Weekly training miles for 250 mile ride.

NITR8s

In september I am taking part in the 24hour solo challenge at silverstone and want to complete at least 250 miles in this time. However, I want to treat it as a 250 mile ride but with the option to keep going at the end. I.e if I can average 15mph I will do 250 miles in just under 17 hours and leave me with spare time to do extra.

I am currently only doing about 60 miles per week at about 17 to 19mph average and aim to increase this to about 150 miles a week and keep doing this until september. I did originally want to match the distance weekly, i.e 250 miles per week but unfortunatly i dont have the time to average 35 miles per day. (2 hours cycling) or (14 hours per week)

Do you think 150 per week is enough to complete a 250 mile ride without killing myself.

FatTed

So you want to do 2 weeks riding in one day, I would think you need to do more riding in preparation.

danowat

You'd be better off concentrating on time in the saddle in a single ride, rather than weekly mileage

wallace_and_gromit

danowat wrote:

You'd be better off concentrating on time in the saddle in a single ride, rather than weekly mileage

I'd agree with this. To ride for that duration comfortably, you need to train the body to fat-burn and utilise efficiently the food you consume "on the road". This can only be done via long rides, as with shorter rides (e.g. 2 to 3 hours) the body has enough glycogen stored to see you through.

Plus, you'll need to get your "core" and rear end accustomed to such durations. You might be able to endure the pain and get through this side of things on the day, but any ride with a sore a*se is less fun that one without!

danowat

FTR, I did a 250mile 12hr TT on a maximum training ride length of 5hrs.

grazza_e

I'm not quite there in terms of distance, i'm working up towards a 150 mile event which is not quite the same. I did find quite a bit of useful information googling on training programmes for double centuries / brevets, which seem popular in the US.

Here is one of the ones i had bookmarked, but as said, that extra distance means my personal experience may not quite match, but I do think the same advice would apply. http://www.coach-hughes.com/resources/dc_training.html

Some of it you probably already know, but i've worked on the basis of gradually building up endurance / base to get the distance. Most of these rides i've tried to keep below an average 140 HR (my max is probably 190). After I get close to distance and have a good base start to focus a little more on my threshold / speed, which is probably no different to most training plans.

I do think you need to make sure you allow adequate recovery time after the really big rides, otherwise you can lose some of the benefit. So agree with what others have said it's probably less about total hours each week as you might impact your recovery time when you start cracking out long rides.

Setarkos

What is your time budget? If you don't have much time during the week, try to improve your speed, ride 2h at 20mph maybe? If at all possible try to do more mileage in one go on the weekends.
You'll have to figure out what type of food you can eat on a long ride. I know 24h specialists who are fine with only energy drinks. Others eat sandwiches, so the spectrum is huge.
Also don't underestimate the psychological components. Make sure you ride at night at least once before, testing your gear, lights etc. get clear lenses for your glasses...

Wallace and Gromit wrote:

you need to train the body to fat-burn

Almost everyone who hasn't been training for years and has reached a plateau will improve their lipometabolism more efficiently by raising their threshold power.

NITR8s

I am trying to increase my speed on the shorter rides, as i figured increaseing LT should mean that cycling slower is easier. I.e if im used to cycling at 20mph for 2 hours, my body should find it easier to cycle at 13mph than if I usually cycle at 15mph.

The problem is I dont have time for long rides and I remember reading somewhere that you should be able to ride in a day, what you usually ride in week. Hence upping weekly average.

The event is not untill september and the target I have set my self i think is a sensible 250 miles (10.4mph) average.

I am gonna leave my winter trainer at work and try and get out every lunch time for a 40-50min ride to up my weekly mileage. I also plan to join the gym through my work closer to the time and try and do some swimming and spin classes etc to improve fitness.

As for food, I plan to stop every 3 laps to eat and drink plenty. This should be every 45 to 50 mins as it is only 3.6 miles a lap. The only hard thing will be limiting my effort to conserve energy as I know that 13mph is gonna feel really slow when I am really fresh. However, after 12 hours it is gonna no doubt be a lot harder.

mrc1

My 2p as a RAAM 4 man team finisher with plenty of other multi-day endurance rides under my belt.

