Endurance SOS...

richa

Ok, I'm in a little bit of trouble and could do with some help and advice...

I need to get fit, and fast. In fact I have just 60 days.

Here is where I am at now:
Height: 5'10. Weight: 14st 13. BMI = 29.7. Fat = 26%.
Due to injury and then workload I've not been on the bike for 2 months and not much since last summer's Etape.

Where I need to be:
5th July. La Marmotte. Main Aim: To be be much, much fitter. Secondary Aim: To weigh in at 13st 7. My workload has eased significantly and I should have the time to do the appropriate level of training. Plus the weather looks like it may have turned for the better.

What I am really not sure about is how best to structure my training, given the short time period...
- Should I have a recovery week? Or build to a peak a fortnight before and then reduce to the event?
- How many hours a week should I do? Any danger of overtraining?
- What pace is the most efficient in terms of building endurance quickly. (FYI, HRmax =190)

I am based in SW London and tend to do my training as follows:
25% Gym (Spin Classes + Cross Training)
75% Bike (Laps of Richmond Park, Surrey Hills, Sportives)

I reckon that I should be doing a 'big' ride every weekend and have entered the following as 'practice' sportives to build up to the big one:
Sun 11 May SWRC (80k)
Sun 18 May HHH (129k)
Sun 25 May tbc
Sun 01 Jun Chiltern (171k)
Sun 08 Jun tbc
Sun 15 Jun Dragon (180k)
Sun 22 Jun Cotswolds (164k)
Sun 29 Jun tbc
Sat 05 Jul Marmotte (184k)

I would really appreciate a little advice on the pace, amount & structure of training that would get the best out of me.

Many thanks.

Alex_Simmons/RST

it sounds to me like you are after some fairly specific coaching advice.

in general:
I'd suggest you start conservatively with your volume, up that each week, then ride as much as you are able and rest when you feel the need. I doubt that you will need much of a taper.

ut_och_cykla

If I've done my sums right you need a calorie deficit of 1200 kcal a day to get the weight off.
Do half by cutting out the cr*p food/beer/wine/crisps/cakes or whatever. And add an average of a extra hours steady (not slow but not thrashing) ride EVERYDAY - as you can see this could be quite a struggle time wise - but cutting intake might leave you too weak to train properly.
Make the exercise regular and progressive towards your goal. Listen carefully to yor body, sleep well, eat healthily. Don't go mad. Train for long sustained efforts up hill, heat tolerance and feeding on the bike.
Skip the gym/spin if you can and spend the time on the bike instead.
And
GOOD LUCK!

Toks

RichA wrote:

What I am really not sure about is how best to structure my training, given the short time period...
- Should I have a recovery week? Or build to a peak a fortnight before and then reduce to the event?
- How many hours a week should I do? Any danger of overtraining?
- What pace is the most efficient in terms of building endurance quickly. (FYI, HRmax =190)

.

Blimey Rich you've got your work cut out. :shock:

Best case scenario would be to get proper professional coaching advice.
Next best scenario would be be target the most important featture of endurance cycling performance which would be 'threshold power'.

So if not the former I'd suggest at least 3/4 friendly fast/moderately paced efforts per week (Richmond Park 3 lap, but not an all out challenge). An endurance ride or two every weekend. Forget Gym cross training stuff - get out there and ride.

Hours per week will depend. 10 might be great 15 might leave you too knackered, who knows? Danger of over training depends on intensity, frequency, training volume and all real life stuff./However, if you're doing less than 10 hours per week and you've previously had a decent standard of fitness then I'd say unlikely
.
Suggesting a pace is always tricky, using heart rate, for shortish rides 85% of your max would be good in general. Basically the shorter your ride the harder you should go. But no so hard that you can't repeat the same effort the next day. Good Luck