Cycle Training for a Criterium

A criterium, or crit, is a high speed truly testing bicycle race. Most crits are on closed circuit and contain various turns, short yet quick straight-aways and perhaps a short slope. To be serious in a crit you must have diverse abilities. A thoroughly prepared crit racer has a stockpile of abilities available to them. In an ordinary crit, any of the accompanying, while possibly not all, could be expected of you; various speed increases out of corners, investing out really hard amounts of energy to keep with the pace at the front, and delivering a full scale exertion for a sprint finish. Every last one of these efforts should to be prepared independently.

Bridging the Gap

If there is a break of riders up the road and it looks like they are going to stay away until the finish, you NEED to get up there. But you DON’T want to bring the whole pack with you, otherwise you are back to square one. There are two options. One, go across alone or two, bridge with a few other riders. In either case you will be required to ride harder and faster than the break away up the road and the group you just left. If the gap is small, your exertion will be short and sharp. If the gap is significant, you will need to pace your effort. Go too hard during the bridge and you risk blowing up. Put in the right effort and you are now in the lead group. How do you prepare to produce an effort above and beyond that which you were doing during the race?

Of the different types of criterium training, bridging the gap has the longest effort segments. I like to call the workout BAGIT

Bridging A Gap Interval Training (BAGIT)

There are two versions of the BAGIT that are beneficial for crit training:



The Plus Five Interval: Do 6 to 8 X 5 minutes

• 3 minutes at 105 percent of FTP
• 1 minutes at 110 percent of FTP
• 1 min at 125 percent of FTP
• 5 minutes recovery between rounds

The Plus Three Interval: Do 3 to 4 X 3 minutes

• 2 minutes at 125 percent of FTP
• 30 seconds at 150 percent of FTP
• 30 seconds 200 percent of FTP
• 3 minutes recovery between efforts and 5 minutes between sets
  

Sprint Training

The final phase and shortest phase for a crit training program is sprint training. You have successfully made it to the end of the race, now it is time to sprint. Here, you need to break sprint training into two separate phases. The first phase is working on your burst, or getting up to speed through  "stand stills". The second phase is working on your top-end, or maintaining the speed needed to cross the finish line first through rolling sprints.

Stand stills are drills designed to solely work on building the ability for you to get up to speed quickly. You will need a straight and flat section of road that is at least 400 meters long. Finding a quiet road with little traffic is ideal. Measure off a 200 meter section. This will be where you do your sprints. Use some sort of marker to indicate your start and finish line. You will be going back and forth on the same section of road. Start at one end, sprint for 200 meters, coast for 10 to 15 seconds then return to your starting point to repeat.

Stand Stills

Your first two sessions should be in a slightly easier gear so that your body adapts to the workout and is not stressed by pushing a big gear.

Key points:

• Start from a virtual stand still at 2 to 3 mph
• Start with your strongest leg at the 3 o’clock position
• Hands in the drops for entire effort
• Same gear for entire effort
• Out of the saddle for the first 10 to 15 seconds. When doing higher rpm efforts, you have to get in the saddle to finish the sprint
• Total focus on the push and pull of your pedal stroke
• Make sure your pedals are very tight. You will be applying a lot of force
• Be mindful of chain breaking due to the strong force being applied.

Rolling Sprints

These sprints work on your top end speed. These can be done by doing loops on the same section of road mentioned above or on a continuous flat section of road.

Key points:

• Start from about 15 mph
• Hands in the drops for entire effort
• Same gear for entire effort
• Out of the saddle for the first 10 to 15 seconds. When doing higher rpm efforts, you have to get in the saddle to finish the sprint
• Total focus on the PUSH and PULL of your pedal stroke

For each sprint you go for 20 seconds then recover for 1:40. Repeat four more times to complete one set for 10 minutes in length. Recover for five minutes between sets. Repeat three to four times.

While not all criterium courses will require you to use all of these types of efforts, the specific training will increase your power, strength and speed overall. In the long run, you will be prepared you for all types of crits that come your way.