Race Warm-up

The purpose of a warm-up is two fold; to prepare your physiological systems for intense effort and to enhance your mental readiness. There are two main principals to warming up, Duration and intensity.

INTENSITY: To ready yourself to race at a high-level you need to reach and then exceed that level in your warm-up. Which means if you want to race hard, you better warm-up hard.

DURATION: To maximize your fat burning engine, and to reduce use of stored carbohydrates you need to ride at least 45 minutes before your event. Jump in the crit with an insufficient warm-up and immediately your body is using your stored carbs instead of at. What will you sprint with an hour later? Even at 6% body fat cyclists have plenty of fat to burn, but it’s not easily utilized.

Crit Specific

1. Ride on the road for 15 to 30 minutes in zone 2.

2. Mount stationary (no-rollers) trainer for

4 mins @ z3

4 mins @ z4

3 mins @ z2

1 min @ z5 Max Effort!

5 mins @ z1/2,

45 secs @ z5 Max Effort!

5-10 mins @ z1/z2

10 min rest before race start

All rpm’s should be 95 to 105+. Spinning will save your legs for the race.

• Allow 10 minutes between dismounting the trainer to collect your thoughts and ride the course.

• Riding at high heart rates on the trainer are difficult! You may not reach zone 5, so instead focus on your effort. Z5 = Maximal effort.

• Personally, the harder the trainer warm-up and the worse I felt the better prepared I was for the race. It’s rare to warm-up enough for criteriums, cross races and time trials. Ever wonder why you felt so much stronger after the race? Proof again we don’t warm-up enough.
• Wear headphones and listen to music when on trainer.

• This 45 to 60 minute warm-up is perfect for short high intensity events and will contribute to your race readiness.

Road Race & General

• The longer and easier the start the less intense and shorter your warm-up may be. The exception is a mountain bike race or a road race that starts hard and early positioning is critical.

10 mins @ z1

10 mins @ z2

10 mins @ z3

8 min @ z4

1 mins @ z5 Max Effort

10 mins @ z1/z2

10 min rest before race start

• Remember, “Triple 10, 8 and 1”
• Keep rpm’s on the high side!

Time Trial

• Time trial warm-ups are more specific to the individual. But either of the three race warm-ups will give you enough duration and intensity.

10 mins @ z1

10 mins @ z2

5 mins @ z3

5 mins @ z4

5 mins @ z1/z2

5 mins @ z4

1 min @ z5 Max effort

10 mins @ z1/z2

10 min rest before race start

· A good time trial warm-up will take you up to your lactate threshold two separate times. Doing one zone 5 effort guarantees that you exceed your threshold once which is critical.