Training plan for a stage race

Training
1

I’m signed up for a 3-day mixed surface race this spring with the following stages:

Day 1 (TT): 11 miles + 756 feet of climbing (max grade 7.8%) - top guys finishing in 30 min

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Day 2: 60 miles + 3000 feet of climbing (max grade 9.2%) - top guys finishing in 2.5 hrs

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Day 3 (4 lap circuit): 42 miles + 1700 feet of climbing (max grade 6.3%) - top guys finishing in 1.75 hrs

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I am using plan builder which set me up with the following (mid-volume):

  • Sweet Spot Base
  • General Build
  • Rolling Road Race

I see with the general build and rolling road race you get three workouts a week: 1 VO2, 1 anaerobic, 1 threshold (plus a 1 hr zone 2 and a long endurance ride to round out the week).

This seems like a lot of short & hard stuff to cover close to 5 hours of racing over the three days. But that being said it has been almost 12 years since I’ve done a stage race (or any bike race for that matter). So maybe I’m forgetting how racing is in terms of the types of efforts that are needed.

Thoughts? Should adjust one of the parts of the plan to add in a plan that has a sweet spot or threshold workout to replace either the VO2 or anaerobic?

2

As you’ve got a TT and a climby day have a look at what Climbing Road Race serves up.

It might be more like what you need.

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3

Have you considered how you intend/expect to race the events? You’ve mentioned the frontrunner times. If you’re at the pointy end, you’ll need more punch. Further back, more steady-state.

Also consider whether the surface mix dictates more aggressive punching and recovering.

So this might skew from Rolling to Climbing.
Or consider XCO/XCM as an alternative.

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4

I think Rolling RR or Climbing RR would be a good choice here.

  • Day 1 ITT stage will probably be ~30ish mins at your Threshold pace.

  • Day 2 RR stage looks like it’s got a long, steady climb – so probably more Tempo/Sweet Spot/Threshold with some harder surges.

  • Day 3 Circuit looks like it might be punchier – do you know how long the climb will take?

If that circuit race on Stage 3 has a shorter climb (think ~5 minutes), then I think it would be worth sticking with Rolling RR to work on those VO2 max efforts.

If the climb takes about 10 minutes or longer, though, then it might be a better idea to switch to Climbing RR so you can focus more on longer, sustained efforts.

Think less about the total time you’ll be on the bike over these 3 stages and consider instead the types of efforts you’ll have to do to hang on with the pack. In mass start racing, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to draft, so while you may be racing for about 5 hours over 3 days, you’ll probably spend a lot of that time coasting or soft-pedaling behind others.

The hard efforts where you’re really on are what matters when choosing your plan.

Hope that helps with your considerations – and feel free to let us know if you have any additional questions!

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