1 long ride or 2 smaller one's prior to sportive

rob39

Sportive coming up 70 miles end of April (10days). Done a few 50s in training ave 14mph and looking forward to the day. Was planning a hilly 60 this weekend or would a couple of 40 milers be more beneficial. Also plan a leg loosener midweek nothing hard

imposter2.0

Trying hard not to sound too dismissive or flippant - but it really doesn't matter. Whatever you do this weekend will make no difference to your sportive next weekend.

napoleond

I'd suggest do what you fancy this weekend then really reduce the volume next week, with just a couple short rides mid week at high intensity, say, 3-4 short ( up to 5 mins) intervals at your climbing effort.

Basically your classic taper.
You'll lose the fatigue but keep the fitness and feeling of intense efforts.

You won't get any benefit from anything now, just keep topped up, but you can overdo it and make things worse.

Alex_Simmons/RST

Very few people train anywhere near hard enough to need a taper. As Imposter says, what you do this week isn't the issue, it's what you've done over the past weeks and months that matters more. Just ride and have fun.

bernithebiker

I don't put in massive miles or training, but I have always found it beneficial to ease up in the week prior to a big one like the Etape.
I always seem to do best when I come to such a race fresh, with few recent miles in my legs.
So for example for a Saturday race, I might do an easy 2 hour Monday, 1 to 1.5 hour Wednesday, then 1/2 hour Friday with a couple of little sprints in there.
It must also surely be age related - I'm 46 and don't recover like a 23 year old does.....

drlodge

Do the hilly 60 then rest.

I've done the Ride London 100 a couple of times having been on holiday the week before and not ridden for 10 days or so. I actually felt very fresh and 10 days isn't long enough to lose fitness. At least that's my experience.

supermurph09

You say you are planning a hilly 60 miler this weekend but didn't ask last week how you should prepare for that and for good reason. Riding 70 miles is no different in terms of the physical ability you need to complete it so just get the miles in this week without worrying about it. Just don't add too much fatigue in the couple of days before.

Good luck, enjoy.

rob39

Thanks folks I'm fully aware that anything this week ain't going to make any difference just want to get a good ride in near the event with out causing fatigue.

imposter2.0

rob39 wrote:

Thanks folks I'm fully aware that anything this week ain't going to make any difference just want to get a good ride in near the event with out causing fatigue.

Any big ride is going to cause fatigue though. The important bit is how well you recover from it. The better your level of fitness, the easier it will be to recover/repeat without issue.