Originally Posted by
Chris O
Thanks all, I'll do some more races. We have a local weekly Tuesday night series so I plan on doing some more of those in July and August. The experience was valuable in that I was focusing on short intervals during training, but now I realize at this point I need to do longer ones to be able to maintain 20-25 mph for prolonged periods to keep up with the pack.
Cat 5 crits aren't about average speed. They're about taking a pack of wild ferrets and shoving them down your pants. Getting your average speed up won't help if you're dropped the second there's an attack or you let big gaps open in the corners.
In terms of fitness, you'll need to have the ability to go hard and recover over and over again. To recover, learn to hide in the pack and work less. Learn to coast through the corners without hitting brakes. Learn to be patient within the field.