La Marmotte Training Advice

Nobuko

Hi all,

Given a chance to face to my true performance at The Dragon Ride :shock: and it is now 4 weeks to go before La Marmotte, I am desperate for a solid 4 week training program/advice or finding a good coach to help me improve my performance.

I am a female cyclist in her late thirties. I have been cycling for a few years and mainly doing long distance sportives having completed a few over 100 miles events including the Dragon Ride and the Fred Whitton. The latest result was sub 9hrs at the Dragon Ride (205K route).
I have been consistent on training for the last few months but really looking to improve my performance for La Marmmotte.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated..
Many thanks in advance!

Nob x

I am the god of hell fire

Im not an expert but do have a vested interest here
I would doubt that you could do much in 4 weeks but await informed replies to this thread with interest

COI: Time limited, middle aged git with job, family and the usual other commitments all conspiring against riding a bike quickly up 4 mountains.....

twotyred

Unless you were totally wiped out at the end of it then with Sub 9 hrs for this year's Dragon you'll certainly get round the Marmotte if you pace yourself appropriately. If you are comfortable knowing you'll get round the Marmotte but are just looking for more speed then I don't think there's that much you can do in four weeks except keep your current form, however I'm no coach. If you're going to take action then I think you'll have to take it before the end of this week. Get about 4 3 hour rides in this Fri-Monday with intervals in them of 20 mins or shorter at or over your lactate threshold to overload your sytem then throttle back after that and you might well see some training adaption from that before the Marmotte. Also if you're carrying a bit of excess weight then losing 1 kg in the next month will buy you about 5 mins on the Marmotte. If you can find a good coach to take you at short notice they might be able to do something but I suspect it will come with disclaimers.

Leroy42

I'm no coach, so any advice is just my own meadering experiences!

Not really sure how much can be 'gained' through training in the next 4 weeks, the last week before the event should entail very little so you are really talking about 3 weeks to achieve anything.

My own opinion, is that the base work is done, and 9 hours on the Dragon is certainly very good. The next 3 weeks should be about keeping that level or maybe trying to push a bit, but mostly listening to how your body is reacting to the increased stress of the longer rides etc.

Myself, I will be doing little during the week (work/family rather than choice really) but looking to do a long (100miles) cycles in the mountains each of the next 3 weekends. Nothing like the Alpes of course, but finding the best course to try to get as close as possible to what is needed.

Not much else to do really at this stage, the die is cast. Saying all that, doing nothing of course is not an option as this will certainly reduce your ability on the day.

So I guess you can't achieve that much more, but you can lose it! Even I'm not sure I'm making sense!

bahzob

Done the Marmotte a couple of times and I put together a guide to the event, including some training recommendations here

http://files.meetup.com/1899971/marmotte_guide.doc

You seem to have a good base from the Dragon ride also you should have a good feeling of what to eat/drink. Key thing that's different for the Marmotte is that climbs are much longer so pacing yourself will be key.

What I'd try to do over the next few weeks is to establish a pace that you feel comfortable with maintaining for 1-2 hours at a time. An example would be to ride a 30mile or so non-stop loop at as steady a pace as possible and get a sense of how this feels, in terms of things like breathing/effort. (and HR rate/power if you use those). An alternative if you can bear it would be an hour+ non stop on a turbo.

This is the pace you want to be doing the climbs at. If you can recreate this during the event you should be fine.

One other thing. During the long Dragon climbs you will have been in a pretty constant gear. You need at least 2 more available for the Marmotte.