On this page I'll track my training and preparation for this major challenge, perhaps you have a similar challenge in 2015? Perhaps we can prepare together...
7th July Update - DNF
Oh, dear! I went for it, I tried, I beat the cut-off and made it on to the long course but then I faded on the Giau. Full story will be on Cyclosport soon so I'll just make some notes here:
1) Tough event which will find any imperfections in your preparation.
2) Imperfection #1 - too heavy, I'm carrying a bit more than I need (!) - had hoped the weight would come down through training, but it didn't - hard to manage training with an additional denial of calories. But it meant I was carrying 5kg around the whole route
3) #2 Gearing - yes the slopes are may be 12% at worst but they go on and on, and not having another gear meant I couldn't lighten the load -was continually reaching for another gear.
4) #3 Food stops were poor - very little solid food - unexpected for a GF but meant I was not fuelling right. Energy drink on offer turned my stomach.
Overall I was defeated by the Giau - too steep - I have more time in Italy now and perhaps I need to find out if I can ride up these big hills? Can I do it? I did the early Martona hills well but then faded - my legs gave out, weakened.
4th July Update - the eve of the Maratona
Writing from my Tirolean hotel base with the big day just hours away. It's going to be hot and there are going to be a lot of people on the road.
This last month of training has been odd. May well be that 3 months of intensity training is too much (!) - need to be more focused and shorter. Last month has been difficult despite doing good performances at events I started to notice how long it would take to recover - days and days of feeling like a ghost. So I stopped it all about 2 weeks ago and have hardly rode the bike since - that's my taper. Went out tonight just to check the bike and feel great, all the heaviness has lifted and I hardly notice climbing.
Intensity training has helped me to "go deeper" - times when you really push yourself and can be confident that you'll survive and go on. The last month has been less about that and more about doing a couple of events and that has been good too - doing lot of personal bests on the Chiltern 100 and coming in early on the Shropshire Highland Challenge all help confidence.
3rd June update: hill/intensity training
Again, different. Because you are focusing on intensity it can be hard to predict load. A short 15km ride but up very hard hills as fast as possible can lead to days of recovery. Also, just started to question the particular hill I was using - yes it's long and you gain over 300m but the lest quarter is very steep. This means it becomes a strength exercise. The hills on the Maratona aren't so steep and I'm in danger of turning up with the wrong fitness (strong but not fast enough up). I've explored just riding the early part of the hill, and the middle part, and may also switch hills to another one that offers 8 to 10% gradients.
Along with this I became aware of how CV fitness was going to be important. Legs need to be supplied with energy and oxygen so actually a flat, interval session might also help. I started exploring a long interval and was pleased to be able to do a 15min interval. And this led to doing a MSW TT - always wanted to and a friend was going so it was easy to join. 26min 47sec which was regarded as quite good.
Finished the month (May) by getting new, expensive (for me) Campag wheels - which roll better and feel stiffer) and then doing the Medio Fondo on the Chiltern 100. This was a difficult day weather wise (heavy rain) but fine in terms of getting up the hills. I clocked up plenty of Personal Records on a variety of hills - without even trying - so the wheels and the training seem to be doing some good...
26th April update: hill/intensity training
Very different month. Forget the distance (probably less than 500km for the whole of April), now its about intensity. All that base/distance work has made me strong enough to take on the high-intensity work that will actually make a difference to performance. That's the theory.
In practice? I've done 3 intense hill sessions this month. Super-hard, and each one has improved my time for the climb. At over 300m of height gain and 5km long it's a hill that calls for endurance - you can't just blip up it. I'm focusing on trying as hard as possible - much harder than if I encountered this hill during a long bike ride. I'm getting to the top destroyed.
And the following day I'm pretty tired too, so far. I have modified my plan to include just one session of this intensity per week - partially because it's too much of an interruption to the working week to be tired out more often (and risks injury/over-training). As we go into May we'll see if this leads to improved times on the hill...
28th March update: 900km base training month
Nailed the distance again - just 12km off with 3 days to go. Not too tired, much less injury or breaks in training. This month completes the base training phase. The result will become fully apparent as I try to use the capacity I've built during the next phase - but I suspect that I've gotten much better at recovering, and just much stronger.
The next phase is hill work - 2 months of it to essentially complete the preparation for the Maratona. The plan is to use hill repeats to build strength and CV fitness going up hill. Because of my base training I am looking forward to really pushing myself on the hills - intensity is the focus rather than distance. This means I should not be getting anywhere near 900km again, and perhaps not doing the 10,000+ metres of climbing either - better to do less climbing but really go for it
Additionally, I want to keep the distance capacity I've gained - I'll do that by doing a 100km ride each week. This will help with working on my fueling strategy too.
26th Feb update: 800km base training month
Nailed the distance target - did 797km (so 3 km off the target...) and feel great. I've had a slight injury concern - right knee occasionally flares up but otherwise a good month. "Target training" really works - the target was 800km and I made it despite a slight injury mid-month and then "life" getting in the way. With a whole month to achieve 800km you can always find ways of re-jigging the schedule to get there - this way of training towards a target is an easy way of managing your training - dealing with family and personal interruptions (plus injury and illness) whilst still working towards extending your capacity.
Next month the target is 900km but I can already see a key weekend will have no cycling opportunities, and it's my birthday on a day when I would have done 120km. But with a month to play with I can get around these problems and achieve my goal.
