Gravel Training

Hey Guys, 

I have some races coming up in my area that are around the 40 mile distance. 

I have a training plan from Training Peaks that's been working well for me in the off season BUT I have come to the realization that I'm probably not putting in enough time...or maybe I am?

My training time is limited to 5 - 7 hours a week and my long rides are right around 2 hours. Almost all my time is on an indoor trainer.

Covering hilly courses with tough terrain over 40 miles is going to take me 3 - 4 hours to complete which I think is going to be really tough...

What do you guys think?

I think you might want to take a look at Rouvy.  I would also take a look at Trainer Road.  I used Trainer Road to train for Dirty Kanza and it worked.  I followed their workout plan and while I didn't finish all the workouts what I did (like 75% of them) got me in shape.  I spent about the same amount of time as you have.  I'm 59 and I finished no problem.  No I didn't beat the sun but I finished well before mid-night.  2019 was my third DK.  YMMV, but it works in order to get a finish.  Now if you are planning an a podium, well, better find more time to train.

Just as a side, in training for my first gravel century I followed a training plan that had my longest ride cap out at 80 miles. On race day I actually made a wrong turn and wound up riding 114 miles.........that was 34 miles further than I had ever rode before. I was just fine.

You should be fine.  I've found it's not necessarily the amount of time but the quality of training. Using Training Peaks you are getting quality workouts.

2hrs training rides won't cut it if your races are 3-4hrs long. Anyone that tells you to "just ride harder" for short rides, doesn't know anything about exercise physiology.  Endurance fitness is like a building. Needs a foundation before you can add walls, roof, and all the important stuff that makes it function. Focusing on very short rides, zone 4-5 intervals guarantees you'll be great for about 20 minutes into your race.

Two equal riders, same genetic ability. Rider #1 does 5hrs a week, never riding more than 2hrs, focusing on zone 4 & 5 efforts every ride, hardly ever riding in zone 2. Same things for 3 months. Rider #2 does 2 months of zone 2, 7 hrs a week. One 4hr ride, two 1.5hrs rides. Each ride two days apart. Nothing above zone 2 for those two months. Third month our rider #2 does exactly what rider #1 has been doing for the last two weeks. Rider #2 will smoke rider #1. Endurance training 101.

My background;, a few national titles, Crusher, RPI, BWR, DK200 finisher, medaled at worlds. This not to toot the horn, just to clarify that my opinion comes from direct personal experience of racing at the national level for 20 years. Not something I read in a forum. 19hrs/week for me so far in '20, the bulk of it in zone 2.

Human body stores about 2hrs worth of glycogen, regardless of training. At LT2 or zone 3 (gravel race pace), you will deplete at 2hrs. Key to gaining both the mitochondrial density required for peak aerobic efficiency and best possible LT2 power output, is doing ride that last longer than 2hrs. Eat during the ride and try to have steady energy level for the whole ride. Know that even the top pros don't ride at zone 4 for a 4hrs race. Body can't do that. They'll be in zone 3, (above threshold) with short periods of zone 4. A less trained athlete has to plan on doing most of that 4hrs in Zone 2, specifically below LT2 with just short periods of zone 3.

 Basically, you won't have the efficiency nor capacity to survive the lactic build up, ATP depletion of long Z3 efforts without blowing up, so don't. Your goal, any gravel racers goal is make S*#t tons of LT2 power. Don't be dismayed. That's the exertion level right before you start making more lactic acid than your system can clear. So you slowly get that burn that is unsustainable. Learn to ride as close to that threshold as possible without going over. If you do go over in training, don't stop whatever you do. Learn to "roll off the throttle" just a little. Reduce your effort by the smallest amount you can, grit your teeth while the lactic subsides and you again reach a sustainable pace that isn't lighting your legs on fire. Eat, drink, Lt2. That, in a nutshell, is gravel racing.

TLR version, yes you do have to do 3-4hr training rides if you want to do well in 4hr races.

HTH

Thanks for the expert advice!

So I’ve got 4 of these gravel races coming up in a few months with the first in starting in April. Each race is about 40 miles. Some are hilly.

In your humble opinion how long should my long ride be and how many hours do you recommend I do per week in training?

I’m doing a training peaks gravel plan but I’m starting to think it’s not enough hours on the bike for me goals.

My goal is to be competitive in these...realistically I have no chance of winning...I guess that’s the wrong attitude but it’s true!

It sounds like you use a power meter in your races, or do you just go off your feel?

Nothing wrong with setting high goals. In fact I encourage everyone to set really high goals. It's okay to miss them as long as you have management of expectations. The idea being the higher goal will push you deeper.

