A gravel event is a type of endurance event. Training for a gravel event is similar to training for any endurance event.
I am working with a client, Jake, who is training for the Wyoming 131 on September 10, 2022. I’m writing a series of columns on Jake’s training, nutrition for the 131 and how to actually ride it.
Check out the Course
Start by getting information from the website of the event you’re targeting. Here’s what Jake and I learned about the WYO131:
- 131 miles long
- Minimum speed of 10 mph including stops to make cutoff times.
- About 90 percent gravel.
- Starts at 5,400 ft and climbs to 9,500 ft. so altitude is a factor. Jake’s pace will be slower than where he lives.
- 10,000 ft. total elevation gain.
- Mile 0 to mile 50 rolling terrain with about 2,000 ft. of climbing and about 600 ft. elevation gain.
- Mile 50 to mile 110 about 8,000 ft. of climbing, about 150 ft. / mi., average about 3 percent grade.
- Short steep climb at mile 50
- Mile 110 to mile 131 descend about 4,100 ft, about 200 ft. / mi., average 4 percent grade
- 5 aid stations about 26 miles apart.
- About 1:30 to 3:00 hours riding time between stations.
- Crew can meet you only at aid stations #1, #3, #4, and #5.
- Two shorter events of 70 miles and 40 miles.
The structure of the training for any gravel ride up to about 150 miles is the same as for the WYO131. If your ride is a different length than the WYO131 follow the same training principles and use the same training zones. Then you can adapt the plan below by proportionally changing distances in the plan below.
Training Principles
- Overload: When you do a long or hard ride your body says “Ouch, I’m not ready for this” and then, somewhat reluctantly, gets stronger. If you want to improve, you have to increase the stress on your body.
- Recovery is an integral aspect of conditioning, because most adaptations occur when the body is resting, not during the training sessions. Listen to the “Ouch”—you rebuild tissue and gain strength only during active recovery and rest days.
- Train by time not distance. You’ll ride farther in two hours if it’s a flat group ride on a calm day than on a hilly or windy ride. Jake plans to ride the WYO131 at 12 miles an hour for a total time of about 11 hours. The lengths of his training rides are in hours.
- Longest training ride should be about 2/3 to 3/4 the planned duration of the event. Jake anticipates an 11-hour ride so his longest training ride should be about 7:15 to 8:15 hours.
- Ramping. You build fitness progressively. You need to increase the workload periodically to continue the overload-and-recovery pattern. Three rules of thumb:
- a. Week to week increase weekly volume by 5-15 percent.
- b. Month to month increase monthly volume by 10-25 percent.
- c. Year to year increase annual volume by 10-25 percent.
- Variation. Your body has different types of muscle fibers and uses different metabolic pathways to produce energy for those muscle fibers. Each of the different types of fibers and metabolisms responds to different types and intensities of workouts. To improve, you need to vary your workouts. For example, if you always ride at the same speed you’ll never get faster. You need longer endurance days and shorter brisk days.
- Economy: The best training program for a gravel ride is the one that achieves your goals with the minimum amount of effort. Only do the riding you need to do in order to reach those goals. I wrote a column on 12 Tips to Avoid Overtraining.
- Individual: We all have different bodies, psyches and goals and our training programs should be individual. You should not just do what the other riders are doing to prepare for gravel rides.
- Fun: Training and riding a gravel ride is primarily for fun: enjoying the movement on the bike, looking at the scenery, talking to good friends.
Train by Intensity
For endurance riders I coach using three different levels of intensity. Training by rate of perceived exertion (RPE) is as effective as training with a heart rate monitor and RPE is simpler. Training by power is only useful if you’re racing. I wrote a column on Training by Perceived Exertion.
- Zone 1: Digestion pace: The pace at which you ride after a large meal. By heart rate monitor < 68 percent of anaerobic (lactate) threshold (AT). By power < 55 percent of Functional Threshold Power (FTP). This is the pace for active recovery. You could run errands on your bike or hike with the family. Just stay active.
- Zone 2: Conversation pace. Riding along enjoying the scenery and talking with friends. (If you’re riding alone, periodically talk out loud to yourself.) This pace builds endurance and trains the aerobic system to burn more fat and to spare glycogen. By heart rate monitor 69 – 83 percent of AT. By power 56 – 75 percent of FTP.
- Zone 3: Tempo pace feels like you’re climbing a long, moderate grade or riding into headwind. You’re working hard enough and you can still talk in short sentences but you can’t whistle. Riding at this pace you are training the aerobic system to burn glucose and improving your cruising speed. By heart rate monitor 84 – 94 percent of AT. By power 76 – 90 percent of FTP.
Try to ride as much as possible in zones 2 and 3 on your endurance rides. If you go harder, you’ll go faster but will pay for this later in the ride.
Specificity and Testing
Make your endurance rides as similar to your gravel event as you can. Train on gravel if you can. As much as possible ride at the pace you’ll be riding in your gravel event, even if you feel like you could ride faster on your training rides. You want to build your aerobic endurance. If you’ll be riding with a group and drafting on your event then it’s okay to train with a group at your pace for the event.If possible, ride routes with similar terrain and about as much climbing / mile as the gravel event.
Ride the bike you’ll ride for the gravel event with all the same equipment. Wear and carry the same clothing you’ll use in the event. Consume the food and drink you plan to use in the event. Use your endurance rides to test and improve your equipment, clothing and nutrition.
