I was looking at the 2 Knighthood Prep plans of 4 weeks and 6 weeks respectively. Anyone with experience with either, do you feel it prepared you properly? Any preference for one over the other?
I am looking to make my attempt in June, so I could do both back-to-back over 10 weeks by just not doing the attempt at the end of the first training plan.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
Hey @Critmark ,
Congratulations on taking the first step toward Knighthood! As long as you have been consistently training up to the KoS plan, I think doing the 4 and 6wk plans back to back is not necessary or even desired. Once you get thru the 5 video day 2 weeks before your Knighthood quest, you will NOT want to do that again unless a Knighthood is the next step. The keys to a successful Knighthood besides consistent, smart training is nutrition, hydration and mental training. Pick one plan and go for it. It’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.
Cheers,
Spencer
I have been training pretty consistently since September, around 600 miles/month. I did the Rapha 500 in Dec which was a lot of hours/miles and ToS 2022 (my first). I am ramping up my running right now for a charity run coming up in 3 weeks. Then back to a cycling focus.
Since I have the time, is the 6 week plan the better option or too much?
From what I’ve seen from you @Critmark you’ve got this! I’d even go as far as saying you are probably ready now, were it not for your strained muscle.
I say this in all seriousness too. My training leading up to my Knighthood was simply training consistently and knowing, from experience, that I would succeed based on having rides of 10+ hours outdoors in the past. That and a full buy-in on the Mental Training Plan where I had identified Knighthood as my personal Mt. Sufferlandria. NOTHING was going to stop me.
FWIW, back in the day, there was no prep plan and, quite frankly, if it had existed, I would probably have done my actual Knighthood on the day that the 5 in a row came up. I say this because when I was training for a virtual Everesting attempt by doing repeated climbs of Alpe du Zwift, on the day that I was set to do 4 reps (8.5 is required for a full vEveresting) I decided I’d just go for it. Now, that being said, I was prepped for it in that I had all the food, hydration, time, equipment and back up plans in place, but my thinking was “if I get to the half way point and I feel okay, I’m just going to keep going” et voila!
If you’ve got the time, then go for the 6 week plan. +1 on what @Glen.Coutts said, you will accomplish the mission, I have no doubt.
Cheers,
Spencer
If you have completed the Rapha 500 and the most recent ToS, I would think you are going to be “fine” physically, so I would not sweat the plans or training too much.
Don’t get me wrong, it is not easy, but as Sir Glen and Coach Spencer have mentioned, it is particularly important to get the organization, logistics and other “off the bike” prep right. If all that stuff is in order, then it is just 10+ hours of exponentially increasing positive self-talk!
When I did mine 2 years ago there was only a single prep plan. And it set the power targets much higher than I would set the targets for any actual knighthood - since there are only 5 in a row on that biggest prep plan day. I had already completed a century ride indoors the month before while doing repeats of ISLTA, so I was pretty confident that if I could do 5 in a row at those targets then I would be able to do my 10. And if you’re already doing the Rapha 500 then you’re all set.
If you have the time then I would suggest the 6 week plan. But if you’re already in shape then you could do whatever you wanted and be fine. Last year I used the 200 mile gravel plan to prep for my anniversary quest. It’s all up to you…
Plus one on the nutrition side. Since you were at my Knighthood quest, I can state that cramping is best to be avoided. Train and eat/drink what you plan on using during the quest. If you cramp/bonk, adjust until you don’t. It’s no fun doing The Hunted while your quads are screaming at you.