I never rely on a power meter in racing. Particularly for really long endurance events, you need to learn to recognize your body's signals and key off of that. Train with your brain, race with your heart. The one place where it is useful is to identify dehydration and low glycogen. If you are dehydrated your heart rate will be very elevated but the power will not come up. Conversely if your glycogen is low you will not be able to get your heart rate up and you will not make power. So if I start feeling not so hot, I will flick over and look at my power and heart rate and see if they are where they should be.

I would recommend doing at least one 4hr steady zone 2 ride per week, all year, unless you are taking a break for some reason. Any opportunity you have to do zone 2 rides over 3 hours in length you should. If you are time-constrained intend to do a lot of 1 to 2 hour rides then make those count. Never ride, "kind of hard", or steady zone 3. If you're a bit sore and can use a recovery ride then it should be zone 1, barely turning the pedals barely sweating, no more than an hour. 

Gravel racing doesn't require high cadence or explosive accelerations like road racing or cyclocross. What it does require is steady-state strength. So normal and slightly below normal cadence very high force seated intervals will be very useful. Do some of these on a road bike on smooth ground but do some of them over rough ground on a gravel bike. To be able to power up short hills between 1 and 10 minutes in length you want to do longer intervals 3, 5 or 10 minutes. 

A frequently overlooked and highly effective adjunct to on the bike training is strength and mobility training off the bike. If you are over 40 years old this is something you want to be doing pretty much all year long. Flexibility, core and overall high force type strength. A lot of useful work can be done with no more than a few kettlebells, medicine ball or resistance bands. Plenty of good information out there to get you started. If you decide to go to the gym and use weights I highly recommend going with someone who is very experienced and or trained.

If you can do 2 hours on a trainer you can so 3 or 4 hours outside.  There's nothing harder than trainer time.  It exists outside of the normal universe.

Volsung wrote:If you can do 2 hours on a trainer you can so 3 or 4 hours outside.  There's nothing harder than trainer time.  It exists outside of the normal universe.

Absolutely correct. The normal movement on a bike that's not constrained on a trainer is enough to greatly reduce fatigue. Bolt the bike in a fixed position and fatigue skyrockets. That's where those new moving platforms for trainers come in. But they are damned expensive.

Agree though that if the OP can survive 2 hours on a trainer he can definitely survive 4hrs outside.
 

Back when I was in my 20's I used to ride all the time and we called those junk miles. Now, 30 years later, life is busier and time is precious. I don't have time to ride everywhere and commuting by bike doesn't happen much. I've chosen instead to focus on strengh training in my home gym 4-5 days a week with rides 4-5 days a week. Long rides on the weekends and 1-1.5 hours on the trainer a couple night a week.

This thread got me thinking though, should I capitalize on commuting rides as zone 2 rides adding those to my routine? Guess what I'm really asking is do shorter rides add up, especially if done within the same day? 

I don't know the answer but I would hope that frequency of training would be more effective than just hammering a tough workout or long ride on a less consistent basis. 

I suppose this would depend on the event you are training for...simulating a 3 - 4 hour race scenario during the work week is not time that I have (unless sleep and family time were sacrificed). Shorter 1 to 1.5 hour morning rides before work is the best I can manage so I am hoping that it all "adds up".

Does anyone know more on this?

E-man wrote:I don't know the answer but I would hope that frequency of training would be more effective than just hammering a tough workout or long ride on a less consistent basis. 

I suppose this would depend on the event you are training for...simulating a 3 - 4 hour race scenario during the work week is not time that I have (unless sleep and family time were sacrificed). Shorter 1 to 1.5 hour morning rides before work is the best I can manage so I am hoping that it all "adds up".

Does anyone know more on this?

I  believe you are on the right track. Ideally we could do a mix of both, but I think consistency is the most important........ I've heard it said that 4 one hour rides in a week are better than 1 four hour ride.

E-man wrote:I don't know the answer but I would hope that frequency of training would be more effective than just hammering a tough workout or long ride on a less consistent basis. 

I suppose this would depend on the event you are training for...simulating a 3 - 4 hour race scenario during the work week is not time that I have (unless sleep and family time were sacrificed). Shorter 1 to 1.5 hour morning rides before work is the best I can manage so I am hoping that it all "adds up".

Does anyone know more on this?

Well, your best chance at improvement is high intensity training.  With 4 rides a week I can go relatively hard (tempo or threshold) and recover and do it over again after a recovery day.  With one long 4 hour ride, I'm riding at an endurance pace and not really getting faster.    Sometimes it amazes me that my training score (based on heart rate) with a 4 hour ride isn't much more than a 1 hour ride - but I'm riding a lot harder in the short ride.

Naturally you need a mix of both.  If I train my body for only 1 hour rides, I won't have the endurance to do a 4 hour ride.