This Crit race plan is a perfect balance between having other life commitments like work and family but also wanting to maximise your racing performance.

So who is this plan for, well it's certainly not a beginners plan, and it assumes you have already laid some solid aerobic foundations (Base). If not it's unlikely that you will get the maximum from this plan. That's not to say you it won't help and you may improve your existing fitness levels but you might have to ride easier on some of the harder days. However if you have been doing 10-12 hours a week up to this point with strength work off the bike then you will be well positioned to commence this programme.

Also this is the male plan, the female plan is almost the same but with a few tweaks, specifically the ramp test protocol, so please select the correct version.

The plan starts with standard protocol ramp test - make sure you set your FTP to 100w otherwise the session won't work out correctly.
For the first couple of weeks we are covering most of your energy systems with a mixture of intensities, most of the focus on Aerobic Capacity, Endurance and Neuromuscular power.
Each week there is a longer endurance ride to help maintain your aerobic endurance.

From week 3 we start to increase the intensity a bit more working at your maximal aerobic capacity (Vo2 max).
At week 6 we start the week with another ramp test to see how you are progressing, and also before we move into the second phase of the training which now starts to target your Anaerobic Capacity and Endurance.
From week nine we then start to bring together all of the training elements completed up to this point, with some Crit specific sessions. Assuming a first race at the end of week 12.