GET SET FOR A SPORTIVE
Whether you’re new to cycling or rekindling your interest, if you’ve never cycled a sportive you’re in for a treat. If you’re prepared...
One of the best ways to keep motivated and stick with your new found/refound love of riding is to set a target. One of the simplest things for a cyclist to target is a significant distance. Depending on your fitness levels, that can be anything from 30 up to 100 miles – anything that you realistically believe you can achieve in a set amount of time.
Whether you opt to ride your goal distance on your own (we wouldn’t recommend it), enter a massparticipation sportive or take part in a charity challenge like the British Heart Foundation’s annual London to Brighton ride, you’ll need to train.
It’s a good job then that we have a training schedule especially for you.
“Follow our plans to be ready to ride a !" to #"-mile event in just three months”
Read our advice and follow our plans to be ready to ride a 40 to 80-mile event in just three months.
First things first, though – if you’ve never used a training plan before then don’t be frightened, this plan is a guide and doesn’t have to be followed to the letter. If you can’t ride in the morning as we suggest from time to time, or you can’t hit the hills when we advise it, swap things around – that’s real life. That said, you’ve got to have rules, so here are some training truisms you need to follow…
SET YOUR GOAL
First off, choose your event. Be realistic. If you took up cycling only a couple of months ago, don’t enter a monster slog through the French Alps. Challenging, yes. Sensible, no.
Think about exactly what you want to achieve on your ride. Are you completing, competing or conquering? Again, be reasonable. Set an impossible aim and you’ll soon lose motivation. Once you have your goal sorted, write it down and put it in your wallet, next to your computer, on the dashboard or fridge door, anywhere that you’ll see it often enough to keep you focused.
GET YOUR LONG RIDES IN
We all miss occasional planned rides, but even if you can’t do high mileage outings all the time, don’t miss your long rides at the heart of your training – they’re vital. Bad weather? Go out anyway; you could get bad weather on event day. Bike’s broken? Fix it, or get your bike shop to sort it – and learn how you could’ve solved the problem. Long rides are when your body gets used to handling the demands you’ll face on the big day; they help you learn to draw on your fuel reserves more efficiently, and get your head prepared for long, demanding efforts.
DEVELOP TECHNIQUE
Get used to incorporating technique work into your general rides as well as devoting regular sessions to improving your skills. Find a long, winding hill and time yourself down it over several runs, looking to get quicker by laying off the brakes, leaning into the corners and learning when to put the power back on. Be careful though – do this with a riding mate and only on quiet roads where you can easily see any approaching traffic. And don’t think that you can make up for poor climbing just by flying downhill.
Sheltering from the wind in a group saves you masses of power output from your legs and will improve your finishing time, but it doesn’t come easily and there are tactics to learn. Practise in regular group rides or club runs. The more comfortable you are riding in close formation, the more time you can save.
MUSCLE POWER
Lactic acid is produced when your body breaks down carbohydrate for fuel, resulting in lactate in your blood that affects your muscles’ performance. Paying attention at the back? All you really need to know is that the point at which lactate starts to accumulate faster than you can disperse it is your lactate threshold (LT), and raising this will help you ride a faster sportive. Working on your power is important too, both for increasing the amount of force you
“Long rides are when your body gets used to handling the demands you’ll face on the big day”
can put into every pedal stroke and for increasing your endurance.
We recommend regular high intensity rides devoted to LT and strength work. Get these sessions in and you’ll be rewarded on the big day.
HAVE A REST
You don’t get fitter when you’re riding, you get fitter when you recover after. This is why you need to have at least one day without exercise every week, or more if you over-stretch yourself, plus an easy week each month.
DRINK ENOUGH
You might have read that you should drink 400-900ml of fluid an hour while riding, but that’s a myth. Fluid replacement varies according to your personal sweat levels. Work out precisely what you need at varying intensities and in different weather conditions by following this process over several rides:
Weigh yourself while undressed, before putting on your cycle kit. As an example, suppose your weight is 75kg.
On your return, note the amount that you drank and ate during your ride. Say it was 1500ml, which weighs 1.5kg, and three gels of 0.06kg each, so you’ve taken in a total of 1.68kg.
Before showering, eating or drinking, dry yourself and weigh again. We’ll say it’s now 73.2kg.
Subtract the second weight from the first to get your bodyweight change: 75 - 73.2 = 1.8kg Add the weight of the food to this to get your total loss: 1.8 + 1.68 = 3.48kg Estimate any bathroom stops; these will mean losses are higher.
Divide total losses by the hours spent riding: 3.48 ÷ 3hrs = 1.16kg lost per hour. You won’t get to the end of your training ride or event at the same weight as you started, but you should eat and drink enough to be within 1-2kg. Never be more than 2-3 per cent down in mass unless it’s a ride where you can’t get adequate fuel down.
BECOME FUEL EFFICIENT
You need to drink to replace the water you sweat and breathe out, but for longer training rides and during the event drinks will help provide fuel. Suffering a ‘bonk’ – when your body can’t get the energy it needs – is bad news when you’ve got two or three climbs left to ride.
For training and the big ride, try a drink that’s 5-7 per cent carbohydrate. This is an isotonic level, meaning that the drink contains the same concentration of dissolved particles as your body fluids, so will be absorbed fast.
Some people prefer a hypotonic drink – one with a carb level of less than 5 per cent. The only way to find out what’s right for you is by experimenting in training. Also, choose a drink that contains sodium. This speeds up the delivery of fluid to your body, so is especially important on longer rides. Finally, it’s key to go for a drink that you enjoy the taste of, that way you’re more likely to drink enough.
Drink plenty before you go out on your bike so you start off fully hydrated, and continue drinking afterwards – little and often – to aid recovery. If you’ve trained for over an hour, make it a carb drink. Don’t wait until you feel thirsty – that’s a bad gauge of need.
You should consume at least 1g of carbohydrate per kilogram of bodyweight for every hour that you’re riding. This can be in the form of carb-electrolyte drinks, gels, bars, solid food, or a mixture. Your needs could be different from the norm so it’s important to experiment in training. That way you’ll be able to tell what you can tolerate and what you need with you on the day. If riding an event, find out what food and drink will be available and at what points on the route. If you can’t stomach the energy drink on offer, for example, take your own. If you get sick of sweet stuff, check there’ll be something savoury for you to grab, or carry it with you.
AVOID INJURY
When you step up the amount of riding you do you’ll be adding stresses and strains on your body. You might be tempted to ignore niggles in order to stick with the programme. Don’t! Riding through the pain is a great way to make minor problems major. If you get injured, take it seriously. Take time off the bike or do some cross-training, and if it’s a biomechanical problem have your riding position looked at by an expert. If necessary, visit a health care professional. Whatever you do, don’t ignore a potential injury.
PACE YOURSELF
Pacing is crucial in training and on the big day. The main trick is to climb at an intensity that won’t blow your legs. This comes with experience but if you’ve trained by heart rate or power then you should have a good idea of what you can sustain. If you don’t know how hard you should be working, don’t go above 85 per cent of your max heart rate on even the steepest hills or you’ll dip too far into your glycogen stores. You have limited glycogen and can never eat enough to make up for going too hard too soon.
“Whatever you do, don’t ignore a potential injury...”