planning to renew my subscription now that the TR team has launched their Masters Program, 50 yr old ,my 30th year of riding and half of those are most done indoors. looking at doing 200k,300k,400 and 600k rides all in one season - requirement rides to achieve super radonneur status. have a 300k ride this dec 2 to kick off the 2024 season then a 200k by Jan, a 400 in late April and finally the 600k in May. Not sure what plan to pick and i do my long rides every 2-3 weeks outside and indoors 99% of the time. i just did a 300k ride back in July to see how it feels to ride more than 200kms - i have been working nights for the past 20 years so the masters program will help me but late December means leaving work for good but will hopefully look at working during the day or mid morning or late afternoon work schedule for a change. i do miss not feeling like a vampire. any suggested plan i can review?
Use planbuilder, no need to pick a a plan, per se.
Have fun on the super randonneur. Every year I’m thinking about it but I just can’t/want to commit the time at the momement. Will probably do a couple of the shorter brevets around here next year.
Thanks! due to the ride schedule starting Dec, everything`s crunched up as the other locations you need to ride the plane to reach - so opted to do the ones close to home.
There’s a few ways you can go here:
Plan Builder will give you the default Sweet Spot Base > Sustained Power Build > Century. This is good if you are time-crunched for training hours.
Traditional Base is an excellent foundation for randonneuring if you have a few more training hours available.
Polarized Base and Build can also be a pretty good way of mixing shorter more intense trainer rides during the week, with longer zone 2 rides (potentially outside) on the weekend.
Having done most at some point, I don’t think any of the plans are any better than the other for preparing for brevets. Weekly volume seems to be the best predictor.
How did your 300km feel and go in July, what do you feel you need to work on?
This. Pacing and fueling on rides over a few hours are the key
thanks, will look into these - time crunched and night work for the past 20 yrs but hopefully my schedule changes come next yr.
thank you both,fueling and pacing i was able to get for the 300 but hopefully with the masters option they just offered, will be able to finish.
felt fine all throughout, i was using xert for the build wherein i just followed the suggested power zone - LTP as what they call it there - Zone 1-2 i guess so rode around 150-180 watts for majority and let it jump to less than 200 watts during the longer climbs.
Just keep riding your bike!
That’s conveniently the mantra for both training in general, and for finishing a 400!
Hey @dmascardo
If you are looking into our Masters Plan option, I think the best route would be to use Plan Builder and choose the Gran Fondo discipline. It primarily focuses on muscular endurance, equipping you to pedal powerfully for hours on end over widely varied terrain. But it also includes some higher-intensity VO2 max efforts, so you’ll have the fitness you need to stay at the front when the pace rises.
i will look into this Caro, appreciate the insight. thanks!
Then it sounds like you don’t need to work to improve your fitness to step up to 400km or 600km. It’s rarely fitness that causes problems on the longer brevets it’s all the other stuff. Of course having a bit more speed makes them easier as you can build up enough time to sleep on 400s or 600s if you need it.
My advice outside of fitness is to have a think about all the other elements that make for a successful brevet rather than DNF and schedule some time to practise those elements. If you’ve never ridden through the night, sunset to sunrise then time to practise it after a full day awake etc.
thanks, i will research on this - naps and the other things that i have control over.