The difference between a ride and a race

The weekend before I raced the Scripps Ranch 4th of July 50-mile course, we previewed it as a training ride.  Voris, Jim, Mark, Andy, Dave and I rode most of the course that we would race the following weekend.  We rode pretty hard too; riding fast pacelines, sprinting for town signs, being aggressive on the hills and generally trying to wear each other out.  But racing is a totally different animal from training.  I’ve been told this and always kinda thought, “well, just push yourself harder in your training rides (wussy!)”.  Now I understand what they mean.  Check this out…

My average speed for the training ride was 18 mph.  My average speed for the race was 21.8 mph!  The only ride I’ve recorded with a faster average speed was the Fiesta Island Time Trial which was just 20km and had zero elevation gain.  I gained 3,230 feet last Friday.

My average heart rate for the training ride was 72% of max.  My average heart rate during the race was 85% of max!  That’s the highest average heart rate I’ve ever recorded for a training ride.

Check out this graph that compares the amount of time in each heart rate zone from the training ride and the race.

The training ride is in blue – see how much time is spent in the lower heart rate zones compared to the race, which is in red?

Mark’s been telling me that racing is the best way to get ready for racing.  Now I can see why.  When’s the next race?

Tagged as: Racing, Training