I have used Trainer Road for a long time but not constinently. I have raced road and crit as a Cat 4 with some success and have raced some master 3/4 (40-50) as well. I have taken some time off the racing seen and have stayed in some shape using your app over the past year and a half. In 2011 I completed 4 person RAAM and have done some individual smaller ultra events and I am thinking hard about doing RAW, Race Across the West 2021 and RAAM 2022. I have been doing High Volume Sweetspot 1 fairly consistently and I am moving to Sweetspot 2 High Volume. My current FTP is 245ish but I have been using 235 as my FTP setting in TR to insure I can make the long intervals. I have been successful with this method currently. I might follow that last sweet spot session up with a 4 week sustained build followed by a week of taper then back to High Volume Sweet Spot 1 and 1 at my correct FTP or New FTP.
The purpose of having the lowered FTP for the first session was for me to gain saddle time, have longer training sessions, knowing I might miss a few. I work six days a week.
I need some help, with only having a 18 months or so to prepare for RAW. I need to get things right.
I have never really focused on what to eat, when to eat and what supplements, if any, I should use.
I also really need help picking a plan.
Do I do SS High Volume 1 then 2 followed by Sustained power, then repeat?
I know these maybe general/vague but struggling with where to start.
My first goal is to work on consistency and nutrition. Nutrition being the biggest hurdle.
Love the Podcast 5 Stars always. Keep up the awesome work and growing our sport!
We drove as crew on a RAAM team 10 years ago (!) and I’d say that event management is as important as fitness. The logistics can be overwhelming. I don’t expect that the TR crowd is the best place to get advice on the event specifics. Having said that, I know that our racers drank a lot of Ensure.
From a training perspective, you should do some double centuries.
Hello
I hope all goes well for your training and races.
It was many years ago, but I use to race in John Marino UMC series and would still like to do some more 24+hour events in the future, just got to get some fitness back and work out some other physical issues.
You have to find food and liquid that works for you while on longer rides, brevets, events or races. For that changed depending on how I felt and the distance itself. Then once when racing N24Challenge in MI some thing had changed that year and I can no longer tolerate a supplement that I had used for many years, so on to other brands I had to go.
Several years ago my feet started screaming at me so I took a lot of time off and am still working on getting my inserts right so that I can ride more continuous hours.
The only way I know you can figure out what works is do some 12-16 hour training rides, best with support, so you can see what works.
For me using the trainer with power helps a lot, but just is not the same as being out on the bike dealing with the variables that are out there!
In the past when racing Ultracycling events, I’ve always done best with high volume, high TSS weeks regularly and then a proper taper before a race. That helped me feel better after the longer training rides and races outside and seemed to allow me to get where I wanted to be fitness wise and keep training.
Remember any progression in power gains or time on the bike has to be what works for you so you don’t hurt body parts or get stressed too much in any way!
I would think that whatever fitness you are generally at in Feb/Mar/Apr the year of your RAW or RAAM with be what you carry forward into the race.
Also work on getting a crew that will really help you and understands that they will be putting in long days too.
I’m new to TR, but feel like there are a lot of good workouts that will fit well in helping people reach their goals without injury!