Calling all track cyclists

I spend the majority of my time either staring at a wall or turning left. Any of you have a similar experience?

The real reason for this post is to ask you what you do for your training if like me you ride track, Weather you ride a specific program or chose a handful of workouts I want to know. Or if you have any advice or ideas.

Thanks in advance

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Full fledged trackie from Detroit here! But Iā€™m a new TR user, so here are my thoughts in very random ordering:

  • Stay off the track in base (and maybe even build). Honestly I didnā€™t do this last year and its just not base and you will screw up the rest of the year.
  • When you get to specialization phase, and if you have a track with workouts or motor pacing nights DO THAT. Honestly skip a TR workout for that track specific workout
  • Hit the gym now in base and build
  • Put your trackie on rollers and do a warmup there or a cool down. I found it very helpful to stay comfortable on that bike and rollers. Just 10-20 min on each workout adds up - youā€™ll have hours of time on that bike by the end of your training.

Getting to more TR specific - my plans based on what I saw in another forum post:

  • Mid Volume Sweet Spot Base is my start. Raising FTP never hurt anyone and if I decide to go less trackie I can flip from here
  • Mid volume short power build - now start to work on the shorter end of the stick where we need to be for specialization. Iā€™ll also be popping out and doing some early gravel races here so short power aligns to that
  • Mid Volume Crit Specialization - thats the best I can see, heavy on the V02 and short sprints. Again Iā€™d say if you have a local track and workouts you should swap some of those in to get time on the boards.

Looking forward to seeing other responses, come visit at the Lexus Velodrome or IVBP in Michigan!

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Thanks @berto2cj really interesting hearing what you have to say. Me to am new to Trainer road. This being one of the main reasons why I put this question out here. As there are no track specific programs and I presume there may never be as there are so many sub-disciplines involved. But I am going to take what you have said into consideration. Deffinently the gym stuff.

Thanks for taking the time to read and reply!

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Im a bit of a trackie too,
the one thing Iā€™ve found is that trackieā€™s are much more comfortable at high RPMs, much higher than the TR text.
I am very comfortable at 100-110RPM and will wind up to 140 on the track. and 220 on the rollers.
this tends to confuse the Kickr a little bit :stuck_out_tongue:

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My garmin vector has power drops whenever I go over 150ish on the rollers

I have a similar issue with the accelerometer based cadence sensorsā€¦ at about 180 the start to play up
The old magnetic sensors work beautifully though

And you can get some wild readings using gps on an outdoor velodrome above 60kmh

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I turn gps off. We have an outdoor 200 and an indoor 133 and neither play nice with gps

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I wish the closest track wasnā€™t 3.5 hours away. I ride a fixed gear (not a ā€œfixieā€) almost daily.

I donā€™t ride track (too far to fit in with family) but I TT on fixed.
Do you guys do TR on a fixed, or do you use gears?

I use my road bike as i do not have the adaptor for my track bike. It is like ridding a track bike in erg mode :joy::joy::joy:

I TR on my road bike also because I wonā€™t bother to get overpriced TACX adpaters. I put my fixed gear on the rollers

Fixed for rollersā€¦ then one of the other steeds for trainer.
we are really spoilt for choice on velodromes in Melb.

I have an indoor timber track, 700m away,
my club track (flat 330m) 3km away
330m concrete mid banking concrete track 5km away.
250 steep banked concrete track (43degrees) about 7km away

and about 5 others across the city

Oh and the special indoor track in the middle of the cityā€™s sport facilities. (but that only gets wheeled out for 2-3 events a year)

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Got a spare bedroom ? Might move in with you :joy::joy::joy:. Spoilt for choice is an understatement .

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I wonā€™t mention then that we have about 30km of MTB trails about 3km from us, great road riding in most directions (just donā€™t head north or west), with hills about 20km away and flat beach road about 10kmā€¦ epic coffee on every corner and im 8km form the city centre :stuck_out_tongue:

some days I need to remember how lucky I am :stuck_out_tongue:

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Iā€™m a track cyclist here in the UK. Iā€™ve successfully used TR along with a dedicated track coach. IMO, the fundamentals of cycling fitness are the same, but your specialty training needs to include leg speed and specific skills training. I address the leg speed through rollers work, and make sure to hit the track as much as possible for SQT. Otherwise, I think general cycling fitness carries.

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Wow, super jealous of @edmuggles! Iā€™m a huge believer in raising ftp as being core to success on the track. Crit work should be transferrable, though I place an extra emphasis on 5 sec power, 30 sec power, repeatability, and standing starts.

Though I understand the reason for it (no velodrome in Reno) I wish the guys would talk more about track. Iā€™ve found that because everyone hangs out all day at the events, thereā€™s much more of a community atmosphere than on the road.

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I wouldnā€™t consider myself a ā€˜trackieā€™ but I do race track when it fits into my road schedule. I have found that any fitness I have from crit racing transfers pretty well along with the knowledge of a couple years of track racing. I always wondered what a true pure track racer would do on trainer road, I think the needs are specific enough to warrant deviation from a crit plan but Iā€™m not sure if the audience would be big enough. Not to mention the large difference in training between sprint and enduro and that the track, being a relatively controlled environment is very conducive to structured training thus lessening the need for trainer work.

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Lots of good points here. Using track structured training sessions (if you have them) is awesomeā€¦ As long as you structure them within your own schedule and type of racing. No sense doing sprint sessions three times a week for pursuit.

TR plans can definitely be used for track work unless youā€™re a pure Sprinter. Short power, sustained power, crit and even rolling road race are good depending on the events you want to focus on.

I agree with not doing base at the track. It can be hard to do and tame yourself. Youā€™ll usually go harder than you should. Base is just as important but if youā€™re racing track in the winter your base should be done in the summer. Be careful if you race road and cross as well. Easy to overdo it.

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Iā€™m also jealous of @EdMugglesā€“that all sounds amazing!!
Iā€™m lucky that I live about 10 min away from the velodrome in San Jose. I moved here about 5 years ago, but never got on the track until last year. Itā€™s been a lot of fun, but Iā€™m not ready to do any mass start races. Iā€™ve enjoyed the trainingā€“we have some sessions put on by great coaches that are fantastic for roadies as well as trackies. And, last year I did a few events in the district championshipsā€“the 500m, team sprint, and team pursuit. It was just for fun, and Iā€™d do it again. I completely agree with @lkoehler that the atmosphere at the track is just terrificā€“very community-centric, and just a great way to spend the day. I also wish the TR guys would consider talking more about track, or at least addressing some of the track-centric issues, but I just think they donā€™t have any experience with it. Too bad the velodromes are all too far away from Reno. I think Chad would have a lot of fun learning about the discipline, since he really got into learning about CX.

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you havenā€™t mentioned what youā€™re looking to train for on the track, sprint, pursuit, endurance??

Ive just finished track league and am now looking towards doing 500 & 2000 at the masters nationals and worlds, my training plans (short power build, crit and gravity plans lead me nicely up to each race, factor in at least one trip to the track a week or derny session and i should be good to go

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