Training for Dirty Kanza doesn’t have to be complicated. With training advice and Dirty Kanza training plan recommendations from Head Coach Chad, you can build the all day fitness that you need for this ultra-distance event.
Fitness Required for Dirty Kanza
As with all ultra-endurance cycling challenges, strong aerobic endurance is paramount. The epically long solo gravel grinder that takes place each year in the Flint Hills of East-Central Kansas, known as Dirty Kanza requires riders to have a great deal of physical and mental stamina.
For upwards of 15 or more consecutive hours, riders will need to operate anywhere from 50-70 percent of their threshold. That’s no small task, especially when you add rugged and unforgiving gravel roads to the mix. If you want a shot at making it across that finish line, you’ll need a properly structured training plan aimed at improving endurance and training the necessary energy systems.
Training Plans to Prepare for Dirty Kanza
To prepare for the 200-mile event, Sweet Spot I and II and Sustained Power Build are the recommended Base and Build training phases. For the Speciality Phase before the event, there are a few viable options. While the Climbing Road Race, Rolling Road Race and XC Marathon Specialty plans will all do a good job to prepare you for an ultra-endurance event, Coach Chad’s newly improved Century Speciality Plans are what he recommends most for Dirty Kanza. If you’re interested you can also build a custom training plan for Dirty Kanza with Plan Builder.
Dirty Kanza is unique in that the style of racing isn’t typical. Riders don’t attack in the same way they do in a shorter, let’s say 100-mile, ultra-endurance event, as they do in a 200-mile event. For that reason, riders don’t need to train for otherwise typical short, punchy efforts. Establishing and prioritizing endurance is your winning strategy. That’s why once you’ve completed your Base and Build training, Coach Chad endorses the Century Specialty Plan as the best option to prepare for Dirty Kanza.
A custom training plan, automatically built for your goals.
Try Plan BuilderNewly Updated Century Plans
The newly improved Century Specialty plans have been revised to fall in line with the newly updated Base and Build Phase training plans. The TSS of these plans ramp up appropriately, rest weeks are true rest weeks, and the workout variety is greater and more interesting. Since the goal of raised steady-state power is the same regardless of 50- or 200-mile goal distances, the newly improved Century plans are great fits for Dirty Kanza and other similar non-technical, long gravel grinders.
Training for Dirty Kanza as a Time-Crunched Athlete
If you’re limited on time to train and you have little fitness, prioritize your Base conditioning above all. Start with Sweet Spot Base I and work your way through it as far as you can before the event. If, however, you have a good amount of fitness going into your training for Dirty Kanza, and again you’re limited on the number of weeks you have left to train, you could jump straight into the new Century plan. If you’re unsure what to do, you can use Plan Builder to build a custom training plan for your time frame.
Can You Train Exclusively Indoors for Dirty Kanza?
In terms of fitness, you can do all your training indoors and go out and have the fitness you need to finish Dirty Kanza. In terms of course familiarity and preparing your body to deal with the fatigue that mounts over the course of extremely long hours on the bike, using Outside Workouts to prepare for outside riding conditions is recommended.
The Dirty Kanza course isn’t particularly technical, but there are plenty of downhills into turns and some occasional steep pitches. Taking some of your structured workouts outside with Outside Workouts will help you develop the technical skills and handling experience necessary to ride the Dirty Kanza course safely.
Conclusion
To train for Dirty Kanza, Coach Chad recommends the Sweet Spot Base I and II, Sustained Power Build and Century training plans. If you have less than the recommended 28 weeks to train and you’re lacking fitness, start with Sweet Spot Base I and work your way through as much of the suggested training plan as you can before the event. You can use Plan Builder to accommodate for any time frame that you have.
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That is a nice picture of me!!
Would the updated General Build be appropriate for shorter races (50-150 miles) with some expected punchy climbs and/or attacks and break away attempts?
