Training for La Marmotte

brucey72

After spending a week in the Alps this summer cycling I have decided to set my main goal for next seasons cycling ................to complete La Marmotte in a reasonable time. With this in mind I was wondering whether anyone knew of any Training Schedule available online or book form that would help me. I have a couple of the books that have been mentioned in a similar thread by RichA but I just don't see how I can create a training schedule for those types of relentless mountain climbs.

Thanks

Kléber

Here's a simple plan. Start riding your bike in February or March so that...

By the end of March aim to ride 3 hours comfortably.
By the end of April aim to ride 4 hours comfortably.
By the end of May aim to ride 5 hours comfortably.

The long climbs will take you an hour or two. So as well as a big long ride each a week, typically on a Sunday, spend the rest of the week riding eyeballs out for an hour twice and do another session where after a 20 minute warm up, you ride hard for 20 minutes. For these speed sessions, time yourself and try to beat your previous sessions.

Doing well on long mountain passes is all about power to weight. So stay healthy too and make sure you're not transporting too much lard around the Alps come July.

All this will get you through the Marmotte. It's no race, you can take 12 hours if you like, average under 10mph and you'll finish.

skavanagh.bikeradar

I highly recommend NOT taking 12 hours as in my experience it was touch and go that I'd finish. It's a long, long time to be cycling up mountains. Having said that I did implode on Alpe D'huez and you might not so I'll get me coat.

For my training I did long rides on a Sunday building up to 8hrs in the saddle on UK sportives - the Highclere for example. I did about 7 of these events. I also tried to do another 2 hour hard tempo ride and a turbo session doing either 4 minute hard intervals with 4 minute rest or an hour at 85% MHR.

In retrospect it wasn't the best training for the event, although compared to the year before I was much fitter especially on hills. The difference between finishing and not finishing perhaps.

Next time I'd focus more on a quality 2 x 20 session (any benefit in a 3 x 20?) and 2 other 2 hour hard/hilly tempo rides in addition to the Sunday long ride. I will also get a power measuring device like the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine for testing at regular intervals (cheapest most reliable option as far as I ca work out). My progress guides will be power and weight indicators and 25 mile TTs. I'll also do less uk sportives, maybe 3 or 4 and do them at full tilt to replicate the difficultly of the Marmotte. Especially for feeding strategy, as it's hard to eat when climbing for hours and hard to eat on the first descent of the day which is technical. In the UK I was going at a slower pace and it's easy to sit up and eat while continuing to pedal. A bit less weight and a bit more targeted training...............

I'd like to keep training under control so it's not stopping me from doing family things and earning a living, and I still enjoy going out (it's not my job!!) but I'd like to get round the Marmotte without blowing up again, anything else is a bonus but I've got a mystical 10 hr target for some reason. This year FWIW I flopped over the line in 11.50-ish after reaching the bottom of the Alpe in 9.22.

Hopefully if I'm getting that wrong someone who knows what they are on about will intervene and let me know!!

Mark Alexander

if anything here helps

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/forums/vi ... t=marmotte

synchronicity

One of the only cycling books I've bothered to read:

Long Distance Cycling

Full of useful, practical info... read my review above.

richa

Brucey,

You may have gathered from my other post that I am looking for a little extra info to tweak my training to go sub 8hrs.

The main core to my training will however remain the same, and goes something like this:

Pre-Xmas = General fitness (incl. on the bike) & Weightloss (to a reasonable ride weight)
Jan-Apr = Longer rides & Club Runs (building up to 125k/5hrs)
May-Jun = Regular UK Sportives (of approx 150k/6hrs)
Jul = Marmotte

Should set you up nicely for Silver (approx 10.5hrs) and to challenge for Gold (approx 9hrs)...

Make sure you enjoy it. It is a lot of hours on the bike / training for it not to be fun.

brucey72

Mark Alexander wrote:

if anything here helps

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/forums/vi ... t=marmotte

Hey Mark,

That was most helpful, if just a little daunting at the same time.

How did you actually get on in the end?? did you achieve the sub 10 hours you hoped for?

Eddie Smirks

Hello Brucey,

I did the Marmotte for the first time this year and probably started thinking about 'training' up for it at about this time last year too. I won't comment on what a 'proper' training schedule should be as mine was probably slightly lacking (I like to call it the Jade Goody London marathon approach ) but I made it to the finish in a pretty reasonable time.

