This is an overview of my training plan for RAW 2019. Its been developed based on an amalgam of my 33 years of training and bike racing combined with what I have learned working with three different professional coaches over 12 of those years. Of course, my thoughts and perspective have also been shaped and supplemented by what I have learned from my friends, fellow competitors, and compiled from what I've read over the years.
The fundamental themes in the plan are:
- The winter endurance blocks include a midweek 4-5 h ride and back-to-back 6-10 hour weekend rides. This is intended to make riding >130 miles and 7 h the "new normal", physically, mentally, and nutritionally.
- Use the group rides to add enough quality into the training to maintain a high end, focusing on 8-15 min hard efforts with the team.
- Race some key local events, including Oracle Road Race, Valley of the Sun Stage Race, and the Colossal Cave Road Race to stay fresh and fast. The February racing block will give a welcome break from weekend long rides and keep me fresh.
- The final endurance blocks introduce 3-day long ride blocks, with all three rides 100-130+ miles.
- Tour of the Gila adds a final refresh of the climbing, altitude, and intensity.
An overview of the training plan and its five macro-blocks of endurance and two racing blocks to sharpen.
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For RAW, the challenge is figuring out what of my experiences and knowledge are relevant to a three-day non-stop race, what can be adapted, and what must be learned anew. Physical, mental, and nutritional training are all required. Each is a critical component. Much of my thinking is derived from my stage racing, Hoodoo 300 and Dirty Kanza experiences. I've given a lot of consideration to differences in intensity, duration, and recovery embedded in those events and RAW. My "multiple-century" approach is similar to what Keith Wolcott documented in One Million Pedal Strokes. I've extended it so that I am comfortable with 130-150 mile (210-240 km) efforts. This overall approach worked well for me at Hoodoo. The workouts are as much about getting my mind as ready as my body for the duration of the event. The nutritional training is intended to adapt my energy systems to be optimized for continuous operation, versus the repetitive higher intensity bouts of performance traditional stage racing. In RAW, performance and recovery become one combined, continuous activity and the training and racing approach must be adjusted accordingly.
The plan is organized into three macro-blocks. An initial endurance/race macro-block builds initial endurance, polishes it off with the racing, and consolidates these gains. The second macro-block, "ultra-endurance", is the RAW specific endurance phase, introducing 3-day weekend blocks containing over 20 h of riding, and polishing it off with the Tour of the Gila. The last macro-block is brief, and is the final preparation before RAW. In each of the first two macro-blocks are two blocks of endurance, each four to five weeks in duration. Each block climaxes in a "consolidation" week. I prefer to think of this period as consolidating earlier gains of mental and physical fitness, nutritional adaptations, and body composition that are earned but not yet fully incorporated.
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I hope people find the plan and the approach interesting, and give feedback and offer their thoughts. Developing a training plan is a lot like academic research--learn what others have done, add your own knowledge and perspective, expand and adapted it for yourself, and put it out there for critical peer review. I also think it is important to document the plan as a artifact for others to review, and learn from.
I know my first reaction is "wow, that's a lot of miles!" Indeed, but I have also learned that an effective plan must be a stretch. If a training plan could be executed with 100% compliance to the prescribed training, it was not enough of a stretch to have the desired result. Invariably, realities will get in the way of perfect execution, be it work, weather, family, injury, or illness. Plans may be adjusted based on how it goes, cutting back or extending as my body tells me I should. Much of my training is incorporated around my 1:15 bike commute to work, which recovers almost 2.5 h into my day to train. Nonetheless, sometimes work responsibilities also require some compromise and replanning.
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Goals:
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Day of Week |
Workout |
Monday |
Rest or easy commute (2 x 1:15) |
Tuesday |
am easy 1:15 commute pm moderate 1:30-2:00 extended commute |
Wednesday |
Long 3-4 h midweek ride Replace with extended commute if working from home not possible |
Thursday |
am easy 1:15 commute pm moderate 1:30-2:00 extended commute |
Friday |
Rest or easy commute (2 x 1:15) |
Saturday |
7 h Endurance Ride, middle 3 h with Team with quality efforts |
Sunday |
5 h Endurance ride, easier effort with middle 3 h with Team |
Outcome and Insights:
[12/3/2018]: The first three weeks of the training block went better than expected. The start was 11 weeks after Hoodoo 300, and I had already started to do > 5 h rides again in the last month. The progression to 7 h felt straight forward, as was the transition to double long rides over the last two weeks. The challenge getting through the last Sunday ride was about the level of fatigue I was expecting going into the consolidation week. Getting through three consecutive weeks with 7 h rides, and that final 5 h ride on the last double weekend was very confidence building. The habit of feeding > 400 cal/hr on the bike is still a work-in-progress, but there is progress there.
[12/3/2018]: The first three weeks of the training block went better than expected. The start was 11 weeks after Hoodoo 300, and I had already started to do > 5 h rides again in the last month. The progression to 7 h felt straight forward, as was the transition to double long rides over the last two weeks. The challenge getting through the last Sunday ride was about the level of fatigue I was expecting going into the consolidation week. Getting through three consecutive weeks with 7 h rides, and that final 5 h ride on the last double weekend was very confidence building. The habit of feeding > 400 cal/hr on the bike is still a work-in-progress, but there is progress there.
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Goals:
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Day of Week |
Workout |
Monday |
Rest or easy commute (2 x 1:15) |
Tuesday |
am easy 1:15 commute pm moderate 1:30-2:00 extended commute |
Wednesday |
Long 4-5 h midweek ride, with embedded tempo, 2-3 x 20 min at near LT Replace with extended commute if working from home not possible |
Thursday |
am easy 1:15 commute pm moderate 1:30-2:00 extended commute |
Friday |
Rest or easy commute (2 x 1:15) |
Saturday |
8-10 h Endurance Ride |
Sunday |
5-6 h Endurance Ride |
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Races:
- Avondale Criterium #1 (Cat 2, 20 January 2019)
- Avondale Criterium #2 (Cat 2, 27 January 2019)
- Santa Catalina Weekend (2-3 February 2019, UA Cycling)
- Valley of the Sun Stage Race (15-17 February 2019)
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Author: D Ramey Logan; RAAM 2015 team start by D Ramey Logan.jpg from Wikimedia Commons.
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
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