Hi Chad,
General Build for these duration races would be great. With more expected punchy climbs and potential for attacks/break aways, I think General would become the better fit. Though, as you get towards the low to mid 100s, I would lean more towards Sustained Power Build. I say that since the General Build places more of a balance on short, punchy power and sustained power conditioning. But if there’s a lot of climbing in those longer events, you’ll really benefit from the strength endurance work and lactate tolerance workouts you’ll see in Sustained Power Build.
Thanks, Nick. That sounds great. I am planning to follow the Sustained Power Build since my rides are ranging from 75-130 miles with gravel and some marathon MTB. I may swap in a few from General Build just for fun and to get some of those shorter effort workouts.
Keep up the great work TrainerRoad!
I am on the build phase on my programme that is aimed at mid-July peak and to carry me through September. But just to mess things up, I just registered for a 170 Km gravel fondo in mid-June. Clearly I don’t have 12 -24 weeks to complete the build and Century workouts and a week of tapering for this event.
Where should I start the training? Should I taper for only a few days prior to the event?
Hi Bruce!
It sounds like you’d be right around a recovery week in your Specialty plan if the event is in mid-June and you plan to finish the plan in mid-July, which would work nicely. You can use the recovery week mid Spec plan to tone the racing down before the event, then use a race-day warmup/opener to get primed for the day.
If the event doesn’t end up falling so nicely in the recovery week like I presumed it would, you can simply schedule the race in as one of your workouts. Then use your better judgement if you need to take a day or two before to tone down your riding if you’re carrying any fatigue. Same goes for after the event before continuing through the end of your Specialty plan. 🙂
Happy Training!
You’re darn close. The recovery week is one week earlier than you speculated, an easy adjustment.
I’ll keep an eye on the fatigue curve.
Thanks
Dear TrainerRoad Team, this release seems like a great improvement: no more 4-hour workouts! I am currently ending the Sustained Power Build Plan (old version), after Sweet Spot Base 1 & 2, all low volume. I registered for the Etape du Tour that will take place on July 16th. Do you advise to go with the Full Century Specialty plan for such an event?
Besides, I am 4 weeks ahead of schedule. What is your advise in terms of planning adjustment to generate a pick for the event?
Thanks Florian! Glad to hear you like the changes.
You got it! You’ll want to focus on fostering high levels of muscular endurance combined with familiarizing yourself with long days in the saddle, so Century Specialty plan would be a great fit. 🙂 As for the extra 4 weeks, you’ll want to repeat Week 8 of your Specialty plan until your event. Then, do some form of race-day opener/warmup to prime your muscles for the day. You can find our warmups by filtering for them in the app.
Holding onto the fitness you’ve established over the several weeks of training takes comparatively little to hold onto than it did to build. So using Week 8 to hold onto that fitness can work extremely well.
Hope this helps! Thanks!
Thanks for your answer Nick!
One more question for which I could not find an answer on the previous blog entries : what would be the minimum FTP to be comfortable for such an event?
It’s rather difficult to state a minimum FTP for such an event. Regardless of FTP, ultra endurance events like this require you to pace a low intensity effort over long periods of time. So it’s really stamina that becomes the more important factor.
Hope this helps! Happy Training! 🙂
I finished week 2 of the updated Century plan low volume yesterday and I’d like to share my feedback.
After the Sustainable Power plan low volume and the FTP assessment of week 1, my FTP was almost stable (went from 170 to 169). I was a bit disapointed because I expected an increase, but I may have performed the assessment too close from an exhausting outside ride (125 km, 2800m elevation).
According to your advice, I complement the Century plan with an outside ride during the weekend. So far, rougly 100km and 4 hours. Thank you TrainerRoad, this means a 2-3 km/h increase compared to 2 years ago when I followed an unstructured training plan!
As I found week 1 of the updated Century plan very manageable, I performed week 2 workouts at 103%. But it still leaves me at a freshness level which as nothing to do with the exhaustion I was feeling after each workout of the pre-update Sustainable Power Plan.