In the meantime I have 5 clear days of recovery. When you have been stretching your riding it can be a real relief to finish a block of training and look forward to having time off the bike. And it'll mean I'll come back to riding with fresh enthusiasm and real strength for my March extension...
31st Jan update: 700km base training month
Managed to get much closer to my month target - 700km. And have also completed the last week of rest so am hopefully fully ready for February's 800km target. I've done a couple of tough events too, but these have been slight problems as their "load" disrupts the training sequence - you're too tired to complete the shorter rides that I want to surround a long effort. For Feb I'm not planning to do any events and this means I can do slightly less loaded long rides that can be better accommodated within a programme of almost daily riding. Riding everyday does have real merits that I want to explore in February.
Weight has also started coming down - a product of lots of training and a slight decrease in food intake. And it's worth taking note of the climbing gain - nearly 8,000m compared to 5.5k in Dec. Height gained isn't the training focus during base but its worth spotting - when it comes time to switch to hill training in April I'll need to increase this figure.
All-in-all a good base training month and with the prospect of a more predictable (i.e. not disrupted by sportives) February I should have a good chance of getting 800km done. And it's getting lighter in the afternoons...
1st Jan update: Illness and the plan
Illness meant I didn't ride towards the end of December and thus missed the 600km target for the month. I did 555km. Xmas plus bad weather (ice) also contributed to under-achieving. It doesn't mean I should try to make up the distance, or conversely to revise my plans. I got near enough the target and suffered from chance in not getting the whole way - earlier in the month it looked like I would go 700km for the month. In this context the plan holds good and I can go on with the original intention, which calls for 700km for January.
I'm planning just a couple of long rides in January mixed in with loads of short, mid-day local rides - we'll see if they make an impact alongside the long stuff...
14th Dec update: How to approach a significant cycling event?
Two things need to be sorted - 1) what is the nature and demand of the event, and 2) what training do you need to do? (And how much time do you have to do the training in?)
Nature and Demand of the Event
The Maratona is a key sportive in Europe. 30,000 apply, 9,000 are successful. The long course is just 138km but has over 4,000m of climbing. It's set within the Italian Dolomites with a high point well above 2,000m. To successfully complete it would be a key sportive achievement.
One problem of preparing in the UK for such an event is that there is nothing like it in the UK. Luckily, I've ridden in the Dolomites, in 2013, and have done all the climbs of the event. This gives me some basic figures for my performance. If you were targeting an event in the UK it may be possible to reconnoitre the route/climbs in advance of the big day, and if you are looking at an unfamiliar continental event you may need to quantify the challenges: the Maratona is equivalent to climbing 40m every 1km, or doing 1,000m in 25km. My regular ride of 40km would have to have 1,626m of climbing in order to be similar to the Maratona (currently we do perhaps 1,000m in 40km on a "tough" day).
When I rode in the Dolomites I did the first 4 climbs in 3 hrs 20 mins, and the last two biggies in 3 hrs 14 mins. An average speed of 15.5kph. Like all Italian sportives there is a cut off point - you have to get halfway before 11.40am on the Maratona and that means averaging 17kph.
What training and how much time?
The Maratona is set for July 5th 2015. That's 7 months away (as of Dec 14th 2014). Following standard endurance training principles I'll split that time up into Base training and then Speed/Hills training. Base is about extending basic endurance capacity and then Speed/Hills training is about developing performance. You can't build a top performance on a sketchy base.
I've set base training for 4 months - Dec, Jan, Feb and March. Then April and May will be Speed/Hills development. June will be tapering/getting fully rested for the big day. Base will be about "getting the miles in". Simply getting the body used to doing loads of miles at fairly low intensity - the idea is that this transforms your endurance efficiency and capacity, and you basic strength. It gets you ready to do the tough development work of the Speed/Hills training time. Base makes you more able to do the Speed/Hills training without breaking down - "it's not how much training you can do, it's how much you can recover from".
Winter is the perfect time to develop your basic capacity. Lots of easy riding, the challenge becomes getting the miles in and keeping going. My plan is to use the first 3 weeks of each month to get as much distance in, and to do as many rides as possible (in other words to ride may be 6 days per week) and then take the 4th week as a rest time - you can't stress the body continually without causing a serious problem sooner or later. Rest is where you get better.
The idea behind riding each day is to really make the body adapt - its better to give continual stress rather than the occasional big stress. At the same time you also have to do some long rides as 5 x 20km is not the same as 100km in one go. So training has to be a mixture of big rides and little ones - if you can do 100km one day and 20km the next, that's better than 120km on one day and then a rest.
OK, how much to do each month? Well, in 2014 I've averaged 500km per month so to extend my capacity it would be reasonable to set a target of 600km for Dec, then 700 for Jan, 800 for Feb and 900 for March. Yes, I've already had bigger months in 2014 but its no good having one 1,000km month then collapsing and doing just 200km in the next month - that would make 1,200km for 2 months. My aim is to do (at max) an 800 then a 900 so a total of 1,700km (and this is following 2 other big months so a grand total of 3,000km by March 31st).
If this makes sense to you, here's what I suggest you do:
1) Work out your average monthly distance.
2) Now come up with a plan for your base training that will extend this distance - don't go mad or try to just pluck an aspirational number out of the sky that had no relation to what you can do.
3) Set up your schedule and make sure you have enough rest time.
One last thing, if you don't hit your target before the rest week starts don't sneak in extra sessions to "make up". You need the rest.
Next time I'll have the first results from Base training and see how to manage a training programme.