You can definitely do it on the training time you have, if you have the mental battle won (a huge proportion of the challenge of these events is the mental battle). 24 hours is a long time to be on your bike, but it isnt so long that you cant easily break it down into manageable chunks. If you set off thinking "Parts will be enjoyable, parts will be horrible, but its only 24hrs and I know what I want to achieve" then you should be fine. I'd try and break it down into chunks to make it seem more manageable and then set realistic distance goals for each chunk.

1. I don't know your circumstances but I would try and "make time" by getting up really early to ride or sacrificing some sleep by riding late. Gets you used to riding when not feeling fantastic and also means you cram more rides into a given week. We did rides where we finished work on a friday night at 7.30pm and then rode from London down to Brighton then caught the last train back home (two of us were out voted about riding back). Or I would set my alarm for 3am and do an hour on the turbo (this isn't so relevant for you but its worth a try just to see how you react). Things like that are great as you are riding when not feeling fully fresh and unless you have other Friday night commitments it turns wasted time into useful training time. You don'thave to do them very often and even one is enough - the main thing is that it gives you a confidence booster as you know that you can do it.

2. Factor in rest and pit stop time + a buffer. I'd personally start off a little bit quicker (but still comfortable) to make the most of the initial adrenaline and excitement. That way you can build up a buffer which means that if you start to hit hard times your goal won't disappear in front of your eyes. You will probably hit points where your target speed feels a breeze and others where it is a nightmare so try to keep this in mind when selecting your speed and plan for a realistic outcome.

3. Naps. Trying to stay awake for 24 hours might actually be counter productive depending on the type of person you are. I do quite well without sleep as I find that I actually feel worse for breaking my rhythm and trying to nap, but others find that a 15 min power nap gives them a huge boost that means they can then ride faster for the next few hours. Only you can decide this one which is why its a good idea to do some riding when very tired.

4. Food. Choose a strategy, try it out and use it on the day. If you like drinks and gels then use them, but if you prefer food then go down that road. There is no point making yourself feel miserable or awful by following something that you don't want to do. Whatever you do though make sure you keep a solid constant intake going in order to avoid the pealks and troughs that can happen. Things like caffeine gels are great initially but the crash once they wear off can be horrible particularly if you are knackered.

5. Make sure you have a very comfy set up and don't change it unless you have several weeks within which to readapt to it. Changing your saddle a few weeks before the event for example is probably going to be a bad idea - if you have any niggles then get them sorted out now months in advance. I used a Planet X Stealth for a huge number of miles during RAAM and despite a fairly aggressive position (probably akin to an Ironman position - not too aggressive but definitely more aero than a road bike) I was perfectly comfortable as I had taken the time to get the fit right (you don't need to spend money on a bike fit - just find a comfy position yourself that isn't too aggressive) whereas one of the other guys couldn't manage more than about 10 mins in the saddle of his TT bike without feeling like his back was broken. A pair of clip on TT bars properly set up can work wonders on a road bike as they take the weight off your hands and on to your skeleton and give you an aero gain. That way you have four hand positions to move between a) drops b) hoods c) tops and d) aero bars.

6. Kit - make sure you have lots of kit and try to change your shorts fairly regularly particularly if it is raining. Some Race Blades or so on are great if the heavens do open.

vorsprung

I would have thought that 250 miles isn't that difficult in 24 hours on a track

I am not super fit but I've repeatedly done 250 miles in less than 24 hours, across Wales and not on a relatively flat, well surfaced track, including stops for meals.

At a guess, 350 miles is a more realistic target for you

mrc1 makes some good points about setup, kit and food.

As for training, do some long rides: at least once a week do 3 hours+ Before the event you need to ramp up your "long ride of the week" duration to 16 hours at least.
Here is a linky about a interval training regime intended for fast long rides
http://www.ultracycling.com/sections/ar ... aining.php
You will need to train to be fast as well as enduring

There is the UK National 24 hour time trial in Merseyside a couple of months before your event. If you want a realistic practice session then enter that.