Types of Rides
- Endurance: Ride at a conversational pace in zone on the flats and zone 3 climbing or into a headwind.
- Every other weekend Jake will do increasingly long rides building up to a ride of about 7:30 hours (2/3 to 3/4 of the time it will take Jake to finish the WYO131.) These longer endurance rides are the key to a successful gravel ride. The alternate weekends Jake will do shorter endurance rides about half the duration of the preceding long ride. The weekly pattern of progressively longer and shorter endurance rides ensures Jake will be in top form for the longer rides.
- Tempo: Warm up for at least 5 to 10 minutes in zone 2, riding tempo in zone 3 for the main part of the workout and cool down for at least 5 minutes in zone 2.
- To increase his cruising speed, Jake will do one or two progressively longer tempo rides during the week.
- Recovery: Each week Jake will do one or two recovery rides.
Training Plan for Endurance Rides
The longer endurance rides build endurance. The shorter rides maintain endurance.
- Week #1: Ride of about 3:15
- Week #2: Ride of about 1:40 (about half of the preceding week)
- Week #3: Ride of about 4:00 (about 25 percent more than two weeks ago)
- Week #4: Ride of about 2:00
- Week #5: Ride of about 5:00
- Week #6: Ride of about 2:30
- Week #7: Ride of about 6:15
- Week #8: Ride of about 3:10
- Week #9: Ride of about 7:30 (2/3 of planned time of 11 hours)
- Week #10: Ride of about 2:00 (Taper)
Depending on how he’s feeling Jake could make ride up to about 15 percent longer or shorter.
Here’s how to adapt the plan. Assume your event is 100 miles and you’re planning eight hours, 70 percent of Jake’s planned 11 hours.
- Week #1: Ride of about 2:15 (70 percent of 3:15)
- Week #2: Ride of about 1:10 (70 percent of 1:40)
- Etc.
Weekly Training Plan
Jake and I planned the long rides first because they are the most important. We then added the other weekly rides so the long ride is only about 50 to 60 percent of the total weekly riding time. The tempo rides are longer in the weeks with shorter endurance rides. The longer tempo rides build fitness. The shorter tempo rides maintain fitness
- Week #1:
- Endurance ride of about 3:15 hours
- One tempo ride of about 0:30
- One or two recovery rides totaling about 1:00
- Total: 4:45 hours
- Week #2:
- Endurance ride of about 1:40 hours
- Two tempo rides totaling about 1:30
- One or two recovery rides totaling about 0:45
- Total: 3:55 hours
- Week #3:
- Endurance ride of about 4:00 hours
- One tempo ride of about 0:45
- One or two recovery rides totaling about 1:15
- Total: 6:00 hours
- Week #4:
- Endurance ride of about 2:00 hours
- Two tempo rides totaling about 1:45
- One or two recovery rides totaling about 1:00
- Total: 4:45 hours
- Week #5
- Endurance ride of about 5:00 hours
- One tempo ride of about 0:30
- Two recovery rides totaling about 1:15
- Total: 6:45 hours
- Week #6:
- Endurance ride of about 2:30 hours
- Two tempo rides totaling about 2:00
- Two recovery rides totaling about 1:15
- Total: 5:45 hours
- Week #7
- Endurance ride of about 6:15 hours
- One tempo ride of about 0:30
- Two recovery rides totaling about 1:00
- Total: 7:45 hours
- Week #8:
- Endurance ride of about 3:10 hours
- Two tempo rides totaling about 2:15
- Two recovery rides totaling about 1:15
- Total: 6:40 hours
- Week #9:
- Endurance ride of about 7:30 hours
- One tempo ride of about 0:30
- Two recovery rides totaling about 0:45
- Total: 8:45 hours
- Week #10: Taper
- Endurance ride of about 2:00 hours
- One tempo ride of about 0:30
- Two recovery rides totaling about 1:30
- Total: about 4:00 hours
- Event week:
- Endurance ride of about 11:00
- Two recovery rides totaling about 1:30
Taper:
During the taper and event weeks you want to gain freshness. You can’t get any fitter in the two weeks before an event.
A final caution:
My friend Neal Henderson says that 65 percent of the athletes he sees train too much, 25 percent train too little and 10 percent get it right—the pros who are paid to perform. Henderson is the former Director of Sports Science at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine. He coaches clients ranging from novices to World and Olympic champions.
Related columns:
To learn how to train effectively, eat correctly and ride an endurance ride get my bundle of three eArticles Endurance Training and Riding.
- Beyond the Century describes training principles and different training intensities and how to integrate these into programs of long rides. Although written for riders doing longer events, all the principles also apply to shorter events. I lay out an 8-week plan to build up to a century and then a 200-km ride (about 125 miles), plans which could be easily adapted to shorter rides. I then lay out a plan to build up to a 300-km ride (about 188 miles).
- Nutrition for 100K and Beyond provides you with the information you need to fuel your engine before, during and after endurance rides.
- Mastering the Long Ride gives you the skills you need to finish your endurance rides. Effective training provides your base, and proper nutrition gives you the fuel. The key to success is to use your smarts to complement your legs.
The 50-page Endurance Training and Riding bundle is $13.50.
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.
Leave a Reply