Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - Training Plan Questions/Advice?

My goal this year is to ride ODRAM (One Day Ride Across Michigan) which is a 150-160 mile self supported ride across Mid Michigan. This will be the farthest I have ever ridden, let alone self supported. As such I want to slowly work up a workout/trianing regiment so that when the time comes, I can handle it. The good news is that the ride is not until September, so I have plenty of time to do this.

Having never done this, I'd like to know if if some folks can take a look at my original 'plan' and give suggestions. I also have several questions and 'conditions' which need to be taken into account.

I have read through the numerous posts, machka's site, and so forth to come up with the basics.

Initial Plan
Monday: Medium distance, easy pace
Tuesday: Non Cycling Activity
Wednesday: Medium distance, moderate pace
Thursday: Mountain biking or intervals
Friday: Medium distance, moderate pace
Saturday: Long Distance, moderate to event pace
Sunday: Long Distance, moderate to event pace

Some notes on this:
Tuesdays: I'm taking JuJitsu, so I felt it would be a cross training and something to give my legs a slight break.
Thursdays: The local bike group does a bit of mountain biking in the evenings. I felt this would be a nice change of pace and give me some intervals training (I live in a very flat area)
Saturday and Sunday: There are usually club rides, but even without them, it seems like logical days to get in very long rides.

Pacing: Im aiming for a 90-95bpm cadance, it seems to be enough to give me a bit of a workout while being comfortable. Therefore I'd view 'easy pace' as about 75-80, and moderate pace 80-85. Might be wrong on this.

Commuting: As the snow melts (even if I have to use a hair dryer with a really long extension cord) I will be commuting to work on a daily basis. This is a 16 mile round trip. Obviously, some days I could take extra routes and extend it for more of a workout, but I figure I need to factor this into my training somehow.

Resting: I know that resting is important...but where to cram that in. Tuesdays could be intense for Jujitsu sometimes...should I throw in a off day on Friday, or would that be a bad idea before long distance riding? Skip the Monday ride (since Sunday is long and Tuesday would be a different activity?). Obviously I need to have at least ONE day.

Mileage build up: I've often wondered how to 'build up' the mileage. My thought was trying to follow this list: http://www.diablocyclists.com/RiderTips/DoubleCenturyTrainingProgram.htm

It gets you up to 150 miles in a day, which is obviously enough for my needs. (At the moment I've been biking on the trainer inside, 15 miles at a time. I could do more, but I get bored sitting in one place watching tv. Get me outside and that isn't a problem :) )

Other Events: There are, of course, other events I will ride this year (20-50 mile rides, etc). A little leeway is never a bad thing to work with and is fun anyhow.


Any suggestions? Please, feel free to critique and rip apart and reschedule, etc. I just have the caveats of Tuesdays and Thursdays (I really want to mountain bike some), and the commuting :)

Much appreciated, and thanks to everyone who have already posted ideas in the forums. It's helped me at least get a frame work to start with.

Please give your history, also. Age, biking, running or other athletics? If so, about how many miles per year previously?

Don't understand your use of the word "pacing." This is pedal cadence?

How many days per week have you been on the trainer? For how many weeks?

Do you use a heart rate monitor?

Would you describe your daily existence, beyond cycling, as sedentary, moderate, or active?

What kind of bike do you have?

Please give your history, also. Age, biking, running or other athletics? If so, about how many miles per year previously?
Don't understand your use of the word "pacing." This is pedal cadence?
How many days per week have you been on the trainer? For how many weeks?
Do you use a heart rate monitor?

Would you describe your daily existence, beyond cycling, as sedentary, moderate, or active?

What kind of bike do you have?

32, almost 33. Used to run track and cross country a lot. Bike a lot now, haven't kept track of biking mileage til late last year (1200 in about 4 months).
Yup, Cadance :)
I've been shooting for 5-6 days on the trainer, been going on almost all winter (been a little lax lately cause of a sore muscle :b)
Nope, dont use a heart rate monitor.
Daily exsistance would be moderate, and I only describe it that way because my job is with computers, so I spend 8 hours at a desk. Otherwise I'm rather active around the house, mowing, shoveling, etc.
I have three bikes: Mountain bike, a commuter bike (old mountain bike), and a road bike. I'm aiming for using the road bike for the long rides.

:)

Any suggestions? Please, feel free to critique and rip apart and reschedule, etc. I just have the caveats of Tuesdays and Thursdays (I really want to mountain bike some), and the commuting :)

what thoughts have you given to your nutrition and eating strategy? (liquid/Hammer/Accelerade vs. real/sandwiches/energy bars?) Generally, your training schedule seems pretty reasonable and so long as you can get a century under your belt a few weeks before your event, you should be ok.

If you're following the schedule that you linked to, it looks like you're going to have a few weekends with century rides before you arrive at 150. Definitely use those rides to work out an eating strategy that works for you. The physical training gets your engine tuned, but its not going to go very far if you don't give it fuel; and gastrointestinal issues stemming from a poor nutrition strategy tends to outnumber lack of physical fitness as a reason for DNFs in ultracycling events.

To be honest I'm still reviewing the food stuff :) I know it's important, but since I have a bit of time I figured I could work on it for a while. I also was hoping to speak to some local bicyclists in the club to see what they recommend.

I suggest using a periodised training schedule. There are lots of ways of doing this.
You can find a flesh and blood coach, use a service like CTS. You can subscribe (by phone) to Bicycling mag and while you are on the phone ask for a reprint of 'The Best Training Plan....ever' pg 69 Feb 1994.

You will need a HRM. I suggest this one.
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=22577&subcategory_ID=4115

If you don't do any of these things... I suggest getting a good book on distance training and study it.

In your current plan, I suggest taking Monday off after all that training over the weekend. Then go T/Wed/Th and take Fri off to rest up for the weekend. Make Sat long, and Sunday tough.

To be honest I'm still reviewing the food stuff :) I know it's important, but since I have a bit of time I figured I could work on it for a while. I also was hoping to speak to some local bicyclists in the club to see what they recommend. no worries. just wanted to be sure that it was on your radar. it's something that folks don't really prepare for because they're just focusing on miles and intervals and all that stuff; but learning to eat properly made a really big difference for me when I started doing distance events.

Hey H man, instead of the 600 word diatribe, which proves you could write your way across Michigan, why not wait until the weather warms up, jump on bike, ride it all day and then decide what questions pop up....?

Rule #1 when designing a training program is the 10% rule. Generally, only increase average weekly mileage by 10% per week. Only increase yearly mileage by 10% per year. You're obviously violating the yearly rule. On the other hand, you have to start somewhere. So don't get too emotionally attached to doing this ride. It may just be too huge a leap. I did the same thing, going from doing some recreational riding, right to a double. I vividly remember on my first attempt at a solo century training ride, sitting in a ditch crying from pain and frustration at the 75 mile mark. It was just too many things too quickly: saddle, legs, butt, shoulders, neck, hydration, food, clothing, flats. So many problems to solve all at once. I just couldn't do it. I backed off, joined a group of riders who do a long fast ride every week, and learned to do it. The next year, I did my double just fine, pulling my team the last 50 miles.

Which brings up another point: try to form a team of 3 or 4 of you, compatible people of similar abilities. Makes it more fun and you won't be isolated if you get dropped by a big paceline.

In my estimation this program has way too many miles on it. You're going to get discouraged. Multiply those mileages by .75. You could even cut them in half if that was too much. The other bad thing about it is that it's a steady progression. Don't do that! Do three weeks, more mileage each week, and then have an "easy" week where you cut back almost to the level of the first of the past three weeks. Then ramp up the next three, etc. And 16 weeks isn't enough time for you. Start it in March. Spread it out more. Ramp it up more slowly. While you've got snow, you may have a problem with those Saturday mileages. If you can't get out because of ice, just do it on the trainer, anyway. Spread it out into 2 or three sessions throughout the day. Personally, I vastly prefer rollers to a trainer. Performance used to have a fluid resistance unit that bolted to their Travel Trac rollers. That's a great combo.

Too bad your jujitsu isn't on Monday. Try just doing 45 minutes or an hour of Zone 1 on the trainer or rollers on Monday. Nothing more. Then your jujitsu on Tuesday. Make Wednesday your interval day. Starting in May, start doing tempo intervals on Wednesday. Do those for a month. Then do 2 months of sub-LT intervals. In August, do some Zone 5 intervals one week, then LT intervals the next. Something like that. Do steady state Zone 2 on Thursday. Take Friday off. Be careful not to overtrain. If your weekend rides are hard, you can eliminate the Wednesday intervals all together.

Your cadence should be about the same, no matter what speed or in what zone you are riding, although I find zone 1 recovery rides best at 80-85. I like to climb at 78-85. My preferred cadence is 90-95, although I'll vary my cadence throughout the ride. Sometimes I'll ride 110, sometimes 70, just depending on how I feel. Don't be a slave to anything. Make it fun.

My most important tip is butt care. Grease your butt thoroughly with Bag Balm. Now I grease only for the longer rides, but starting out I greased every time I rode. After every ride, shower and use a dandruff shampoo down there, like Tegrin. Makes all the difference. Never a saddle sore.

Rule #1 when designing a training program is the 10% rule. Generally, only increase average weekly mileage by 10% per week. Only increase yearly mileage by 10% per year.
I would vigorously disagree with this advice. Last year I went from being a 2500 mile / year rider to 4000+ miles, and from doing 120 miles as my longest ever ride to completing a 600k brevet; and I was very happy with that performance. Was it tough? Yes. Did I encounter challenges along the way? Sure. but I still got my goal and overcoming the challenge is part of the thrill, no?

I think that a misleading part of advice that gets distributed through this forum is that people are failing to distinguish between competitive / quasi-competitive race training and non-competitive / quasi-touring distance training. While I am not a racer, my impression has been that race training focuses on gradual steps of increasing intensity to develop strength and pain thresholds, which overlaps slightly but not completely with self-paced distance training. Particularly, it seems that part of the gradual nature of race training is to avoid injury from overstressed muscles in your training workouts; but if you approach the workout with a lower level of intensity, you can go further and increase endurance. You might not be as strong as someone who is constantly during intervals which might be bad if you're concerned about staying in pacelines, but not so important if you're just focused on finishing the ride at your own pace.

Normally, I don't mind that sort of advice, and would leave it to each rider to work out their own balance, but not when it treads into territory of "you don't have enough time now. Wait 'til next season." That's just discouraging.

Normally, I don't mind that sort of advice, and would leave it to each rider to work out their own balance, but not when it treads into territory of "you don't have enough time now. Wait 'til next season." That's just discouraging.I didn't say that, spoken. I said don't get too emotionally attached to this goal, and I tried to lay out a more realistic training progression that, in my opinion, will make his goal more attainable, not less. Going from 120 mile rides to a brevet series culminating in a 600k is nothing like the jump he's going to make. You increased your yearly mileage 160%, but he's going to have increase his more than 300%. Or in my case, I tried to jump from 30 mile rides to 200 miles. For me, it was absolutely and completely impossible, and I had a hard time abandoning a strongly-felt goal. I went from not being able to climb a 500' hill, period, to doing a double in three years. I couldn't do it in two, but had fun doing it in three. I'm saying if it doesn't work out this year, don't get discouraged.

We've had newbies try out our fast Sunday riding group. We don't mind newbies as long as they don't screw up. Often, they get dropped. We'll wait at the tops of hills for someone who's close, but we're not there to babysit. And you know, most of those don't come back again. But a few do, and they try and try and try, until one Sunday they're still there. That's what I'm talking about. In a way, it's all about ego loss.

As Machka pointed out in response to an overly optimistic post of mine on another topic, now that one can do a century ride easily on any given day, it's hard to remember what a leap it was that first year of long distance riding.

Rule #1 when designing a training program is the 10% rule. Generally, only increase average weekly mileage by 10% per week. Only increase yearly mileage by 10% per year. You're obviously violating the yearly rule.
I am probably one of the biggest offenders when it comes to violating the yearly rule.

In August 2005, I resolved to lose weight, and thought that using that 12 year old bike that was mostly gathering dust in the garage would help. I had done maybe 100 miles in the previous year on it. I was not even sure if I was going to be able to get the strenght to bike commute, after all it was a very long ride of 10 miles each way!

A year later almost to the day I finished a 1000k brevet. Slowly. And barely making the closing times of some of the controls. It closed a year where I went from "It's starting to sprinkle, time to head back home" to "It's been pouring rain all night. Time to look for lights that are more water-resistant when I get home tomorrow". Almost every week I discovered something new, and broadened my definition of what is possible on a bike. It was not easy, and I made a lot of mistakes. But it was an amazing experience.

The mileage police may be knocking at my door any minute now. But honest, nobody told me that I wasn't supposed to ride 4500 miles in 12 months, after doing 100 in the previous 12 months.

FWIW, YMMV

So... What's 110% of 0 miles?

I went from not riding for many years to riding 7000 miles in less than 8 months. Ooops. Looks like I broke the 10% rule. Did I mention the knee injury that helped to push me back into riding? I started riding again for rehab, and remembered just how much I loved it.

I didn't say that, spoken. I said don't get too emotionally attached to this goal, and I tried to lay out a more realistic training progression that, in my opinion, will make his goal more attainable, not less. Going from 120 mile rides to a brevet series culminating in a 600k is nothing like the jump he's going to make. You increased your yearly mileage 160%, but he's going to have increase his more than 300%. Or in my case, I tried to jump from 30 mile rides to 200 miles. For me, it was absolutely and completely impossible, and I had a hard time abandoning a strongly-felt goal. I went from not being able to climb a 500' hill, period, to doing a double in three years. I couldn't do it in two, but had fun doing it in three. I'm saying if it doesn't work out this year, don't get discouraged.
fair enough. I initially read it as, "you probably won't do the ride this year. there's too many problems to fix and you might not have enough time to ramp up" which might look to you as being reasonable, with scaling back expectations but looks to me as overly pessimistic especially when the guy's got, what?, 6 months to train? 24 weeks? even by your own 10% rule, that's plenty.

I mean, you do realize that comparing a 10% weekly increase to a 10% yearly increase is like comparing compund and simple interest, right? go from 100 > 110 > 121 every week and you 'll have a 212 mile week by Week 9, and be doing 309 miles by Week 12. And, hell, I wasn't even doing 300 mile weeks when I was training for a 600k (more like 250). So, to me, going by your math, it looks like he can be ready to ride 150 miles with 2.5 to 3 months. Why state up front that he might not meet his goals this early in the effort?

Hey H man, instead of the 600 word diatribe, which proves you could write your way across Michigan, why not wait until the weather warms up, jump on bike, ride it all day and then decide what questions pop up....?

Hey RC, the same argument could have been made to you, regarding your theoretical threads made awhile back... why argue about which type of ride is faster (hilly, rolling, etc...), when you could have gone out and done 30 of them, saved the stats, and presented a lengthy documented research paper proving your particular thesis? And if I remember correctly you posted a lengthy question about ramping up for RAAM or some other such thing. While a ride across Michigan might not be you're RAAM, it could be the OP's.

Here's a rider who's put a bunch of thought into how he's approaching his season's goals. He's written it all out, asking for cyclists more expereinced that he what they think. Don't you usually ask people who post stuff like this for more info?

Celebrate this. Its so much more productive than a Campy vs. Shimano or Carbon vs. Steel thread.


I'll agree that in general sometimes there needs to be less posting and more riding... and I think he's going to do just fine. But, it is the middle of winter (for some of us) - and now is the time to dream, plan, and scheme - as well as for setting goals and arguing on online forums about all sorts of stuff.

