Planning 2021 and I’ve got 23 weeks between now and my first A event. It’s a 340ish mile, single stage gravel race with a 34 hour cut off and will probably be in the neighbor hood of 25-30k feet of elevation gain.
Due to Covid the 2020 edition was moved from April to October(last weekend) where I competed and took a DNF after 19.5 hrs at mile 200 and 15k+ ft of gain. My nutrition(mixture of Roctane, Gels, and waffle) worked quite well, got a little gassy around 9-10 hours but went away after eating a bag of funyuns.(Lesson #1, a bit more ‘real’ food in 2021) Fitness was pretty good, I managed to hit my pacing goal fairly well(shooting for staying around a .73 IF for the first 6ish hours and then ride the fatigue cascade to the finish) Clothing choice was the root cause of my DNF this year IMO, instead of opting for 1 heavier layer for the overnight I added layers(ended up with 3 layers) that caused too much resistance to motion and caused me all sorts of aches and pains and a significant drop in power.(Lesson #2.)
As far as training for 2020 I stuck pretty good to the base, build, specialty plan. All Mid-Volume, progressing through SSBI>SSBII>SusPB>Century. With only a couple of longer 4+ hour rides in the later 2 progressions. Honestly fitness wise I did pretty darn good IMO. Planning for next year, with 23 weeks to go I don’t have time for a full progression. My plan is to use the HV versions of SSBI and II but omit the Friday endurance ride, and replace the Sunday workout with some form of endurance progression(i.e. 3>4>5 hour z2 rides). I also feel the need to add in some form of strength/mobility work(zero experience in this arena). Would twice a week be enough? Would this be a good case for reversing the plans? I spent just 30 minutes total at power levels above threshold over 19.5 hours. I get that I don’t want to neglect the vo2 effort but, it just isn’t used in this type of race. Would I be better served by running the massive SSB right before my event and doing some of the vo2 work early in the progression?
My advice would be to get as many hours outside on your bike on long rides and don’t even worry about the intensity (unless you’re prone to go too hard). You need to build up durability.
The gym can help too, and I recommend looking into some sort of strength training if only to help avoid injuries.
I’d recommend watching the Dylan Johnson “How to get fast on 10 hours a week” YouTube video. The guy has legit ultra endurance event credentials.
Personally I believe TR high-volume has too much, so your suggestion to replace Sunday workout with long endurance is a good one. But even then SSB HV has too much intensity IMHO.
I’m not against replacing the Wednesday ride with a Z2 cruise, I just don’t have enough free time during the week for more than ~90 minutes, weekends on the other hand I generally can spend copious amounts of time on the bike.[quote=“bbarrera, post:3, topic:45817, full:true”]
I’d recommend watching the Dylan Johnson “How to get fast on 10 hours a week” YouTube video. The guy has legit ultra endurance event credentials.
Personally I believe TR high-volume has too much, so your suggestion to replace Sunday workout with long endurance is a good one. But even then SSB HV has too much intensity IMHO.
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So would you say you agree on prioritizing the SSB plans over getting the full build and specialty plans in?
yup, my guess is that my gut just needed something outside of the liquid carbs I had been consuming. Was looking for Fritos, but saw the Funyuns first and they sounded good. bonus is they crush up small and take up very little space to be consumed while riding.
Hi
I do Audax riding. And use the Mid Volume century plan. I add in extra rides on top to give the Z2 training.
My usual years build up starting with 200km rides (elevation gain 2700m), then 300km rides same elevation gain. Then 400km about 3000m gain in elev, culminating in the 600km ride. I spread the rides out usually 4 weeks apart.
I switched to solid foods a few years ago, i make up my own sandwiches chicken etc, some peanut butter too. I have gels too, with bars thrown in. Electrolytes are essential and how much fluid loss is critical. You will get away with 1 or 2 % loss, any more and you will get a severe drop off in performance and perceived exertion. Drink before you fell you need to, at least a bottle an hour more if you sweat a lot , have you done a seat loss test. Lots of you tube video how to do.
I have tried the HV plans and find them really hard especially once they go into build.
My A event next year looks to be cancelled. London -Edinburgh - London. Was going to be the longest event i have ridden 1500km (940 miles) with 15000m + of climbs. Time limit 124hours… Not sure what to do.
Hope Vaccine changes things for everyone:-)
As to clothing, as temperature drops, Arm Warmers, Leg warmers and a thermal Gilliet and a skull cap. If it is really cold proper hat and Gloves, VeloToes are great at keeping feet warm and dry and mud free.