Originally Posted by
gerundium
How do you guys manage racing cross with building up for next season on the road? Cross racing here lasts from october until let's say end of january and the first real races on the road are at the end of march for me. Right now i am building up base with endurance rides on the road and doing cross twice a week (so far it's been training only, but will probably be 1 race, 1 training ride a week from now on) for intensity, but i feel i will be lacking in the FTP / sweetspot workouts?
The cyclocross season in the U.S. has historically ended earlier than it does in Western Europe, for a combination of reasons, but climate is a major factor. The weather here is just so much colder in January and February. I suppose they could (and maybe do) race deeper into the winter on the West coast. Most of the people I know who focus on cross will tend to start their road season a little bit later, or with the understanding that they will still have a lot of building to do. People who aren't as focused on cross can still incorporate it into their off-season, perhaps by doing fewer races to allow more training. Personally, my plan for the fall is to taper off my season a little early and mostly finish up racing in mid-November rather than racing hard into mid-December. That will let me turn my attention to building base early enough to be ready for racing road by March or April.
Originally Posted by
mike868y
i do one cross workout during the week (tuesday), then try to get more steady work in on wednesday and thursday (only if i'm not racing). thursday is easy, friday is openers. race saturday. try to double up if i can. don't race sundays so i can do a long ride. that being said, i probably am doing too much volume to really "excel" at cross, which requires you be pretty rested. i race cross for fun though.
You keep saying these things as though they are somehow at odds. I race cross for fun, too. Excelling IS fun, I can tell you. Maybe it is more accurate to say that you are prioritizing other goals over getting the best possible CX results.