First 140km Sportive Saturday morning

BMKN

I have been training for a 140km sportive. I am aiming to finish the sportive in just under 5hours , What am I supposed to do the week before? I generally do about 13 hours training per week mixed with intervals hills and endurance. Do I drop my mileage down? I am currently doing 350-400 km per week, I am not doing any hills or intervals this week but would it be ok to do longish rides without it effecting my performance on Sat? I will not be doing anything on the Fri.

drlodge

That's quite a fast pace you're planning there. FWIW I did no cycling for over a week before the Ride London-Surrey 100 as I was on holiday, and my legs felt like they had loads of energy in them. Did the 100 miles in just under 5 hours so clearly the rest did me good.

I would plan on "resting", so taper.. a couple of easy rides perhaps, nothing strenuous.

phreak

As I understand it, tapering is usually keeping the same intensity but dropping the duration.

JayKosta

Reduce your daily distance to avoid depletion of body glycogen, and to avoid adding new stress on muscles.
Do some fast riding at speed that is comfortable for long distance.

On Thursday, make it an easy ride with a little bit of speed work - just enough to be thoroughly 'warmed-up' but not fatigued.

On Saturday, make sure to carry more food and water than the 'minimum' - high sugar snacks or 'energy bars' would be good. Don't delay eating, it's better to eat a little too early/often than to bonk.

Join a group of riders that you don't have to struggle to stay with - and who aren't too slow.
Riding too hard for the first hour will ruin the rest of the day....

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

ai_1

BMKN wrote:

I have been training for a 140km sportive. I am aiming to finish the sportive in just under 5hours , What am I supposed to do the week before? I generally do about 13 hours training per week mixed with intervals hills and endurance. Do I drop my mileage down? I am currently doing 350-400 km per week, I am not doing any hills or intervals this week but would it be ok to do longish rides without it effecting my performance on Sat? I will not be doing anything on the Fri.

Which event is this? Flat/hilly?

Grill

Were it a race I would suggesting taking Jay's advice into account. As it's a sportive I suggest you ride as normal and try to get your entry fee back at the cake stops (panniers are a good way to carry all the bars and gels you can loot).

wannabecyclist

you can also take the batteries out of your lights and fill them with jelly beans.