I'm interested to see responses to this as well.  Especially from the "older" age group as I feel like the teens and 20 something's have a lot more free time than people in their 30's with wives, kids, mortgages, etc.  I honestly don't know how people can squeeze in more than 3 rides a week.  Especially "long" rides.

Following...

Here is my input. 

I race short track to make my adventure rides/races more fun. I love short track races as it is a great interval workout. But this series is not the reason I ride. I ride for big adventure rides in Pisgah, Wilson, and where ever. Its a great fitness test and motivator to become a better rider, so i fit it into my schedule as a training ride to give it everything I have. The other rides during the week are 2 or 3 long rides of 3+ hours (one on the road or zwift and one on the mountain bike) and an hour at total cyclist (I can't recommend TC strongly enough for any rider). 

So my typical goal week right now is Short track, Rest, Total Cyclist, Rest, Cross Train, Long Ride, Long Ride, repeat. My end goal is Pisgah 111, Stage Races, ORAMM to build for a big stage race in August. 

So ultimately it depends on what your personal goals are and what you want to be good at. Do you want to be a short track slayer, endurance rider, or are you using it as training to become a better rider overall to make adventure rides more enjoyable.   

If it helps, here is also my progression on my 4th year racing short track. The first year was Beginner 19-39 having never raced before and I won the series so decided year 2 to move to sport. When I moved up to sport in year 2 i was lapped and had my ass handed to me. I did not like that feeling and used it as motivation to ride more. Year 3 I was in the top 5 typically after using a training program above, but eating like poop. My only goal that year was not to get lapped and it turned out to be fairly competitive. In year 4 (this year) my goals are to compete in stage races, so using the above i am racing both Sport and Single Speed to increase endurance. In sport I am inconsistent with my best finish being 4th and worst a DNF last week having not felt right. 

But my goal is not to be a great short track racer, just use it as a training ride. So you need to know what you want and then set a plan from there. Below is a link to some free options posted by British Cycling as a starting point. Find a plan, try it for 6-12 weeks and go from there. Personally i am on the 12 week foundation plan and can feel myself become a much stronger overall rider. Later I will focus on a plan to increase my strength as a hill climber, as this is my weakness as a rider.   

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Sorry if that was long winded.

Training sucks.  I like to ride to much to turn it into I have to do and a certain way to do it.   I try to hit a bike 5 / 6 days a week as possible.  Some of those are roadie rides with some distance.   

I've decided if I'm a mid pack sport rider (or single speed), then I'm ok with that.  I just enjoy the competition.

Banjo has the right approach, I'll try and add my two cents since it is Friday and I'm watching the clock while I'm working

I'd like this to serve as a generic reply to anyone that is thinking "how can I get faster?" It's such a broad question and the answer of "get a coach" is not the right one for maybe 90% of the people who are asking it.

Some background of me since I'm new here:

I trained for two straight years for CX and XC MTB after 5 years of JRAing. I was able to go from a newb to doing my first Cat 1 race in MTB, some 6 hour races and even a 100 mile race, just by riding, not training. 5 years is a long time, but when I look back, It never felt like a chore it was fun exploring new trails, meeting new people, checking out new race venues, all that stuff. Being fast and fit is awesome, but at what expense? Coaches cost money, doing intervals by yourself is lonely and hard to stay motivated. This is amateur bike racing. Remember that.

If you want to do this for a long time, training right now is not the answer. You WILL burn out and hate bikes. 

My tip? Find a group of like minded individuals. Maybe people you race, people on this board, whatever. Get out and ride with them. You will push each other and have fun doing it. Even be a little competitive. Talk trash. This is the answer, not doing intervals by yourself at this level in your fitness level/cycling life. 

By the time I thought about getting a coach, I hit a plateau in my fitness. I wasn't getting any faster. I cut out soda and stopped eating fast food. I dropped 10 pounds without doing anything different. Then I dove in head first. I had awesome results on CX, had some great fitness for a bunch of endurance races, it was addicting. This year we had our first child and I was unsure how it would go. I decided to ditch training for anything specific because it's bike racing, it is suppose to be fun. I did the first 3 ST races in the SS category with hardly any real riding and had a BLAST. Could I have been faster? Maybe. I wasn't doing intervals and just rode for fun for an hour at lunch. No lie. The key is I had fun and it wasn't a chore to do these races. As someone who has been racing since '09, it felt strange to really "enjoy" the race.

The benefits of a coach are the time management and every minute you spend on a bike, you are working towards a goal at a race. You do not have to second guess if you are pushing too hard or if you should be taking it easy, someone does all of that for you.

Now this sounds great, since you are time crunched, but remember, I did this after 5 years of JRAing. It does become a chore. You do not enjoy riding anymore. You dread the workouts and enjoy the days you aren't riding. You are living for these races and if you don't do well, you hate it even more. Do not go down this fox hole in your short cycling career. 

I don't know you and you don't know me, but I think this should be your path:

Get a road bike. Check out some group rides. Ride in the group that pushes you justttt past that comfort zone. Progress in them. 99% of the MTB racing is going to rely on fitness at the beginner/sport level. The road bike is a key aspect of this fitness.

Can you ride an hour a day? Or 6 out of 7 days a week? Ride hard on the road, slow on the MTB, hard, roll on the spin bike. whatever. Just pedal your bike. When you are tired, ride easy. When you are with your friends, try and make them suffer. Don't focus on miles, focus on hours. 10 miles at RRT vs 30 miles on the road = apples and oranges. I wouldn't focus on any specific structured work out. Maybe only on the spin bike, because that thing is torture. If it makes the time go by faster, by all means, have at it. 

There isn't a secret formula or certain amount of hours you need to ride to get faster, faster than everyone else. You need to ride your bike. Do not over think it. When the time comes, you'll know. It sounds like you are on the right path with the spin bike and social rides. Find that hour a day to ride and keep at it!

Also, there is no shape in moving up and being a mid pack sport rider. In all honesty, if you are on the podium of a Beginner category, you should move up to let the people who are true beginners gain the confidence that they can do this too. The goal is to progress and get faster, not hurt yourself staying in the same category!

Wow, I can't believe I wrote so much, I apologize!

Well said Pearl. I've been riding for over 20 years. Last real racing experience was about 10 yrs ago. Was racing expert and the training took the fun completely out of it. 

For racing solidly at the sport level, you will need to ride more than you do right now. My advice would be to make friends with a few guys that can push your limits. Ride with them at least 1x per week. If you can't find any folks you could always find a road ride that challenges your fitness. 

There is always the coaching, intervals, and training regiments but that wasn't for me.  My goals now are to have fun and to be fast enough to hang with my buddies.

All great advice so far.  I think what I really seek is advice so I can get a little more out of my rides, and be a solid mid-level sport guy, and still have fun.

I do get enjoyment out of pushing myself, and occasionally racing.  I have no desire of becoming the top level winning expert and training 15 hours a week, or racing every week.  I could see riding 7-10 hours per week, doing the winter series (when the weather is nice) and most of the summer series, and maybe a race in the fall like the couch potato.

Thanks for the input.  I was looking at the Friel book.  I do have a couple "faster friends" that I need to try to ride with more often, and have recently decided that eating like a teenager doesn't suit me well.

Hopefully with the advice here, a little more focus, better diet, I can make some improvements this year.  It's pretty cool to be getting genuine feedback from a group of people I don't even know!  Go trailblazers!