MTBRaceNews.com orignially posted this Q&A article.
QUESTION:
I am a terrible starter. In the first 10 minutes of a race the leaders are just pulling away from me and I can’t go any faster. Then I start to pull them back but it takes a huge effort. How can I train to be faster in those first 10 minutes without blowing myself up?
ANSWER:
The question of pacing strategy and just how hard to start is one that all racers will have. It’s a fine line between knowing how fast you can go versus understanding how hard is too hard. Course design, the level of competition, and your fitness should all affect your strategy for the start of the race. Assuming you’ve got a feel for the strategy based upon the course and competition you’ll be up against, we’ll focus on what it takes to get physically stronger for those first 10 minutes.
It should be mentioned that if you’re able to regain contact with the leaders sometime after the first ten minutes of racing, your pacing strategy is likely working quite well for you. A steady effort done over a longer duration will leave you with less fatigue than would a harder effort that tapers off over the same duration. So if you get dropped, but can routinely catch back on, there isn’t much reason for undue concern. If this is the case chances are good that you’re pacing the effort better (more steady) than those who you’re regaining contact with.
When a rider loses contact with the leaders within the first ten minutes of racing, odds of regaining contact later are slim at best. The effort that a racer is able to sustain for 10 minutes correlates strongly with the intensity that can be sustained for the entire race when a racer is well conditioned. If you can’t match the effort for ten minutes, it’ll be a tall order to match it for two hours. Both durations (ten minutes and two hours) are highly dependent upon your maximum sustainable power – the balancing point where you’re riding hard and any harder would create an undue amount of fatigue. The average intensity of a xc race hovers right around this threshold. Racers with a higher threshold or a greater maximum sustainable power will start faster and place higher when all other factors are considered equal.
In order to improve the maximum sustainable power that you’re capable of producing, it’s important to do training that specifically replicates this intensity. I might suggest doing 3-5 repeats that each last 8-12 minutes. For example, doing 4×10 minute repeats will allow you to accumulate 40 minutes of workload that closely mimics the intensity of a race start. Do your best to make each 10 minute effort of equal intensity. As you accumulate training time spent at this intensity, you’ll be creating the overload that’s required in order for improvements to occur. By doing this type of training approximately twice per week for a span of 2-4 weeks, you’re bound to see improvements, provided you recover well and have fun with the workouts along the way.
With improved threshold fitness you’ll be better prepared to hang with the leaders throughout the first ten minutes of the race and beyond. Plan some specific training that fits with your schedule, work hard, recover well, and enjoy the faster (not easier) starts that you’ll have as a result. If you can hang with the leaders for ten minutes you’re that much closer to hanging in there for the full duration of the race. Go for it!
