Do not neglect strength exercises. You’re going to be out of the saddle a lot more than you think, so lots of Lunge variations, squats, and the like.
I’m sure those that have ridden. Leadville will have better guidance,
+1 and I’d say core work as well. I’ve always done a bit of strength training, but was much better about core work heading into the race last year. I felt so much better on the bike vs. the prior years and I attribute it mostly to the core work.
It is all about time in the saddle with consistency and occasional intensity. Some may disagree but the more you can do the better.
These seem like big numbers to me, but I know they aren’t unheard of.
I’ve never done an Unbound, but I’ve done a dozen or so events in the 8-10 hour range and have never consistently averaged more than 400-500 weekly cycling TSS based on a foundation of 1 to 3.5 hour rides. Goes without saying it’s individual and YMMV, that’s just all I have time for with life demands.
If I get into Leadville this year my A-event will be Lead Epic. If I don’t get into Leadville, I’ll still be at the race to support a friend who is getting his 10-year buckle this year, but will be happy enough to just do the 6 day Breck Epic.
Those aren’t numbers I’ll hold at, just the peak average I’ll hit. I seem to respond well to doing a big ~1000 tss week about a month out that pushes the average up, but then I back way off and I’ll be around 600tss (6 week average) by race day. Back during covid year, I had some extra time and experimented with sustaining 800+ tss weeks (a bunch of Z2) for an extended period and it didn’t seem to move the needle up (but didn’t bury me either). My kids are out of the house and I retired in May last year and have as much time as I want to train this season, so I plan to play with volume increases and see how I respond.
Just thought of this and I can’t find an answer: has anyone ever done the MTB 100 and ran the 100 in the same year?
I thought I saw someone on YouTube training for it, not sure if they completed both.
Isn’t that it’s own “competition” Leadman or something?
Almost certainly. It’s a separate competition within the 2 races.
You could do the Silver-man as a trial event. Silver Rush 50 run on Sat and Mtb on Sun.
Used to be, they call it the Lead Challenge now. Maybe Ironman got salty
This is far more common than people might think. Last year there were 85 people who tried it but only 35 who finished all the events. It’s a separate category within the series and you have to do every* LRS event in Leadville. *You technically can choose to only do SR50 bike OR run and not do both, but many people in Lead Challenge do both. Doing both those in a weekend is also its own separate sub event called the Silver King / Silver Queen.
Unethical life hack: You can register for Lead Challenge separately from the lottery process for the other events. You have to pay to register all events up front but it’s still “only” $1350 which is approx 1/3rd the price of a charity entry or camp. I live in CO and I’d happily do every event on the list up to the 100 run and just skip that. Not sure if you’d get in “trouble” for doing that, but it’s a lesser known backdoor to entry…
Well, entered the tandem category. Would be a fun introduction to the jawn.
Lottery is Open.
Whoa that’s cool! What bike would you be riding?
I don’t know for certain, but I’d bet tandem entries are a lock. Not too many folks crazy enough to venture there. Props to you and whoever you talked into it. Always love seeing the tandems out there.
We don’t have a race bike yet. Want to make sure we get in. From there it’ll be a whoooole lotta research.
No coercion involved, he was game from the moment I suggested it. Current problem is we currently live 2000 miles apart, so practice will be scant. His technical skills are much better than mine and I’m a stronger rider. I guess the plan would be for him to be in front for anything technically involved and I’d take the pilot’s seat for the simple sections.
Unless you guys like the exact same saddle height, reach,etc, I’d say let him drive and you stoke. I’ve never seen a tandem team swapping positions during a race, but I guess anything is possible.
Yeah, sounds like you’re going to have to relinquish your screenname, and take one for the team. We’ll now call you The Stoker.
Unless you’re already an adept tandem rider (not everyone has what it takes to ride either position) better get some practice with someone local. How a tandem handles on powerline is going to be VERY different than an everyday ride. Those brakes are gonna be cooking at some point.
Weekly Training Recap Blog #2
All of the comments on training have been super helpful. I continue my first 3-week block where I’ll shoot for mostly zone2 base rides with one high intensity ride. These weeks will range from 8-9 hours in total and seem to be falling in the 300-400 range for TSS. Already getting excited to rip next summer!
Week TSS: 344
Time: 8h 12m
FTP: 240 (method, best guess)
Weight: 173.9 lbs
Monday - Off
Tuesday - 1:10 base ride on the trainer. NP 170.
Wednesday - 1:22 base ride on trainer. NP 170. The 155-175 NP range seems like the spot for me right now for zone2 base training. I’ll continue to dial in this range as I get a little more fitness and do some real ftp tests. It’s all best guesses based on feel for now.
Thursday - 0:50 high intensity on the trainer. Zwift Cat C race for 0:25. NP213. This was a failed effort. It’s the only morning workout I’ve had so far and I was on the bike 5 minutes after I woke up. I’m just not a morning person. In the future, I’ll shoot to be awake for an hour before any morning workouts.
Friday - 0:20 recovery spin. NP 125
Saturday - 2:45 of single track. Love mountain biking in the Cuyuna area in the Minnesota mine country. Efforts are a little more sporadic on trails so instead of paying attention to power, focused more on a steady zone2 heart rate. NP 165 so the heart rate plan worked out. Working on positions in the descents that mimic positions I’ll have going down Columbine and Powerline.
Sunday - 1:42 of single track. Road with my wife and a friend on the trails and was a great day. Little easier effort at NP 144 but this is what keeps it fun.
What’s next - Next week I’ll shoot for hitting 10 hours before a recovery week where I’ll perform my first FTP test. Lost the easy post Thanksgiving pounds and on the path to see 16x before the new year. Btw, race weight goal will be below 150 but plan to get there slowly.
Good luck to all when you officially start down the training path!
Rode Cuyuna a couple years ago. “Shred the red!” Awesome stuff out there and the trail building model should be emulated everywhere. Completely revitalized a town!
I am also impressed with what MORC has done to build up the trail system in the metro area as well!