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Race Kawasaki Marine Enduro - 25th October 2015

Further to @Heath 's post elsewhere, I think I will now only be riding flats now until the race (and cutting out the hills).

Probably a boring-as-all-hell Oi Futo session will occur on Sunday.

Why don't you just treat the hills as flats and rip them up. I'll try and draft you.
 
We can try cutting out some hills and do 2×Renkohji loop next Tuesday, plus hammering it up and down the river of course. Route.
 
We can try cutting out some hills and do 2×Renkohji loop next Tuesday, plus hammering it up and down the river of course. Route.

That may work mate. Certainly want to be tailing off training from Tuesday I'd imagine so that may be the last smash (with some turbo sessions to keep the legs ticking over).
 
Hills are great for a HR blowout, and this would help for all forms of racing.
The only reason I've switched to flat training is to get my game on with a long, sustainable, flat breakaway.
That includes balancing cadence and speed to a sub-limit HR.

Even though I'm doing this training, I still think the enduro will come down to tactics on the day.
So, no need to stress over your training too much.
Decisions on the day will be where it's at, in my opinion.
 
Hills are great for a HR blowout, and this would help for all forms of racing.
The only reason I've switched to flat training is to get my game on with a long, sustainable, flat breakaway.
That includes balancing cadence and speed to a sub-limit HR.

Even though I'm doing this training, I still think the enduro will come down to tactics on the day.
So, no need to stress over your training too much.
Decisions on the day will be where it's at, in my opinion.

It's more to switch my mindset a little mate. I totally agree with your views.
 
I know absolutely nothing about tapering for a bike race and wonder how different it is to tapering for a marathon. In my first marathon I followed a "runners world" marathon plan which basically had me running very little at really slow speeds in the last two week before the race. This made my legs feel very heavy and lethargic in the last few days and during the race. For my next marathon, I followed a plan by Tim Noakes, a famous sports scientist, which saw me dramatically reduce my running distance in the last week only and instead of slowing down, increasing the speed to speed work pace. I felt much fresher and my legs great.
Interested to hear what tapering plans people have for this.
 
Interested to hear what tapering plans people have for this.

I only know what coaches told us to do many years ago, so this may be outdated by today's standards, but here goes anyway...

A marathon by road cycling standards would have to be something around 240kms +, right.
So, back in the day, coaches would have us riding that distance (hard) twice a week with 3 taper days, and 2 strength and endurance days from a couple of months before the event with a taper during the last week.
Say the race in focus was on a Saturday, that taper week would include no long rides from the Monday, just short sharp rides that are hard on the whole body (heart/lungs/legs) up until Wednesday.
Thursday would be around 120km of pure rolling and Friday would be another roll, but just 30km.
Absolutely no other activities were allowed on Thurs. and Fri. No walking, shopping, or anything that involved movement besides that on the bike.
We were encouraged to sit at home and watch movies with our feet up.
Coffee was strictly prohibited in our daily life until the morning of the race. Then we were encouraged to scoff it down, and drink Coke or eat bananas during the race if we wanted a boost (Yes, this is old school).
We carbo loaded heavily the night before the race.
We trained on high pressure tyres (tyres that require an inner tube and what you'd probably call 'clinchers' now [I'm not sure]) with around 80PSI, and we'd put our racing wheels in on race day which were silk-lined singles (tubular tyres) that cost a packet (around $150 AUD) and were rated to handle 180PSI, however we ran them at 140PSI for reliability. It was like riding on air. We flew on race day.

Anyway, that's how we tapered for race day many years ago.
Will be interesting to hear how others got/or will get their race day game on.
;)
 
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With reference to tapering...

I'll do a two week taper for Motegi enduro on the 31st.

I'll cut my training down 30% next week and a further 10% the following week.

I'm looking at TSS in Training Peaks but you could look at volume (in terms of time or kms) as a rough indicator.

Most riding will be easy with a couple of rides at high intensity/short duration.

I think as a basic rule, no training you do in the two weeks up to a race will make you stronger or faster. Focus should be on maintaining what you have and being rested, fresh and raring to go on the start line.

Andy

www.jyonnobitime.com/time
 
With it mind that I wanted to get some training in, I did a solo 8 laps of the Oi Futo short loop today (around 7.4km a lap).

I was going to try for more but, in all honesty, it's f*#^ing dull when you're your tod.

I can see @Tuomas went all out and did 3 hours of Oi Futo training this morning which I have to give him maximum respect for (he is clearly infinitely more patient than me to bother with that loop for 3 hours).

Today was relatively tough given a pretty bad headwind most of the loop but a 33km/h average over the 60km wasn't terrible given the solo effort and still coming off a cold.

Will be interesting to see what next weekend brings.
 
I was riding with other people the first half of the time, but the latter part done solo surely was dull. I hope the real deal will be more interesting.

I messed up with my Garmin laps, but the data I have is 2h41min, 89,18 km with an average of 33.2km/h. At the end even the slight headwind started to take a toll on me.
 
The real deal will definitely be more interesting as long as you are in the main group. First it will take a few laps to really get used to cornering in a large group (assuming it all happens similar to last time). After that you'll get into a rhythm and the time will go pretty quick as you: avoid the people there in flappy kit, avoid the other 300 or so people riding the same course but much slower, avoid riding in the wind, repeatedly have to put out some proper power accelerating from 10-40+ km/hr at every 180 degree turn, and try not to lose too many fillings on the awful part of the course. If you're not in the main group though it will be pretty boring.
 
I got a entry for sale. Let me know if anyone is interested? Its the 3-hour show.
 
@leicaman
Pretty difficult to know how we're going to go without knowing what our opposition is capable of.
Will definitely give it my best shot.

I'm entered for the 5 hour race, so I'll be looking to get one of the boys up for the 3 hour win (and hopefully gain time on the 5hr guys in the process), have lunch, then try to slog out the last 2 hours against the opposition.

Should be interesting. The race itself, that is, not the endless laps of what really is a large criterium course.
 
I am definitely up for this too (the 3hr one) if I can work out how to sign up for it. I assume there are categories for girls....

Sounds like fun as long as it is not too much of a crashfest!

Tor

Did you sign up @TorC ?
 
Quick couple of questions to those who have taken part before, please -

  • Is there anything I need to do to prepare the bike to be allowed to race? (eg more than a normal ride - so do I have to remove my small saddlebag with its spare tyre in, etc).
  • Is there somewhere at the race you can leave excess items, such as a small bag with items that won't be needed during the actual race?
 
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