mid-season for crits and TTs and I seemed to benefit from them.


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## IAmSpecialized (Jul 16, 2008)

spade2you said:


> While we're on the subject, any opinions on the day before warm ups? A friend of mine gave me one mid-season for crits and TTs and I seemed to benefit from them.


Good question. Care to share your friend's opinion that has helped you?


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

IAmSpecialized said:


> Good question. Care to share your friend's opinion that has helped you?


Crap, can't find the e-mail, but it was a somewhat structured trainer workout to do ~24 hours before the event. It seemed to benefit me, but I was just curious if it's relatively "proven" or if I just happened to do well on those days.


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## Undecided (Apr 2, 2007)

spade2you said:


> Crap, can't find the e-mail, but it was a somewhat structured trainer workout to do ~24 hours before the event. It seemed to benefit me, but I was just curious if it's relatively "proven" or if I just happened to do well on those days.


It's relatively common to do openers the day before. I usually do two sets of five minutes working up from subLT to VO2 power, with five minutes between. I usually do those in the second half of a fairly short zone 2 ride.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

Undecided said:


> It's relatively common to do openers the day before. I usually do two sets of five minutes working up from subLT to VO2 power, with five minutes between. I usually do those in the second half of a fairly short zone 2 ride.


Is there a "proven" benefit or consensus about openers? Like I said, I tried them and seemed to get good results, but curious what everyone else thinks.


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## IAmSpecialized (Jul 16, 2008)

spade2you said:


> Is there a "proven" benefit or consensus about openers? Like I said, I tried them and seemed to get good results, but curious what everyone else thinks.


I did not think about "openers" when I made the original post, bu since the topic has been brought up I will say I have a good friend who races cat 1 and I believe he always does an opener the day before. He does 1.5 hours zone 2 and in the last 30 minutes of that he does 15 minutes of upper zone 3 with 3x1 starting as a sprint and then all out effort. 

Not sure how I forgot about that part of the equation. The racing scene is all new to me so I'm just trying to gain as much insight and every helpful tip that I can.


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## DMH1721 (Aug 30, 2010)

I am no exercise physiologist but . . . I know from years of racing, I am always better on days 2 (3,4,5 if doing stage race). My legs just feel more supple and "open". I think it has something to do with not encouraging your body to shut down and go into "recovery" mode. That is why almost all GT riders will ride 3 hours with tempo on the rest days.

I know this may be more wive's tale than anything else, but doing some hard efforts or riding tempo the day before a race also seems to "blow out" all the crap in my legs from a week of hard training. If I don't ride or just ride easy my legs feel heavy and tight.

Back in the day when I was racing full time, if I was getting ready for a big event, my coach would have me take 3-4 days easy 6 days before the race and then slowly build the intensity on the 3 days right beforehand. For example, if a stage race started on a Saturday - M-W would be off the bike or an hour easy. Thursday would be 1 hour with 30 minutes of tempo and Friday would be an hour with 2x5 or 2x10 around TT effort level.

YMMV


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

Good to know. Was there any validity to the idea of doing these workouts ~24 hours before the event or is there a relative window? Just curious since my job doesn't always make it possible to do something exactly 24 hours before an event.


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## IAmSpecialized (Jul 16, 2008)

There is certainly some anecdotal evidence, n=2-3. I think I'm going to post a question to the wattage group and see what their take is on the subject. Hopefully some of the exercise physiologists their will come in.


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## Undecided (Apr 2, 2007)

I cannot find a source for it, but I have been told by a reputable coach that there is some marginal glycogen uptake benefit at race time to be had from doing the openers approximately 24 hours before, in addition to the "opening" effect on the legs (about which effect I also don't claim to have any evidence).


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

Good to know. Thanks! :thumbsup:


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## IAmSpecialized (Jul 16, 2008)

If any of you guys are interested, and/or if any of you are members of the Wattage group, I just posted the following on Wattage:

*Off topic? Leg opener routines the day before a race? Would appreciate input from "qualified" persons in the group *

I posted a topic on another forum regarding pre-race warmup routines 
for the day of the race. As the discussion evolved the topic turned to 
"leg opener" routines the day before the race. A few people have 
mentioned an interest in the opinions of exercise physiologist or 
other "qualified" persons on this topic. 

So my question is multi-fold. Do you guys (gender neutral) have a "leg 
opener" routine the day before a race? Do you notice a stark 
difference when you use the routine compared to time you do not or 
have not? Can someone qualify "leg opener" respective to this current 
discussion? It's a term I've seen tossed around but I'm curious 
exactly what is going on at the cellular level, at least as far as a 
leg opener routine the day before a race. 

Two statements that have been made on the other forum regarding "leg 
openers" the day before a race are: 

"I cannot find a source for it, but I have been told by a reputable 
coach that there is some marginal glycogen uptake benefit at race time 
to be had from doing the openers approximately 24 hours before." 

and 

"I think it has something to do with not encouraging your body to shut 
down and go into "recovery" mode. That is why almost all GT riders 
will ride 3 hours with tempo on the rest days." 

I'm curious what you guys will say about the whole idea, especially 
since I'm going to be racing a good deal next year. 

Chris.

Here is a link to the post:

http://groups.google.com/group/wattage/browse_thread/thread/4901d743b96533ee


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## tom_h (May 6, 2008)

Put your flame suit on ... those guys at Wattage can often be very snarky and condescending.


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## IAmSpecialized (Jul 16, 2008)

tom_h said:


> Put your flame suit on ... those guys at Wattage can often be very snarky and condescending.


Lol. I've never experienced that at Wattage. They are a great group! I expect I will get some very insightful replies actually.


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## scarecrow (Oct 7, 2007)

Chase hit on the head when he said listen to your body. Everyone is different. On our team nobody uses the same routine. Some are an hour long and very structured. One of our better guys shows up does 10 minutes in the parking lot and lets it rip. Some common things are:

Most don't eat anything for two hrs before the crit, but they will eat a light breakfast before they come to the race. Our races are typically 40 - 45 minutes. We all will do two to three classes (races) during the day (Cats then Masters). Maybe a gel or banana in-between races.

Most will at least 20 - 30 minute light to moderate on trainer then we will do a few efforts hard enough to get your mouth dry etc.. Basically, get past the first hard effort of the day and let your body settle in.

The day before the race most will ride an hour or so in the evening before dinner. The ride will include about 10 minutes just below LT. Then eat dinner. I typically don't race well if I do not ride a bit the day before.

You are doing the right thing to try an figure out what works for you now. 

Good luck and work on your turning skills. That will serve you well for the Crits.


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