Hey group, would need help going through the training schedules. I didnthe full frontal(week) and im ready to hammer down until my trip in November 6th.
Im prepping for a 10+7 days of gravel rides on an avg of 80km and 2000D+
Id like to get some advise on how tonget the best plan using thr wahoo systm planner.
My aim will be FTP for endurance and Climbs. Current attempt is:
Event prep, Cycling, gravel, 300km, 3 weeks hard.
Any recomm to achieve better?
Thank you for the help!
Ive also noticed the app seems tonalways promote racing or nm which I don’t really need. Any way i can ask it so change certain workouts?
Looks like you’ve already made a good selection. The NM focussed workouts are usually short and they hit your system a different way than the workouts that are focussed on sustained efforts. I wouldn’t dismiss them. At the very least, be careful about what you substitute for them. You have to be careful about piling on too much volume and then burning out before you even go on your trip. Lighter days and recovery are important elements of building yourself up.
Another thing to consider…I have found that my FTP and MAP have improved, but my AC has not. I can do harder efforts, but I just cannot recover fast enough. Depending on the nature of your rides, you might want to focus a little on AC as well.
Thanks for the input guys. Ive noticed that basically whatever variation of the options inchoose, i always get pretty much the same format and the same routines, with different length. Is it because the training library quantity is low?
Now im wondering if it would be better to ignore the “gravel” aspect and just focus on the “road cycling” to increase variety.
Is there really a benefit to choosing “Gravel?”
Thank you!
I’ve done various road plans and I’ve done the 60-mile gravel plan a couple of times, but I never directly compared them to each other in detail. They seemed to make sense for what I wanted to get out of them so I just went with it.
The plan you’ve chosen is actually bang on for back to back gravel riding and is what I did for 600km of bikepacking in Jan. I didnt do SUF strength work tho and instead did a LOT of core work. Like a LOT. Thats probably the single best thing I did to manage my fatigue levels on the bike. For a 10 day back to back like that, you’ll want ALL the endurance. That plan does include interval work so you’ll be fine on the climbs. The only other thing you have to worry about is fueling. Somehwere, I have the OG Ian Boswell 200mile plan written down, which adds a bit more spice.
The reason you get very little variability in the plan is because….its a plan for a 200mile event and so it focuses on long, sustained efforts with a little bit of higher intensity interval work thrown in to grow cardio capacity and help develop the ability to recover after hard efforts (pinch climbs) while still riding reasonably hard.
Depending on when your event is you might have time for some extra blocks and can throw in some reverse periodisation blocks to start, but I’d definitely avoid sprint work. You want to be able to ride all day, and recover. If you do a block of MAP to start, you’ll uplift your VO2 so it doesnt cap your FTP. Sounds like an epic event. Have a blast!
That’s great insight! Thank you for sharing!
I think that’s the challenge part of the trip im doing in November, its not a single 300km event “day”, its 10 days of continuous ride, followed by another 6+ days. It seems a little harder to balance the training because of that. And its not a race, they are bike days from point to point, i don’t plan on going particularly fast since i do want to take in the views, take some pictures and have a good time.
I’ll give this training a try and i think your logic is spot on for the Core work, i’ll continue strength for the legs at the gym and do some extra core work as well.
The only other thing I added to the plan was a couple of big back to back days, but you dont need a lot of those. I was actually remarkably unfit at the time. Was shattered from hiking 85km the 3 days before I set off and when I got back, I flew long haul and did 10 back to back days of skiing as well.
If you ride steady…..at low endurance, and fuel right you can literally ride all day without much training, as long as your body is well used to the bike from years of rising, even if you’re not particularly fit at the time.
Other things that really helped me were getting a cold cold shower or swimming in a river to get the leg muscles really cold. I was scrupulous about hygiene and managing saddle sores etc. I fueled like it was my job. And when I wasn’t riding, I was lying down or slow short gentle walking, resting as much as I could.
The other thing to be aware of, if you havent done these distances and multiday before….watch your hands and feet. Neural damage is a thing. I compressed a nerve in my foot and it was numb for months afterwards. Be very aware of any numbness or hot spots and manage it. In my feet, I should have done more to get shoes off every time I stopped, but was too lazy. And I should have opted for a flexier sole, but rode in my Sidis which are max stiffness for MTB racing rather than multi day riding. I hate riding on flats so that wasnt an option for me. For your hands, change hand positions regularly, even put a reminder on your head unit. I wraped a buff round my handlebars so I had some extra cushioning on the flats or rode puppy paws quite a bit and it made a massive difference, my hands were fine.
Bikepacking guru mates told me afterwards that walking barefoot on gravel is the “cure” for foot numbness and to seek it out.
Thank you very much for your input, its great help!
Not to burden you, but with all this great advice (from others + me), we’re are expecting incredible results. Good luck 
Yes - wholeheartedly agree. In the middle of a seven week ride (!) I suffered some nerve damage in hands that took months to recover from. I think it was from hours of same position (boring riding) Lost sensation in first second and little fingers on both hands. personal hygiene was struggle!
The numbness for months is awful. Hope it came right in the end. My feet took 3 months.
Stupid but true story… I went to the bathroom before a run one morning. Somehow the way I was sitting the lower half of my right leg fell asleep. When I stood up it took a minute for the feeling to come back, except for my big toe. It stayed numb for my whole run (around 3 miles I think). Didn’t get full feeling back in my toe for a week. So ridiculously silly.