Is this feeling expected? Should I change something?
Awesome update! Thanks for looping us in.
It is certainly possible that some of the fatigue you were holding onto impacted your performance in the FTP assessment. If you continue to experience this need to increase intensity, consider taking another FTP test. It is possible that your most recent wasn’t fully representative of your progress. It is certainly leaning that way if you continue to bump the intensity up. 🙂
Another thing to keep in mind during the Specialty phase of training is the shift away from the primary focus of establishing and building FTP like you were exposed to in the Base & Build phases. The focus is shifted to refining and fine tuning your skills. So this is why you won’t see the option to do an assessment in Week 5.
Have a great rest of your season Florian! Thanks again.
Thanks for your answer Nick!
I still see a 20 Minutes Test on week 5 though… so no need to adjust the plan.
Thanks for sharing that. I like the way you have profiled an event and outlined the appropriate plans to use. Maybe if you did this for other events? But I think your explanations are good enough, but for the major events this is a nice run through.
Ian, thanks for the feedback! We’re thinking it’ll help to do more of these for other events too. 🙂
Any other major events you had in mind?
Thanks Nick. How about Crusher in the Tushar in Utah this July?
We’ll check it out. Thanks for the feedback!
Belgian Waffle Ride! Too late for 2017, but…
Noted! Thanks Jeremy!
I’m in the DK200 but the 100 option this year. Have done a lot of research on this event. What makes this event special is the Flint Hills. One can be in good shape but still not finish. The flint can slice a tire instantly which requires a tire. Tubeless is the choice of veteran DK200 participants since punctures can add into half a dozen flats or more. One is lucky to make it through this event without derailleur damage, chain breaks, spoke breaks, and extreme mud buildup around the forks of the wheels. Several creek crossings require walking the bike or taking a chance damaging a wheel. I think TrainerRoad provides an excellent plan for preparing for this event! I followed the plans from December. The mental toughness required to sit on a trainer several hours a week gives one the edge to transfer the fitness to the road when the time comes to put in some road miles. Half the battle is mind over matter. Pain is gain, it’s a simple plan. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!
Hey guys. Wondering which plan you would suggest the Belgian Waffle Ride…a little shorter (150 miles) but much more climbing (3-4K meters)? Century, climbing, or rolling?
Hi Derek,
Your decision should be based on whether you’re going to be racing the event, or if it’ll be more of a self-paced focus. If it’s the former, you’ll want to roll with Climbing Road Race; Latter, and you’ll want to go with Century.
For many riders, we would be more keen on suggesting Century considering how long the event will be. Most athletes will likely be more focused on the evenly metered pacing than battling attacks. But either is a great approach to crushing it out there!
Hope you have a great race!
Any idea which phone bar mount the cyclist is using?
Hi Eve,
It’s a DIY phone mount we made, but we also created a blog to show users how we did it! 🙂
Have a look here: https://www.trainerroad.com/blog/custom-phone-mount/
Happy Training!
in the lottery for DK200 this year (will find out if in within a week or so. However, there are only 22 weeks until race day, and the full plan is 28 weeks. Where should a relatively fit, time-crunched (think mid-volume) cyclist start? Build II? Thanks
Hey David!
In the case that you are a well trained cyclist and have been structured training before starting your TrainerRoad Plan, then you may want to skip the first part of Sweet Spot Base and jump straight into Sweet Spot Base II. This will shave 6 weeks and get your plan down to 22 weeks.
If you have not been structured training, it would be more beneficial to complete the whole base and not quite complete the Specialty Phase. In that case, you would complete the full 12 weeks Sweet Spot Base sequence, followed by 8 weeks of Sustained Power Build, and then Weeks 7 and 8 of Century Specialty as your Taper.
I hope that helps!
Super helpful. Thanks. This past year was a lower volume and no real goals/racing so structure kinda went to the wind. That is exactly the answer I was looking for. Much appreciated.
