If you’ve just got a place for the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100, or are planning on taking on a much tougher ride than usual, you’re probably ramping up your training for a sportive. Riding 100 miles or more in one go does require some work beforehand on the bike, but the distance is certainly achievable if you’ve got a training plan – even if you’re a beginner.
We caught up with John Feeney, sport scientist at trainSharp Cycle Coaching, who talked us through the basics of training for and completing a sportive.
1. Turn your commute into a training ride
A lot of people are time poor as a result of work and family commitments, and therefore don't have the luxury of spending a lot of time on the bike during the week – even when the sun is shining in the summer. But there is a way of incorporating a training block into your daily routine.
“Riding to or from work can be a great way to train, especially as we head towards the lighter evenings,” says Feeney. “It can certainly help you maintain a good work/home/training balance. However, it’s important to plan ahead as your commute ride still needs to fit in with the rest of your working day. Traffic will be heavier too, so you must keep safe and be vigilant.”
He adds that, even when commuting, there should be a purpose to your ride – “don’t just push too hard just to beat a colleague on Strava!” – and that you should treat it like any other training session. “Commuting is a great way to get in an easy spin as a means of active recovery after a hard ride or race. Depending on the length of your commute, you can also use it to focus on some longer threshold efforts which will really help push up your functional threshold power, hills to improve leg strength or higher intensity sprint efforts to develop aerobic and anaerobic (high intensity) fitness.”
2. Refocus your longer weekend ride
The Saturday or Sunday morning club run or long solo ride is potentially the only time in your week where you can settle in for a solid two-to-three-hour session in the saddle. But that doesn’t mean you should turn it into a smash fest.
“Exercising for long durations is an important part of endurance training as it helps improve aerobic efficiency by forcing the body to rely more on fat as a predominant fuel source,” explains Feeney. “Keeping at a low intensity (zone 1-2) enables you to progressively increase the duration of these rides to maximise the physiological benefit injury-free and without making you too fatigued. It can have the added benefit of helping to improve thermoregulation (maintaining core temperature) and mental toughness.
“Try to maintain a nice high cadence too – this will not only help to improve your pedal stroke but also helps place a greater emphasis on cardiovascular effort rather than muscular strength.”
As the race day gets closer though, he believes that you should start tailoring your long ride to the route of your sportive – for example, if you’re going to be tackling Box Hill, it might be an idea to include some climbs.
“In the pursuit of marginal gains, it makes sense to use these long rides to practise your feeding and hydration strategies. You can also go one step further by mimicking the start time of your training ride with the start time of your sportive and practise your breakfast/pre-race nutrition.”
3. Build up the training
“To be honest, there isn’t a magic formula, and it very much depends on you as an individual and how you’ve responded to your training,” says Feeney. “It’s important to gradually build up the duration of your long ride by say 15 minutes a week but try not to increase you overall weekly training load by more than 10%.”
He adds that the longest ride you should aim to do ahead of a sportive should be around 75-90 percent of the event’s total distance (so 75-90 miles for a 100-mile sportive), but that this is obviously going to be determined by your availability and isn’t necessarily going to make much of a difference in terms of ability.
“Although the physiological benefits of trying to fit in a one-off extra-long ride will be minimal, the psychological benefits (such as mental toughness) may be more useful. Having said that, you don’t want the weekend ride to leave you so tired that it then has a knock-on impact on sessions the following week. These mid-week sessions will arguably have a greater impact on the longer-term development of your aerobic fitness and associated power output.”
4. Timing the taper
Reducing your training load in the days and weeks before the main event will help you turn up on the day fresh, rested and raring to go. But it’s not a case of just stopping riding your bike two weeks out from a sportive: “This could result in de-training and have a negative effect on the training-induced adaptations that have accrued over the last few months,” says Feeney. “Generally, a 7-10-day taper period would be adequate for most single-day events.”
He recommends keeping the intensity of your rides up to avoid de-training, while reducing the amount of riding you’re doing progressively, to around 60-80 percent of your pre-taper volume. “During a progressive taper, volume is reduced gradually over the entire taper period as opposed to a step taper where there are just one or two sudden decreases in volume.”
Feeney adds that more experienced riders might benefit psychologically by maintaining the frequency of the training sessions or only reducing them slightly, while beginners could reap rewards from the increased recovery time that come with knocking 30-50 percent off the frequency.
“It’s important to remember that your taper period should be more of the icing on the cake. It’s usually effective, with average gains of 3 percent reported, but it certainly won’t make up for inadequate training!”
5. Nailing your nutrition
Failing to get an adequate amount of food and fluids on during a ride can lead to fatigue and, at worst, bonking (hitting a wall) – potentially bringing an end to a ride. That’s why Feeney sees your training as a crucial time to get your strategy sorted.
“If you get your nutrition strategy wrong, then you may begin to struggle during your race or training ride which will then have a negative impact on your performance. It may also mean that it takes longer for you to recover afterwards.
