I’m mid way through the Base + weights, I have 8 weeks left, ending in April 15th.
Then I go for the MTB XC intervals for 6 weeks, finishing in late May
Then intermediate SST for 6 weeks until the race day.
My race starts on July 3rd and is 7 days of roughly 3-5 hours of lots of up and down.
This will be my second time with the BCBR and I want to improve my time and my enjoyment of each day.
How can I best adjust this schedule to meet the needs of the race and my interests.
thanks,
ethan
Hey Ethan!
I take it this is a mountain bike stage race?
I might recommend our Breck epic sweet spot plan for the 6 weeks before your race.
This simulates a mountain bike stage race and will give you some great workouts to be best prepared for such a long event.
If a road event I would choose something like our road race interval plan.
Once you finish weights +base I would recommend you either doing sweet spot 3 or even our mountain hike marathon plan. Just because I think you should build more of an aerobic base before a 6 day event. You will get intensity in with either of these and the Breck plan.
The BC bike race is a mt. bike event with lots of climbing and descending. The way I have training peaks set up now with the three purchased plans: base and weights 16 weeks, 6 weeks MTB Xc intervals and then the SST marathon Mt. bike plan. Could I stick with the plans I already have?
At this point the CTL will be 87 by the race day. I’m at 47 CTL as of today.
I am diesel engine rider, not very punchy, but steady and consistent. So, i’m looking to increase my 30 min climbing time.
Thanks for the help.
ethan
Of course you can stick to the plan with how you have it. You’ll get fast if you follow those plans there is no doubt at that. Also really good to see your CTL will climb towards 90. That is what you want. You want that CTL to up! I was just giving you the best option looking at all the plans we have. Remember the plans are built to work for most.
I would recommend making a few of your weekend rides longer, if you can handle the workload to help you simulate doing multiple long days in a row. Especially that 2 - 3 week out window. That is where you want to simulate what you will be doing the most.
Sweet spot is good as you will be do long rides and 30 minute climbs repeatedly. So do your efforts on the climbs if you can to replicate this, especially the group ride sweet spot or freestyle sweet spot rides. Do 30 minute efforts.
I have been extended or pushing the zone 2 aspect on the weekend rides to try to do more base and increase the CTL. The first time I raced the BCBR 7 stages, I raced well on day 1 and day 7, but suffered in between as I did not do long steady back to back rides.
Is there a way to set the CTL a little higher on the training plans?
I just dove tailed them into training peaks and started riding. Right now the plans are ending and starting the same weeks.
You can always add TSS yourself throughout the training plan to help increase CTL. We build these plans to help most riders. So it’s hard to make them work for everyone specifically. That is what coaching is for. We also have a coaching subscription that might help you. Every 4 weeks you can get a coach to go into your training plan, adjust your schedule and maybe add TSS as they see fit.
The best thing for you maybe to set up a personal training camp. If there is a holiday or vacation time where you can do 4 hard / long days in a row. Something that would replicate what you do in your event.
One key aspect for you will be to make sure you are sticking to a good hydration and nutrition plan during your event. Practice this in training! This helps you not only feel good at the end of a long day but also recover from day to day. It’s probably one of the most important things for you to focus on. Also making sure you get food immediately following each ride.
Here is a great podcast on that subject!
Jake,
two nights ago I got the coaching subscription for this very purpose. How can I request a coach to look at the plans I’ve purchased and placed in Training peaks?
I will do your suggestions as well - training camps would be really good as normal training always has some off days, where as the stage race is full on for 7 days.
thanks again,
e
Hi Ethan,
Sorry for the confusion, you are in the right place. I just need to look at the heading of the topic. Says coaching subscription. I’m looking at your TrainingPeaks right now!
Do you have all your past data in TrainingPeaks? Just trying to get an idea of the amount of training you have done before and what you did before the last time you did BC bike week.
We will take this by 4 weeks at a time. How do your legs feel now? Do you have any group rides or events coming in the next few weeks that are not in TrainingPeaks. In the next four weeks I don’t see any reason to add time. I might actually add a regeneration week between the finish of resistance phase before the start of base. Just that your TSB is pretty low now and it might be beneficial starting that fresh.
Then we will just have to arrange weeks later on as well between base and intervals so you only have a 3 week build before a regeneration week.
Then I see you have a spring break in there. Would that be a good time for an extended training camp type block? We can discuss once that gets closer as well.
Yeah, I did the race in 2018 - so the training peaks has all of the work outs. Only heart rate as I just got the power meter this year. I was doing about the same amount of hours, just less focused as the Fascat plans. I feel much fitter now with the base plus weights.
Legs are a little tired, honestly - but once the weights stop they pick back up.
There are group rides on the weekend that are pretty fast and we do some casual MTB racing on Sundays as well.
There is a time trial on march 15th that I might try for just to see my fitness.
I plan on taking four days to do back to back long rides - I never did a min simulation of a stage race in training. There was always a gap or ‘easy ride.’
Let me know if I need to change anything and I will.
e
I reworked the next 4 weeks for you. I gave you a regeneration week next week coming off the resistance training phase. Then I also removed the field test. With the time trial on the 15th that is a power test! So no reason to do another test this close. Depending on how it goes you can either do another test in a few weeks or not.
Also if possible try to get in some riding after the TT. I put that in the plan. Just good to still work on the endurance base as that is the training phase you are in.
Then I also put in the first regeneration week after the first 3 week build cycle so you are set there! Once you finish that week lets circle back and make some more changes for as needed. So just make another post. I can also look at your power file from your TT as well. But being an hour long that basically is your FTP!
Thanks so much for the help. I’ll make sure I do that TT and get some good power data.
I’ll check back in when I have the training complete.
e
Jake,
Of course the ITT got canceled, so I just did a 20 min FTP test work out that I had. It was brutal to keep the watts up, but I got the highest all time 20 min power of 264. I had previously placed 271 as my FTP without an filter on TP (no andy cogan, etc). So now my numbers are lower, which is O.K. as I was struggling to keep the Zone 2 consistent, yet I don’t know what the best way is now to increase my CTL for the hopefully still on BCBR race in July. Any suggestions?
Ethan
Just keep calm and #FtFP.
Then plan in place leading into BCBR is still a great plan! Looking at your performance manager chart and your planned out CTL you have a great build coming with finishing of the base period in the weights + base plan. You can see your planned out CTL build with the dotted blue line.
Then it will level out as you transition into some interval training! This is perfect!
Really happy to hear you went out and did the field test today in replace of the canceled TT! That is a great substitute. Sounds like it was also good so you could set up the correct training zones moving forward. That will make a huge difference in your training. You don’t want to be overreaching. Most of the training you do is sweet spot and you lose many of its benefits if you are riding harder than you should. So this will help you stay where you need to be.
Looking at your field test and you did good with the effort. Went out pretty hard, power came down in the middle but the last 2 minutes you completely emptied the tank! Surprised you were able to pick it up that much, but good thing you did as you had some more to give. It was awesome you had your best ever!! Just really the start. Your FTP can now be set at 250 watts. I went into TrainingPeaks and set that as your FTP. I also made sure to update the zones in TrainingPeaks and add the sweet spot zone.
