Questions from a newbie about preparing for a long-ish gravel race

[ChrisF]

I am barely a weekend rider, and wont even try to comment on the training and diet ..... the serious riders certainly have said enough about that already (And I am reading and learning from them)

 

 

The ONE bit in your post that stood out to me: "I have never done a mass start event"

 

 

Having done my first mass event in March this year I have some fresh memories of this ....

 

Are you racing for a podium ?  If not, get a safe starting position .... stay clear of the accidents while the field spreads out .....  then find your own rythm and enjoy the event.

[buckstopper]

You're doing plenty. I would move virtually all the z3 to z2, not do more intensity. And easy z2 at that, not upper z2. And have an eating plan for the event, that'll mean training your gut. 

[Frosty]

12 hours ago, RandomEuro said:

Some context: I was lucky enough to get an entry to The Rift - a 200km gravel race in Iceland in July. I’ve never done a mass start event, or a gravel ride anywhere near as long as this. In the last 18 or so months, I have ridden 200km+ twice but those rides have been been flat and mostly paved, and I’ve accumulated a fair amount of volume during the period.

Due to life circumstances, most of my training at the moment is indoors and I’m wondering to what extent I’m going to be able to prepare effectively to meet my goals for The Rift (Goal 1: Finish. Goal 2: Finish + enjoy it. Goal 3: Finish + enjoy it + finish under 12 hours).

At present, I’ve been basing my training on Garmin’s Unbound Gravel 200 training programme, which is a 15 week plan averaging around 10 to 11 hours per week, including some longer rides, with most of the efforts in Zone 2 / 3.

Given that I don’t always have time for longer rides, I’ve tried to make sure that I’ve met / exceeded:

a) The intensity goals by completing the ‘core’ of all of the workouts so far

b) The total amount of time per week, even if this means two 60 minute rides per day, or skipping rest days in favour of zone 2 rides

As an example, over the last 26 days of the plan, I’ve spent approximately 43 hours training / riding, the break down being roughly:

• 18 hours in Z2
• 18 hours in Z3
• 6 hours in Z4
• The rest spread across Z1, 5 and 6

The longest ride was around 78kms, mostly on gravel, at a pretty decent pace (faster than my goal pace for The Rift) which didn’t fatigue me too badly, and the rest have mostly been around 1 to 1,5 hours indoor. I haven’t taken any rest days (I don’t normally), but I do tend be able to manage fatigue and intensity by feel quite well.

My questions for the collective Hub hive mind, given that I’m a complete newbie at this:

1. Am I being stupidly over-optimistic by thinking that training like this for the next two months plus a few longer rides is going to be enough?
2. Is 12 to 13 hours per week enough volume?
3. Should I be focusing on changing the split of time in zones? I’m not overly fatigued at the moment, and the mix does feel like quite good bang for my limited buck
4. Should I be doing anything else?

A lot to unpack, but a few things stood out:

1. What’s your training history?
How many hours have you done in the last year, and how many years of training, plus the hours per year on average. If you’re on a similar level, then you can tick this box.

2. If you follow the plan, you should be okay; it should include rest, so rest when the plan says rest.
 

I don’t see any Gravel plans on Garmin Connect; not sure if it’s based on the device one owns. anyway, back to the points that stood out.

3. average of 10-11 hours of training per weeks is adequate. The upper end of mid volume based training.

4. your TIZ distribution looks okay. Looks to be Threshold rather than Pyramidal/Polarised. Threshold will require rest, as you’re doing a fair amount of medium intensity and medium volume. It might seem doable now, but could get harder at week 8 onwards.

5. Did I mention following the plan? Including rest days.

[Cardio Goth]

Thanks again for the input and advice everyone. I put my fitness to the test with a good long gravel and mixed-surface ride yesterday and felt a lot better than I thought I would, even if two beers and a large lunch 110kms into a 150km ride did make me rethink that as a fuelling strategy!