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Registered for the Nightmare Tour 200, training?

Old 03-01-20, 04:26 PM
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Sexy_Lugs
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Registered for the Nightmare Tour 200, training?

Hello all,

I have signed up for the Nightmare Tour 200 (Startpagina) this year and noticed it has a lot of climbing. The estimation is between 17k and 20k of climbing over the 200 miles, yikes! The longest I have ridden is 143 miles with 5k'ish of climbing earlier this year at the Vuelta de PR. What type of training would you recommend to get me prepared for this? Currently I weigh in at 175ish and do the following training: Monday: weights; 4 sets of squats X 25 reps ranging from 1/4 body weight to max 80% body weight. 4 sets of reverse lunges x 20 at 50 to 60 pound barbel total weight. 2 sets of calf raises at 20 reps at or above body weight. 2 sets of hamstring curls with 40-60 pounds of resistance. Throughout the week i put in between 70-150 miles or riding. Around half of my miles are just z-1 on a trainer and the other half are between z3 and z4

Thank you all for all your help!

edit for clarification on types of current rides.

Last edited by Sexy_Lugs; 03-01-20 at 07:05 PM.
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Old 03-01-20, 05:27 PM
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Detail about weight lifting but not the riding?

I think you might want to stop the weights if you feel it takes anything away from bike training.

Training for a hard double century is not that different than training for any hard ride where you are concerned about performing well.

Do your intervals, but also get some long easy rides in. Recover sufficiently before the big day.

read this: JV's Cycling Blog: Training for Ultra-Cycling Events

I recommend relatively short and hard interval sessions 2 or possibly 3 times, with one longer ride at a fairly easy pace too, each week. Active rest, or actual complete rest 3 or 4 days per week. This is a high intensity- high rest approach. Interval rides might only be an hour long. Zone 4 and 5 intervals. The long ride might be 3 hours or so. Zone 2, maybe a little zone 3 sprinkled in.

If you don't like doing interval type work, then a couple moderate length tempo/zone 3-4 (sweet spot) rides might substitute, but they can sometimes lead to burnout. 90 or 120 minutes of that stuff is hard.

Bottom line: you need to stomp on the gas at least a little bit to evoke adaptations.

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Old 03-01-20, 07:08 PM
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Ok I updated my post to state the type of riding I do. At this point I do not know if the lifting is helping or not, I cannot really tell based off of prior years as this is the first few years I have taken this type of riding serious.

alrhiugh I cannot tell, I do believe (unscientificly) that the lifting helped in the 375 mile 3 day ride I just completed in Puerto Rico.
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Old 03-01-20, 08:06 PM
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Ride up grades. Or failing that, crank up the resistance on the trainer.
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Old 03-02-20, 12:19 PM
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A bit of weight training, esp working core and leg muscles, is great for the off-season and for occasional cross-training during riding season. But to get better at climbing, you need to train on the bike. Be sure to do significant base training, as you will need a large base for a 200-mile event. After establishing a good base, start adding in interval training and hill repeats and such. It'll help to have a good training plan, which you can get from a good book or website.

Most of us have more than enough leg strength to pedal a bike up all but the steepest grades, assuming appropriate gearing. This is why the weight room isn't much help in training for a climbing event, unless it includes grades so steep that you face actual difficulty turning over the pedals; for most riders and most rides, though, that's not the primary challenge.

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Old 03-02-20, 12:37 PM
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I think I saw this on Facebook, but a bit longer response here-
On the general workout/fitness- can't really comment.
One thing I have noticed is that there's a big difference between a route that has one 5,000' climb and one that has 100 hills 50' high. And in the latter case, there's a big difference if those hills are all 5% hills or 15% hills.
With that in mind, the more riding you can do in the area, or on similar terrain, the better off you are.
Part of it is building up leg muscles, etc.
Part of it is figuring out what pace works, what gears work, whether you need lower gears, whether it's better to hit 'em hard or ease in or what. Also things like if the roads are rough or smooth as silk so you have workable tires for the route.
If you've got any extra flab to lose, that's all to the good, too.
Long ago, I did a 12-hour race around a looped course. Other racers were already out there on 24-hour and 48-hour efforts. So the first 4 laps, I was powering smartly up Power Bar Hill while other people were crawling up in granny gear. The fifth lap, I was crawling up in granny gear, too. So there's a learning curve that's hard to duplicate on shorter rides or rides on flatter terrain.
With more experience, I may not be any faster, but at least I know what to expect.
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Old 03-03-20, 07:04 AM
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PAC tour training guidelines are a good reference if you want to be fast. If you just want to finish, you can drop the weightlifting and go with the Three Months Before PAC Tour guidelines: 150-200 miles per week, One day per week over 100 miles, One long 150 mile ride during the month, Hang in the back of a fast group (20+ MPH) 30 miles per week.
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