Training advice needed for 600 mile ride

stevee_p

Hi guys – I am taking part in a 600 mile cycle ride in September over 6 days, so 100 miles each day.

I am in the process of putting together a training plan to use from now until September, and was wondering if those of you who have done long-distance cycling would care to comment on my proposed plan with any advice etc.

So, at present, the most I would usually ride on a weekend would be a 50-55 miler on a Saturday. I have just bought a set of rollers for mid week training until the evenings become a bit lighter, and plan to basically start with a 50(ish) mile ride on a weekend, plus 2 x weekday sessions on the rollers of around 20 miles each session.

Then my plan will be to increase each ride by around 5 miles each week eg:

Week 1:
Saturday or Sunday – 50 miles
Tuesday – 20 miles
Thursday – 20 miles

Week 2:
Saturday or Sunday – 55 miles
Tuesday – 25 miles
Thursday – 25 miles

Week 3:
Saturday or Sunday – 60 miles
Tuesday – 30 miles
Thursday – 30 miles

…and so on. Come summer time, I plan to be doing Saturday & Sunday rides, as well as morning & afternoon rides, with the final stages of training to consist of basically being able to do a 50 miler on a morning, short lunch stop, then a 50 in the afternoon, on several consecutive days.

What are your thoughts on this idea? This is the first time I have committed to any sort of training, and so I would like some advice on timescales, distances etc, as well as anything else I need to consider. I guess the main advice I need is how many miles and what frequencies I should be doing now, and how much should I increase this by, and when. And finally, as I will be doing 100 miles for 6 consecutive days, what should I train to? I often hear people training for a marathon saying you should only go up to 18 miles, and then on the marathon day, you’ll be able top go that extra 6 on adrenaline etc. Likewise, I’ve heard people saying, when training for a century, train up to 80 miles, and you’ll do the extra 20 easy.

Any advice considered!

Thanks

ut_och_cykla

As long as you don't have a time cut off 100 miles a day is doable on your plan. Most at risk will be your contact points - so the longer/more often you ride the more your bum & hands will get used to it. My tip would be don't overdo it now - getting an infection or overuse injury now would be tedious - and getting tired of cycling wouldn't be good either! build slowly - don't rush and don't feel you have to worry about times and stuff until you've been cycling regularly for at least 3 months. Good luck!

amaferanga

Are all your rides at the same intensity or do you plan to do the shorter rides at a higher intensity?

I reckon that once you can do back-to-back 100 mile days fairly comfortably then you'll be fine for the 6. Just make sure you're riding over similar terrain as you'll be doing on your 600 mile ride and as above, make sure you're bike fit is spot-on.

Finbar Saunders

Don't forget to build in some rest and recovery into your plans. Not just rest days in the weeks, but also easier weeks where you cut back the miles a bit and then continue to build.

stevee_p

amaferanga wrote:

Are all your rides at the same intensity or do you plan to do the shorter rides at a higher intensity?

I reckon that once you can do back-to-back 100 mile days fairly comfortably then you'll be fine for the 6. Just make sure you're riding over similar terrain as you'll be doing on your 600 mile ride and as above, make sure you're bike fit is spot-on.

My training will be at roughly the same intensity. Depending on the route im taking on a weekend, will determine the intensity, but as I do not have a HR monitor, im a bit naive as to low / high intensity. I usually average 16mph and generally try to hold back a bit until i'm on the 'home stretch' so I don't burn out to easily.

stevee_p

Finbar Saunders wrote:

Don't forget to build in some rest and recovery into your plans. Not just rest days in the weeks, but also easier weeks where you cut back the miles a bit and then continue to build.

I am new to training, and as such, have never thought about Recovery. This usually involves sitting down in the shower after a ride! Would you simply advise having some 'easy' weeks followed by harder sessions, eg rest week every 3rd week?

I have seen a book on Amazon called 'Long Distance cycling - the ultimate guide...' which sounds good, so im hoping to get some pointers from that too.

Finbar Saunders

stevee_p wrote:

Finbar Saunders wrote:

Don't forget to build in some rest and recovery into your plans. Not just rest days in the weeks, but also easier weeks where you cut back the miles a bit and then continue to build.

I am new to training, and as such, have never thought about Recovery. This usually involves sitting down in the shower after a ride! Would you simply advise having some 'easy' weeks followed by harder sessions, eg rest week every 3rd week?

I have seen a book on Amazon called 'Long Distance cycling - the ultimate guide...' which sounds good, so im hoping to get some pointers from that too.

Yes, in it's simplest form it would be an easier week every 4th, 5th or 6th week. Google periodisation AND cycling for some background and examples. This is a very brief outline: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_periodization

vorsprung

amaferanga wrote:

I reckon that once you can do back-to-back 100 mile days fairly comfortably then you'll be fine for the 6. Just make sure you're riding over similar terrain as you'll be doing on your 600 mile ride and as above, make sure you're bike fit is spot-on.

I agree with this

I did a 600 mile event last August and I think this is sound advice

stevee_p

vorsprung wrote:

amaferanga wrote:

I reckon that once you can do back-to-back 100 mile days fairly comfortably then you'll be fine for the 6. Just make sure you're riding over similar terrain as you'll be doing on your 600 mile ride and as above, make sure you're bike fit is spot-on.

I agree with this

I did a 600 mile event last August and I think this is sound advice

I guess its just getting up to that sort of time on bike / distance.

When you did your 600, how was it paced etc? Over how many days? What average speed were you getting, and how did you split the day up?

Thanks

vorsprung

stevee_p wrote:

vorsprung wrote:

amaferanga wrote:

I reckon that once you can do back-to-back 100 mile days fairly comfortably then you'll be fine for the 6. Just make sure you're riding over similar terrain as you'll be doing on your 600 mile ride and as above, make sure you're bike fit is spot-on.

I agree with this

I did a 600 mile event last August and I think this is sound advice

I guess its just getting up to that sort of time on bike / distance.

When you did your 600, how was it paced etc? Over how many days? What average speed were you getting, and how did you split the day up?

Thanks

I did the Mille Cymru 1000km audax. This was over 75 hours, including sleep. The total climbing was 13,000m so this was a major factor. There were about 50 finishers on the event

Day one I did 221 miles in 22h, day two 193 miles in 20h, day three and the morning of day four 222 miles in 25h

Hard to say what the actual average speed was. I did stop for meals during the day. Usually on this sort of ride it's about 12.5 mph. In the 3 or 4 hours I wasn't riding I was asleep, we had a base camp and did the 1000km as loops from there.

If you are doing 100 miles per day then I would guess that your pace would be higher. Also you aren't going to do 13,000m ascent which will help

I have a bunch of pages about this event on my blog here

http://en.wordpress.com/tag/mille-cymru/

I am aiming to write something for Arrivee magazine about my tapering technique as this seemed to go very well

Much of my preparation experience probably isn't directly useful to you. For example, I aimed to train in 3 day blocks to simulate the 3 day event.

stevee_p

Thanks for the comments on that.

It seems the event you did was a good 3 or 4 times more mental than my route! Well done on that one! 200+ miles a day is crazy

I'll take a look at your site in a bit

thanks again