Training plan for 80k sportive.. at the end of April

tobh

Hello

I am going to enter the Princes Risborough sportive on 26th April. And I need some advice on training...

I am new to road biking. And have taken up the challenge of riding the sportive with my big head work mate. He did the ride last year and came within the top 20. He rides 20 miles a day to and from work; I'd like to be able to keep up with him..

The training I currently do is as follows -

Gym - 3 times a week for weights and strength work and a little cardio.

Run - 3 times a week; 9 min miles usually 4 - 6 mile runs.

Weekend - either an additional mega session at the gym or, another run or usually a 3 hour mountain bike ride or recently a 1.5 hour road ride.

My road riding is appx 20 miles. With an average speed of appx 16mph (I'm getting used to the gears and the weather has been somewhat diabolical recently...)

I do some kind of activity six days a week. I'm a big chap.

Any advice ??

Ta

T

thiscocks

Just start building on your current 20miles by doing a 25-30 mile road ride a week. After a couple of weeks increase to a 35-40 mile and say a week or so before the ride get in a couple of 50mile ones (which is about 80k I think..).

Id also replace a session or two of weights and running with pure cycling on the gym bikes for 30-40mins. Dont push too hard on these and if you do, make sure its 15-20 min into starting. And remember 10min cool-downs (very little effort).

Should be ok for the 80k then.

Remember on the longer rides to take food and plenty of drink. If you haven't done those kind of distances before you will need to be fueled up before, and during (easy to 'detonate'!)

Tim

tobh

what I thought I could do was -

Mon, Wed and Friday - Gym but with a 30 min treadmiill session, cut the weights a bit.

Tues and Thursday - road ride to station / commute 20 miles there and back.

weekend - at least one road ride of 2 + hours building to 50 miles..

Basically cut out the road running and put some road bike miles in.

What do you reckon ?

Also, living in Essex it's not too hilly (although on the mtb we climbed 1700 ft in 12 miles in Danbury on Sunday). How do I train for hills when I don't have many near me ?

Sorry, maybe this post should have been in the beginner section..

T

www.strengthofstrings.blogspot.com

redddraggon

To be honest, you'd better off getting on the bike rather than going to the gym or running.

Riding a bike is generally considered to be the best way of way of making you ride better.

Bronzie

If you want to hang with someone who finishes top 20, I'd be getting as much cycling in as possible asap - commute, turbo trainer, even exercise bike at the gym (as a last resort if the first two are not an option).

Running, weights, general gym work etc is not specific enough to improve your cycling ability beyond a certain level.

How do I train for hills when I don't have many near me?

Mix some short intense intervals into your base endurance miles - something that replicates the sort of length the climbs are (prob 5 mins max in the Chilterns). Either do these on the flat road in a big gear, or on a turbo - the aim being to ride the 5 minute intervals at an intensity where you can just about finish the last of 6 intervals without slowing, with a 3-4 minute recovery between each effort. You'll need to play with the intensity to get this right, which is probably easier on a turbo (with rear-wheel speedo) than road.

BTW this post would probably be better in "Training" not "Beginners".

softlad

as above - bin the gym and running sessions and just ride the bike...

ledburyloafer

also learn to draft effectively, hold your mates wheel for the duration and let him tow you round, last mile in nail it, you might even beat him! :twisted: