I’m coaching a client who is preparing for a 500-mile race March 20-21. Mike isn’t a rookie. He’s done multiple ultra races. For a variety of reasons last summer he was stressed out, wasn’t motivated and didn’t ride much. I suggested he take time off the bike to get his life organized and he agreed. In the fall I had him mountain biking, which he loves, instead of longer endurance rides.
January 1 he started training for the 500-miler. Here are the planned long rides to the race and his actual long rides. His Jan 31 ride was only 116 miles instead of 135 miles and his Feb 7 ride was only 85 miles instead of 150 miles. Starting next week he has five weeks to train.
Week Planned Actual
Ending Long Ride Long Ride
Jan 3, 2021 90 miles 90 miles
Jan 10 50 miles 52 miles (off bike during week visiting family)
Jan 17 90 miles Went hiking instead of riding (off bike during week)
Jan 24 95 miles 95 miles
Jan 31 135 miles 116 miles
Feb 7 150 miles 85 miles
Feb 14 4 – 5 hr. MTB ride
Feb 21 100 miles
Feb 28 200 miles
Mar 7 100 miles
Mar 14 50 miles
Mar 20 500-mile race
As a coach there are three issues:
- How to get him motivated to do the long miles.
- How to rework the plan so he ramps up to at least a 200-mile long ride.
- How to schedule the 200+ mile long ride so he can recover for the 500-mile race.
What would you do?
Coach John Hughes earned coaching certifications from USA Cycling and the National Strength and Conditioning Association. John’s cycling career includes course records in the Boston-Montreal-Boston 1200-km randonnée and the Furnace Creek 508, a Race Across AMerica (RAAM) qualifier. He has ridden solo RAAM twice and is a 5-time finisher of the 1200-km Paris-Brest-Paris. He has written over 40 eBooks and eArticles on cycling training and nutrition, available in RBR’s eBookstore at Coach John Hughes. Click to read John’s full bio.
My 2 cents is that for marathon training groups I have run with the rule was to run at least a-20 miler some time before the 26.2 mile event. For cycling a good minimum is to be able to ride 75 if you are going to do a 100 miler and get good rest the week before. So it seems that 375 miles split into three sections with maybe a 3 hour sleep between each would be doable for training. I would stay on a known and safe course for this as the rider has never experienced this kind of sleep deprivation. This is what I have seen only and not my personal experience. My rides are limited to 100 miles per day. I am not a coach so take that into account.
I’m not a coach and I don’t know Mike, but unless a reason for #1 can be discovered and addressed and resolved, issues #2 and #3 can be ignored.
Agree 100%. Human motivation is a complicated thing, and a significant portion of it has to come from within. Over the years I have seen many riders effectively quit cycling once they have “achieved their goal.” Apparently they didn’t really like riding for riding’s sake, but had to have a goal to motivate themselves. My observation would be that this is a path to failure.
I will pass on the “How to motivate”. That is highly personal and with no knowledge of why Mike is doing a 500 mile race, I could not begin to offer any insight.
For your other questions I am making an assumption that the list you provided above are goals, not total weekly activity..
I have a limited personal experience with Ultra Racing. Almost all of it was in the mid-80’s preparing for PBP and doing qualifying brevets here in the States. If I recall the brevet schedule correctly, it began in late March with a 200K, followed by a 300k, followed by a 400k and finally a 600k in mid to late May. Each of the brevets were done non-stop and the final only being 370 miles. The brevets were equally spaced. I was successful in completing the 600 K in 28+ hours with no rest break. Not knowing the age of Mike and you don’t mention whether he will take a break of some kind, given my experience, at 500 miles, I would include some recovery time. To get in a 200+ ride prior to the event, I would try to include two 150 – 175 miles days, back-to-back with some significant recovery. If his body recovers quickly, I would do this two weeks out from the event, and then include a couple of days with rides in the range of 1 to 1 1/2 hours spaced 4 to 5 days apart to maintain strength and daily rides at recovery (and I mean heart rate not over 100 or watts over 100 on the remaining days to preserve endurance.
I’m now in my mid 70’s and have only participated in one Ultra event recently. In 2016, I trained for STP with the goal of a one day event. That season, we did a cycling camp in North Georgia in early April that consisted of 50 to 65 miles and 4,000 to 6,000′ of elevation per day, a Gran Fondo in NYC in late May that consisted of 100 miles and 8000′ of elevation, a weekend with back-to-back Centuries in mid-June that included about 3000′ of elevation each day. In the two weeks leading up to STP, my wife and I drove from Chicago to Vancouver,, BC with a century ride at a recreational pace 10 days before the event, and two days of 30 to 40 miles rides in Seattle pre-event. I had not ridden an event of more than 125 miles since 1988. My game plan was STP in a day (208 miles), with a contingency plan of breaking up as two days depending on conditions. With the good fortune of perfect weather, midday temps in the low 70’s, light winds and blue skies, I finished in just over 13 hours with two small detours thrown in.
Through experience, I recognize that I personally have a tendency to overtrain. In the last 4 years, I have tried to learn the discipline necessary to break that habit. This has made the biggest difference in my mental attitude and motivation.