Having completed this twice outside previously in 2014 and 2015, I will say that you should plan to try and get miles done early in the 8 days so that if you don’t you at least have the ability to make them up in the back end. Especially if you are doing it outside, things like weather and just overall fatigue can make it hard if things go wrong to add miles/time to the rides in the final days.
With trainer obviously some of this is not an issue, and pacing the miles is slightly easier, but if you’ve never done this kind of mileage in this duration, it does wear you down, and what you can do in day 1 easily becomes a fair bit harder by day 6.
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I am doing it the week before the official dates and turning it into a mini training camp. So I am aiming for Long, Long, Long, Long, rest, recovery, rest. Aim to average around 80 miles on each of the 4 long days so should get it all done. The aim is more duration for me given it’s a chance to scrap week 4 of SSB and replace it with LSD
As just posted I am swapping out a week of SSB and replacing with 4 days of long Z2 outdoor rides. So should still be driving all the adaptations needed in base phase. I then have the SSB week 5 recovery week after it, so it works well!
For me the F500 would significantly increase my weekly TSS and I can’t bring myself to potentially jeopardise future workouts.
Am i missing something or are the F500’ers not on a structured plan?
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I’m not too sure you are driving the same adaptations? I may be wrong though. SSB is very much about riding in Sweetspot with a little bit of Threshold work in there. With 4 days of Z2 you’re not going to get any of the adaptation that SS builds.
Please tell me I’m wrong, but this is one of the reason I’m not doing F500.
SSB is about building the best aerobic base you can in the hours you have available to train. If you’re doing the Low Volume plans then SSB goes right up to VO2 work to compensate for the low number of hours you’re training. Mid volume goes up to Threshold. High volume tops out at Sweetspot. If you have >10 hours/week to train then you need to carry on reducing the amount of intensity as you increase volume.
F500 is going to take 15-20 hours to complete for most people. If you normally have, say, 6-8 hours/week to train but have lots of extra time on your hands over Christmas, then doing a big block of Z2 riding for a week instead of Sweetspot isn’t going to derail your plan if done correctly. It’s still building your aerobic base. It’s more TSS but it’s TSS that doesn’t fatigue you as much, and if you have more time than usual to train it’s reasonable to think you may have more time than usual to sleep, use the foam roller, etc. The reason most of us don’t train like that normally is that 15-20 hours/week isn’t all that compatible with having a job, family, etc! And/or simply don’t want to spend that much time in the saddle every week. Which would maybe be another reason not to do the F500 - if you’re not used to riding your bike that much, then even if your legs, heart and lungs can cope with the workload then your butt, lower back and neck might struggle.
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Would be interested in others views.
I am doing SSB HV as it’s gives lots of SST in 10hrs per week. If I had more time in my life I’d swap this for more hours on the bike but at lower zones (to be able to handle the longer durations). Thus I had assumed swapping out a week of 10 hr TR workouts at SST for 20 hours at Z2 (ish) it would still be building good base - which is the plan. ???
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Just seen this after I wrote my post. This is exactly my thoughts. Can only ride 20 hrs in a week at xmas so want to do this at Z2 as a replacement for HV plan and to get outside
You are a legend just doing 250km
The verbage on the festive 500 seems to say “virtual rides uploaded to strava” so do TR workouts count, or is it just zwift?
Also, I’m guessing the best way to complete it on zwift is to pick a flat course on a tt bike or with a pace group.
On Strava it just says “virtual rides”, on the Rapha website it specifically says “kilometres covered on Zwift” - Rapha #Festive500 | Rapha
So I guess the intent is for only Zwift to count, though I don’t actually know whether Strava is able to enforce that technically. Can’t remember any other challenge or leaderboard I’ve done where it distinguishes between TR and Zwift, as opposed to real vs virtual. Though doing it on TR really does seem not in the spirit of the event given that I can just stick the bike in a big gear and spin along at 45+ kph in Z2 if I wanted to! Zwift mileage is at least pretty realistic. And yes, flat course on TT or in a group has to be the way to maximise mileage to effort.
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I understand it to just be Zwift too, no TR, no Rouvy or any other virtual app.
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I email Strava about what counts for the Rapha Festive 500. This is the reply.
Indoor virtual activities are categorized as those that include GPS, distance, elevation, and time data from a simulated route. Strava’s own challenges will continue to count only outdoor run and ride activities towards challenge goals.
This should include Zwift activities, however, if GPS data is not included in activity files, those activities will not count toward this challenge.
So, would think if the indoor app has GPS data it will work.
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Well, I changed my mind about attempting to do this outside. While the challenge is still well away, last few days we’ve had rain, melting snow, and freezing overnight, which has turned everything into a skating rink. Instead, I’ll add a bit to my regular programming and hit 500km inside.
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In previous years I have just unchecked the indoor cycling box on Strava for indoor rides on other platforms than Zwift and TR to count in the 500.
As on this TR custom ride. I have found on some Strava challenges if you don’t have it visible to everyone it doesn’t count (until you change it once you notice that is).
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The 500 just sounds miserable to me. I’d have to ride the trainer for 2+ hours a day on average. If I lived in a warmer climate and had the freedom to do a few 75+ mile rides it would be different.
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I totally understand where you’re coming from on this - I’ve slogged through some seriously cold and wet winter days to do this in the past and not enjoyed it at all!
This year I decided it would be weather dependant and right now the 10 day forecast suggests 6-7c daytime temps and mostly dry days up to the 28th, so if thats the case I’ll head outside for a nice block of endurance miles and take a break from the rollers for a while!
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hmm strange as I got this from Rapha (using the chat)
I was thinking of doing tones of z2 / tempo work on the trainer to build base miles before training properly kicks in, in Jan.
I guess if it doesnt count, its a good challenge for yourself. As id say this takes some discipline if you’re unable to get outdoors as much.
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Indeed, despite the “hardman” feeling anything less than a terrible condition ride outside is not in the sprit of the origin, doing this inside has it’s own and understandably different level of difficulty. Good to see Rapha essentially being clear about the open options either way.
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If TR miles count, then surely you can set a custom workout (or choose a relatively flat one) and dial the power back to 50W, then spin in the 53x11. Wouldn’t that make Strava think you’re doing like 50 mph?