Cent Cols Challenge

Training
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Hello Peoples,

I’m signed up to ride Cent Cols Challenge Southern Alps 2021 (approx 125 mi/13K climbing every day for 10 days) and would be interested in hearing from anyone who has done CCC, or rides of similar duration and lunacy. Am a big TR fanboy but there is no obvious TR plan for CCC, so would be interested to know if anyone adapted a TR plan with good results, or thought a particular component of training (sweet spot, block periodization, whatever) was especially helpful in preparing. And what would you do differently training-wise, knowing what you know now?

For reference, current (February) FTP is 275 and I expect to get it to 290+ by the time of the June event, w/ a watts/kg of about 4.0. I’ve ridden Haute Route Alps, so have an inkling of what will be involved in this kind of multi-way endeavor. My current plan, besides riding a gazillion miles, is to raise FTP as high as possible until, perhaps, April, then focus on endurance power, e.g., building sweet spot intervals up to (gulp) an hour, with maybe 2x1hr or 3x40 mins at SS–that sort of thing. From Haute Route Alps I know that the hard thing is not any one day, but the accumulated fatigue. My growing suspicion is that success won’t come by climbing faster per se (although who doesn’t want to climb faster) but by virtue of my typical climbing power’s becoming a smaller and smaller percentage of my FTP, by, e.g., 220W getting pushed down from Sweet Spot to Tempo to Zone 2. All advice welcome. Thanks in advance. Chris

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I’d like to hear the answers to this one as well! I’m doing the CC6 Alps and will need a good plan starting in the new year.

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These guys have some interesting blog posts about riding and training for Cent Cols - Corsica I think, but may be of interest as they do talk a lot about the training that worked etc

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I rode ccc sa at about 4.2w/kg

As for training, your plan sounds good. I was training 7 hours a week. Towards the end maybe a bit more with two 4-5 hour rides a week.

Most of the time you’ll be riding pretty easy. It’s mostly about mental endurance and understanding how to fuel.
A ccc is not a vacation.

Also, bring a light bike. I rode a cervelo r5 with enve 4.5s and I think the deep wheels were worth it on the SA.

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Thanks for the link!

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TR Plan Builder has an option for Stage Race training. It looks pretty handy as you can set the individual days and the rest day.