From my experience I learnt that shorter higher intensity efforts (1 to 2 hours) are definitely the way forward. If you think about it, it's not the 180km that's hard it's the 20 - 30km climbs that will kill you. Also, a lot of the event you'll spend barrelling down the side of a mountain or tucked in behind a fast moving group with some mad Dutchman pulling you along, so don't get too hung up on doing hour after hour in the saddle.

However, having said that, one thing I didn't do is any long sportives or rides over 80 miles prior to the event (pretty dumb, huh?). My biggest regret is riding around the Marmotte not knowing if I was minutes from blowing up; doing a good time in a couple of hard uk events woud have given me more confidence. In the end I was ok but it could have gone horribly wrong. I'd also recommend shedding as much weight (safely) as possible, however, if you're training and eating right this should come naturally.

Good luck

phenian

I'm in exactly the same position. I am planning to emigrate to Australia in around 18 months and this is going to be my send off event next year.

I am planning to finish. Time isnt that important.

genki

Eddie Smirks wrote:

My biggest regret is riding around the Marmotte not knowing if I was minutes from blowing up

This may sound a bit extreme, but if you're trying to ride something like the Marmotte as fast as you can without blowing up it helps to have blown yourself up a few times in training .

When I first started getting into riding longer distances I needed to work out what it felt like to 'bonk' on a ride. I rode once without eating, another time without drinking and learnt to recognise the symptons of what it feels like to approach and then cross the danger line. The worst time I had was an unplanned bonk when on a really hot day I drank too much water and probably gave myself a mild form of hyponatraemia. The other way you might want to blow yourself up is just set of on a long ride too fast, see how long you can hold it, and learn to feel what goes wrong first - legs, lungs, unable to keep HR up...Make your mistakes in training. It should all be valuable information so you can guage it just right on the big day.

fat boab

Mark Alexander wrote:

if anything here helps

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/forums/vi ... t=marmotte

I am thinking about Marmotte for next year, and enjoyed reading this thread - however, the final chapter is missing, and I am intrigued to know how it all went - did you complete, did you beat your target, did you blow up.... did you miss your flight?

rick_hewes

Here is my training spreadsheet for the Marmotte;
I completed in a time of 9h38m a comfortable silver.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pPdSXVtqkp7iQ46XqDXN8Qg

Actual ride time was about 8h30 odd which would be a gold time. But i definitely needed the time recovering at various points because of the heat.

So lessons learnt would be;

Acclimatise for at least a week,
Do more balls and all efforts of 2hrs+ in the preceding months,
Have less rest before the event itself,
Relax a bit more.

I'll be back for a gold time. Of all of the events I have done I found this to be the most challenging and worthwhile. I actually found it quite emotional finishing.

HTH,

Rick.

bahzob

There may be some stuff in here to help:

http://filesupload.com/showlink.php?files=marmotte%20guide.doc&dir=&user=bahzob

(Click OK on first screen then wait.....then click download...)

brucey72

Thanks Bahzbob. That was a really interesting read

Toks

phenian wrote:

.Time isnt that important.

Have you confirmed that with the Broom Wagon

richa

FYI, this year the last finisher came home in 13:43 (12.7 kph), the last Brit in 13:10 and the last Aussie in 10:33.

Bronzie

Toks wrote:

phenian wrote:

.Time isnt that important.

Have you confirmed that with the Broom Wagon

There isn't a series of elimination times in the same way there is at the Etape. There is however a cut-off time at the bottom of Alpe D'Huez - if you haven't started the climb by 18:00 (I think) you will have your timing chip removed and will be officially a non-finisher, even if you carry on and ride to the finish. This is what caught Mark Alexander out, and it is not that well publicised, at least not in English on the Marmotte website.

It therefore pays to start the ride as early as possible by getting an early start number by entering the event soon after it is opened in January.

Spartacus1981

bazbob. where's that marmotte plan mate ? doesn't load anymore : (

bahzob

Bilkobaggins wrote:

bazbob. where's that marmotte plan mate ? doesn't load anymore : (

Ah, not sure I have a backup... Fortunately there is an extremely good guide here..

http://sandmteam.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/la-marmotte-tips-from-top-parts-1-6a.html