Looking for multiple day race training plan

Hi,

I am looking for a training plan for a 5 day race.
Does anyone know of any?

thanks,

Eric

Where are you coming from in terms of training, race history, success in single day or weekend races?

You're unlikely to find a "canned" training plan for five day stage races, assuming that's what you're talking about here and most folks undertaking longer events like that have already adopted a primary training philosophy that they might modify in the build towards longer races but wouldn't be looking for a ground up training recipe.

So what's your basic training philosophy, how long have you been at it and what are your limits in terms of training time as you prepare for your five day race?

FWIW, mid length stage races aren't much different than other race training, build sustainable power, build on areas critical for success in the planned events, train your weaknesses, build enough training load so that you can handle many consecutive days and to foster speedy recovery then go out and race smart and to your strengths. There's not one special plan to accomplish those things.

-Dave

Hi Dave, I am triathlete, I have trained for Olympic and 1/2 ironman distances. And have competed over a year as a triathlete.
I ride between 3 to 4 times a week. About 100 Km per week.
I have never competed for multiple days in a row. I've cycled multiple days in a row but not raced.

That is where i stand.

Thanks,

Eric

Wow and you're going to do five back to back triathlons? That's definitely impressive and will place a premium on the ability to recover from day to day.

Sorry, outta my league I've done 5 day and longer cycling stage races but even when I run (mostly for cyclocross these days) I don't run race pace five days in a row much less all three sports at race pace.

But from the big picture perspective it sounds like slowly and intelligently building training load and then a smart taper is in order.

Have you posted this question over at slowtwitch: Slowtwitch Forums: Triathlon Forum
Seems like you'd get a lot more tri specific advice over there.

Good luck,
-Dave

Dave, sorry if i mislead you.... although I am a triathlete, I am interested in doing a cycling race (only cycling). the race is a 5 day race, about 90 Km per day.
Not 5 day triathlon.... sorry if i did not make myself clear.

After the triathlon season I want to train for a bike race, a 5 day bike race and i am looking for some sort of a plan to train.

Thanks,

Eric

Ahhhh, dang I thought you were superman, a masochist or both

Well you're going to want to intelligently increase the amount of cycling training you're doing as your tri season winds down. It's pretty typical for full time bike racers and especially stage racers to train on the bike 5 if not 6 days per week. Contrary to popular belief those don't necessarily have to be grueling long training rides. You can do an awful lot of quality training in hour and a half to three hour sessions if you focus on quality.

Some of your tri training base will cross over, but you're going to want more pure bike time prior to your event. And hopefully you either have previous race experience or you'll get in some one day races before your multi day event to work on tactics, group riding experience, bike handling in a fast pack, etc.

Check out Charles Howe's excellent guide to bike training based loosely on running principles from Lydiard/Daniels. You should already been well on the way to solid base from your tri season, but doing some additional SST (Sweet Spot Training) base building and then transitioning to more specific high end work before your events would make a lot of sense. Here's a link to his guide: http://www.trainingsmartonline.com/i...g_Training.pdf

Solid base and sustainable power are key for multi day events and you should have a head start there, but don't neglect bike racing specific high end work if your multi-day race includes circuit races, crits or other fast speedwork events.

Yeah, not exactly a cookie cutter workout plan, but multi day races really come down to basic fitness, depth of training base, ability to recover and good racing skills so you can race efficiently and not burn a lot of unecessary energy.

Good luck,
-Dave