:D

My goal this year is to ride ODRAM (One Day Ride Across Michigan) which is a 150-160 mile self supported ride across Mid Michigan. This will be the farthest I have ever ridden, let alone self supported. As such I want to slowly work up a workout/trianing regiment so that when the time comes, I can handle it. The good news is that the ride is not until September, so I have plenty of time to do this.

Having never done this, I'd like to know if if some folks can take a look at my original 'plan' and give suggestions. I also have several questions and 'conditions' which need to be taken into account.

I have read through the numerous posts, machka's site, and so forth to come up with the basics.

Initial Plan
Monday: Medium distance, easy pace
Tuesday: Non Cycling Activity
Wednesday: Medium distance, moderate pace
Thursday: Mountain biking or intervals
Friday: Medium distance, moderate pace
Saturday: Long Distance, moderate to event pace
Sunday: Long Distance, moderate to event pace

Some notes on this:
Tuesdays: I'm taking JuJitsu, so I felt it would be a cross training and something to give my legs a slight break.
Thursdays: The local bike group does a bit of mountain biking in the evenings. I felt this would be a nice change of pace and give me some intervals training (I live in a very flat area)
Saturday and Sunday: There are usually club rides, but even without them, it seems like logical days to get in very long rides.

Pacing: Im aiming for a 90-95bpm cadance, it seems to be enough to give me a bit of a workout while being comfortable. Therefore I'd view 'easy pace' as about 75-80, and moderate pace 80-85. Might be wrong on this.

Commuting: As the snow melts (even if I have to use a hair dryer with a really long extension cord) I will be commuting to work on a daily basis. This is a 16 mile round trip. Obviously, some days I could take extra routes and extend it for more of a workout, but I figure I need to factor this into my training somehow.

Resting: I know that resting is important...but where to cram that in. Tuesdays could be intense for Jujitsu sometimes...should I throw in a off day on Friday, or would that be a bad idea before long distance riding? Skip the Monday ride (since Sunday is long and Tuesday would be a different activity?). Obviously I need to have at least ONE day.

Mileage build up: I've often wondered how to 'build up' the mileage. My thought was trying to follow this list: http://www.diablocyclists.com/RiderTips/DoubleCenturyTrainingProgram.htm

It gets you up to 150 miles in a day, which is obviously enough for my needs. (At the moment I've been biking on the trainer inside, 15 miles at a time. I could do more, but I get bored sitting in one place watching tv. Get me outside and that isn't a problem :) )

Other Events: There are, of course, other events I will ride this year (20-50 mile rides, etc). A little leeway is never a bad thing to work with and is fun anyhow.


Any suggestions? Please, feel free to critique and rip apart and reschedule, etc. I just have the caveats of Tuesdays and Thursdays (I really want to mountain bike some), and the commuting :)

Much appreciated, and thanks to everyone who have already posted ideas in the forums. It's helped me at least get a frame work to start with.

A few comments.

Most riders don't take enough recovery time, and I think you don't have enough days off in your schedule. Recovery days are when you improve. As a point of comparison, I did STP last year (205 miles) in a hair under 12 hours last year (was a bit sick or it would have been closer to 11) training only 3 days a week. I would suggest at least two days off (or true recovery rides), perhaps even three.

Or to put it another way, it's not time on the bike, it's quality time on the bike.

I also think you should look into periodicalized training. CTS is okay (you can find my web review of it). You should get a copy of the ultimate ride (or another training book), and a heart rate monitor will be a big help.

You should be spending the bulk of your time on aerobic work now. Interval work will make you faster, but it will also compromise the gains you can make on aerobic fitness, and that's what you need for a long ride. The speed and interval work can come in the summer when you have a better base. The HR monitor is most useful to have you keep your HR down.

On the cadence side, it's useful at times to be able to ride a higher cadence (I think I averaged around 105 for STP). There are drills you can do for this.

Nutrition is also something to work on. I found it was fairly easy to learn how to eat for a century, but getting beyond that required a lot more work, as food fatigue becomes a big issue.

Having said all that, I think you can easily do this by september, as long as you have a century or two under your belt. If you can ride for 6 hours on a bike, you can ride for 10 hours.