“For endurance events like a sportive or a long-distance training ride, the two main fuels we use are carbohydrates and fat. Carbohydrates supply the fuel for performance (i.e. making a break or sustaining an effort on a climb) and fat provides you with a lower intensity, but longer duration fuel. The best way to approach your nutrition is to have ‘off bike’ and ‘on-bike’ strategies. The ‘on-bike’ strategy will help ensure that you take on carbohydrate/fluids during your ride so energy delivery can keep up with energy demand, while your ‘off-bike’ strategy will ensure that energy stores are topped up prior to exercise and you recover well afterwards.”
On-bike strategy:
- “During each ride, consuming fluid to thirst is probably the best advice. You should also aim to mix the fluid with carbohydrate and electrolytes. Try to consume 60-90g of carbohydrates per hour or approximately 0.5-1g of carbohydrate per kg of bodyweight. What you use as fuel is very much down to individual choice and should be practiced during your training rides. Ensure you go for food that you know you can easily digest and tastes good. Some riders prefer the convenience of gels whereas other people prefer solid food. It’s often a good idea to maybe start on solids and then switch to gels later in the ride.
- “Using a multiple transportable carbohydrate such as a mixture of glucose, sucrose and maltodextrins will help optimise the speed of uptake by the body. Aim to ingest the carbohydrate gradually, taking regular smaller feeds every 20-30 minutes. Remember to take on the fuel in advance of when you’re likely to need it as it can take up to 25 minutes for it to enter your bloodstream and become effective.
- “Maintain your ‘on-bike’ nutrition strategy all the way to the finish. Don’t be tempted to skip a feed just because you’ve only got a short distance left – you may regret it if you want to push on in the last 5 km.”
Off-bike strategy:
- “On the morning of your race or ride, aim to consume 2-3g per kg/bodyweight 1.5 to 2 hours before you leave – porridge or a couple of bagels would be perfect! This may not always be possible, so a sports drink can be used to ‘top up’ any deficit.
- “After your ride, it’s important to ensure that your nutrition strategy optimises recovery. Timing is important as the highest rates of muscle glycogen storage occur in the first hours after exercise. Try and make sure you have a protein and carbohydrate recovery drink ready for when you get off the bike, and then eat a balanced meal one-to-two hours later."
6. Preparing for a summer sportive
Not everyone has the luxury of taking a warm weather training camp in Mallorca, so it can be quite hard to simulate the hotter climates of a European gran fondo when training in the UK's cold and damp spring conditions. But Feeney concludes that it’s not really something that can be prepared for, and that the best way to manage the heat is to keep cool on race day.
“While you can try and prepare yourself prior to your event, it’s a good idea to have a fluid/cooling strategy for the race itself. It’s important to remember that 80 percent of the energy generated is given off as heat with only 20 percent being used for muscle contract – we aren’t very efficient. Heat loss is accelerated by vasodilation and evaporation of sweat – in other words, we get red, hot and sweaty! This results in a loss of fluid and possible dehydration if these fluids aren’t replaced.
“A good way to help mitigate the effects of heat stress is to pre-cool prior to your race or training session. This aims to reduce your core body temperature and give you more of a heat sink or a bit more leeway before an increasing core body temperature begins to affect your performance. Techniques include external cooling such as cool water immersion or cooling fans, internal cooling with ice slurry/cool drinks 30 minutes before exercise or a mix of the both internal and external methods. Placing your hands in cold water of 8-10°C (up to 2 cm above the wrist) for 15 minutes can be an effective way of reducing core body temperature. It has no impact on the motor movement of your hand so shouldn’t impact on your ability to grip the bars.
“Cooling during your ride is also important if you want to maximise performance. Taking on cold fluids or ice slurry, as well as cooling the neck and face will be beneficial. The ingestion of fluids is particularly important in humid environments when sweat evaporation is limited. Pouring water over your head and body wherever possible is another good way of reducing heat stress.”
7. Hit the gym for improved strength and conditioning
Your sportive training plan doesn’t have to be limited to two wheels, and Feeney says that working on your core and hip extension strength (squats, leg press) are great exercises to build into your routine.
“Good core strength can help riders of all levels overcome muscular imbalances and help them become stronger, more efficient and less injury-prone. Try and include a core session two-to-three times a week as a minimum. A basic routine could include:
- Front plank
- Side plank (left and right)
- Lying hip abduction (left and right)
- Glute bridge single leg (left and right)
“Perform each core exercise for 30 to 60 seconds, moving from one to another to complete the sequence. For a short workout, perform the sequence once. For a longer workout, repeat the sequence two or three times with 15-30 seconds of rest between sets.
“For strength and conditioning, begin with bodyweight exercises to start with and progress to weighted exercises as you become stronger and more confident. Try the following bodyweight exercises first:
- Double and/or single leg calf raises
- Forward and reverse lunge
- Step-ups
- Swiss-ball wall squat
- Hip bridge – double leg
- Jump Squat
- Mountain climber – plank variation
“You can then progress to the following, but you will need kettlebell/dumbells. Always start with a light weight, building a base with higher reps (15-30) – progress to three sets of 10 reps with a heavier weight)”:
- Front Squat with dumbells/kettlebell
- Forward lunge with dumbells
- Kettlebell Swing
- Single-Leg Deadlift with kettlebell
- Side Lunge with kettlebell
- Planted Step-Up with dumbells
So, there you have it! Now go out a smash those 100 miles.