Question. I’m in for the 2018 DK 200. I’m 57 years old and in OK shape. I been to Kansas and I’ve rode and completed the 100 mile event so I know what I’m getting into. I read this blog and really like it. So I started with the Sweet Spot high volume base I. I completed it but it took almost 9 weeks due to being sick and a life event. I’m now in the middle of Sweet Spot High volume base II and tonight about to start week 4. I’m finding that the workouts are starting to really ware on me. I’m thinking I need more recovery time (days off). However I want to be physically ready to do this ride. I looked at switching to Sweet spot Mid-volume base II and I see many similar workouts but many different ones too, especially workouts at or above your FTP. Do the two types of base programs give you the same results? Is there a happy medium between the two?
Also, starting in late March, I will have my first 60 mile gravel road event. I will be in the 4th week of the high volume Build phase by then. Then every two to three weeks I have a century gravel ride event planned. Do I alter any of the workouts leading up to these weekend rides or do I treat each of the events as just a substitute for that days workout and keep going? If not what do I do differently or how much recovery time is needed before I get back into the workouts?
Hey Derek!
With the sweet spot workouts, the High and Mid Volumes are quite different, but they aim to complete the same goal. The High Volume spends so much time on the bike that you can reach a point of supercompensation with purely Sweet Spot work. With Mid-Volume, we introduce some over0under work and VO2 work that helps force adaptation with less hours. Overall it is definitely less stressful, but you can still get extremely fast on the Mid-Volume Plan. In reality, most people are not able to complete the High Volume Plans.
One resource I would highly, highly recommend is this excerpt from our Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast. The rider in question is a 58-year-old training for Leadville, which as you likely know, is a 100 mile endurance mountain bike race. He is contemplating the same exact question you are- Low Vs High Volume. You can check it out here: https://soundcloud.com/trainerroad/ask-a-cycling-coach-83-trainerroad-podcast#t=55m15s
Another good thing to check out would be our article on training as a masters racer. You can find that article here: https://www.trainerroad.com/blog/how-aging-athletes-can-get-faster/
Good luck with your event, I hope this helps provide some guidance 🙂
Thanks, but what about integrating cycling events (races) into the training schedule? During the speciality Build High Volume schedule I have a 60 mile event on a Saturday, then three weeks later a 100 mile event and then another 100 mile event two weeks after that. I can see replacing the day’s training with the ride but I can’t see doing a two hour training workout the day after a century event! How do we segment in events into our work out schedule?
hey Derek!
When deviating from the prescribed plan, you will want to try to balance your TSS demands for the week with your event included. For example, if you have a 400 TSS week on your calendar, but you accumulate 250 TSS in just one ride, then you will need to make reductions in your other rides. In order words, you will need to do less TSS than prescribed Sunday after doing more than prescribed on Saturday. A good option is a nice easy one hour spin like Pettit on Sunday, which is only 35 TSS, and will allow you to recover from your event rather than digging the hole deeper with another 100+ TSS ride.
If you have a Power Meter outdoors, calculating the TSS for your event will be easy and automatic. If not, we have a big feature set that we are about to release that will allow you to estimate your TSS based on RPE 🙂
I hope that makes sense, let me know if there is anything I can clear up!
Thanks! This is exactly what I wanted to know. I do not have a power meter on my bike and I’m not sure what you mean by RPE. My first event is set for March 17, 2018 and it will be a 60 mile gravel grinder ride. I hope your new whatever is out before that!
RPE is rate of perceived exertion. Essentially, it’s how exhausted you feel at the end of a ride. A 4 or 5 would be a moderate effort, while a 10 would be you physically falling off the bike at the end 🙂
Thanks for my 5 sec of fame as i am the guy in the picture at the start. That was some day!!
Was not a member of Trainerroad before Dirty Kanza but have since become a member for my winter training mostly. But, i also enjoy the podcast.