Training plan for Wicklow 200

Hootie

Hi,
A friend and myself are planning to do the wicklow 200 next year. I am getting a new bike and have an appointment to test a few next week. I want to get a training plan together but have no clue how as I am a beginner, I normally just go out on my own and cycle but i am not part of any club. Could anybody point me in the right direction for training plans and for nutrition plans, I really want to do this right.

Hootie..

pointer28

Hi Hootie,

I'm no expert and can't offer much advice myself, but have a look at this link and there's a few training plans, including one for the 160k.

http://www.theseankellytour.com/Trainforit/

lennymc

where are you based? Get in touch with your local club. Its a hell of a lot easier to cycle with people than on your own.

Get some miles into your legs initially, any time on the bike is good.

Cookie_Monster

No special diet or anything is needed.
I went from casual commuting to buying a racer and doing the w200 in 6 months and despite it being the shittiest day weather wise it was not as hard as I thought it would be.

Just focus on getting in the distance and covering the route (fully or in parts) to get used to the roads and hills.

here's a log of my build up to it
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056172769

setanta159

Get the miles in and if you are close enough to Wicklow take the time to do parts of the route building up to 3/4 of the distance a month or so out. That's what I did last year but nothing prepared me for the apocalyptic like conditions of that day in June last year.

Hootie

Thanks for the replies, the sean kelly site isn't bad, good to have a structure to follow. Looking forward to the new bike and then put in some miles. Live in Wexford and surrounded by hills, also just a mile of the n25 and thats up and down aswell. I was wondering about protein drinks, do they make a difference? and when is the best time to take them?

aquanaut

Hootie wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, the sean kelly site isn't bad, good to have a structure to follow. Looking forward to the new bike and then put in some miles. Live in Wexford and surrounded by hills, also just a mile of the n25 and thats up and down aswell. I was wondering about protein drinks, do they make a difference? and when is the best time to take them?

Protein drinks i personally wouldnt bother with - Flavans porridge pre ride, flavans flapjack for longer rides, water bottle with electrolite tablet in it - no, i dont work for Flavans, serious though, keep it as natural as possible

Raam

Protein drinks are useful directly after a cycle. They help aid muscle repair.

monkeyslayer

Personally I too wouldn't bother so much with the space foods like gels and shakes and soluble tablets at first, they're expensive and not really gonna get you any fitter. Maybe when you get into longer spins... For the moment I'd say eat well and sensibly before you head off and after, and top up on snacks like flap jacks and bananas etc during. Tap water is fine too. But thats just me. My two cents for what its worth is not to focus on the distance so much but the time you spend in the saddle in one go, slowly build up an hour to two hours to three hours to four etc etc on the bike over the coming months and you'll get stronger and your stamina will increase with it. When you can do several four to five or more hour spins in the mountains and feel kinda ok you'll be as fit as a lot of people doing the ww200

kincsem

I did the W200 at age 57 after starting my training on 23rd April that year. I'm thinking about doing it next year just before my 62nd birthday. My vague plan is to do a few spins every week. I started a few weeks ago. When the clocks go forward next spring it will be possible to get in evening spins during the week.

I start off doing short spins on the flat from Stillorgan towards Kilmacanogue, Ashford, Wicklow, Arklow. When I can manage that I go for the hills. I think frequent outings at any distance are more important than big distance, infrequent trips.

smacl

I did the 200k route for the first time this year, having done the 100k last year. Here's a thread that covers newbie discussion on training for the ww200 including the plan I followed myself.

There's also a FB group here for those planning on the WW200. Haven't met any of them yet so can't say much more than that.

triggermortis

I think I might have a crack at this this year - work permitting - not done more than 100Km so far on my only sportive

Carpenter

I'm think about to too if I can get somebody to do it with 200k is a lot on your own

busyliving

Sorry to butt in here, but someone mentioned protein drinks...what about recovery shakes, has anyone heard of these?

I mate was telling me that they are good for after running and make a big difference the morning after in terms of muscle stiffness...Has any one used them before? How have ye found them?

chakattack

busyliving wrote: »

Sorry to butt in here, but someone mentioned protein drinks...what about recovery shakes, has anyone heard of these?

I mate was telling me that they are good for after running and make a big difference the morning after in terms of muscle stiffness...Has any one used them before? How have ye found them?

Recovery drinks are good - a fruit smoothie with banana honey and whey powder will do the trick.

For ww200, gradually build up the miles every weekend and do one or two harder spins midweek including hill repeats as you get fitter to develop speed on the flat and power for climbing. Sort out any bike fit issues early. If you are heavy, losing some weight is the best thing to make the ww200 easier. Cptips.com has great info on training in general and a good section on eating for long rides.

seamus

chakattack wrote: »

Recovery drinks are good - a fruit smoothie with banana honey and whey powder will do the trick.

Tbh, after the WW200, everything and anything is good. I ate all around me for about 2 hours.

On the ride I brought 4 sachets of High-5 4:1 (two in the bidons, two in the pocket), a bottle of lucozade sport, a couple of nutrigrain and then also picked up plenty of stuff en route - rice krispies bars, gels etc.
It seems like overkill when you're setting out, but when you realise that you're spending so much time in the saddle, you do need to keep your body fed with energy.
I probably did go overboard a little - could probably have done without the lucozade and one or two other bits - but I didn't get to the end ready to collapse. Tired definitely but I didn't feel completely drained or hypoglycemic.

Use your training rides to "practice" eating and drinking while riding. A lot of the energy drinks can be quite sweet or strong, and might not suit your stomach.

For ww200, gradually build up the miles every weekend and do one or two harder spins midweek including hill repeats as you get fitter to develop speed on the flat and power for climbing.

Tbh, for someone who's aim is to simply get around the route in one piece, I don't think that targetted training is necessary.
At the start the most important things are to get used to the hill mileage and time in the saddle. In other words, get into the hills and ride, building up the time and distance as you go. Mileage on the flat is fine to get you used to spending time in the saddle, but a flat 100k is totally different to a hilly 100k, so getting into the hills is just as important.

Though the OP is starting quite early, so closer to the WW200 when he has the mileage under his belt, he could go for more specific training.

If you are heavy, losing some weight is the best thing to make the ww200 easier.

Absolutely. If you have an extra 10kg on you, that's like doing the WW200 with a rucksack on your back. I've lost 6kg in the last 10 weeks and the difference it's made to climbing is great.

OP, if you look at the link smacl posted, that also contains the plan that I intended to stick to, but due to sickness and a couple of things getting in the way, I didn't quite get to my goal of 160km before the 200. I think I managed 125km. But I got through the 200 anyway. Doing 160km beforehand is the ideal, but if you can do 120km in the hills and not be completely dead the next day, you'll be able to handle the 200.

It's helpful to have someone else to go out with who's also aiming for their first WW200. We had quite a range of abilities on our rides this year, but that was fine as my intention was just to build up the miles, not do them as fast as I can. So I wasn't worried about going a little slower or waiting five minutes at the top of a climb.

I found that training spins up to 100km I was OK on my own. I like my own company anyway. But above that, anything over 4 hours was really a slog on my own. So it's good to get a training group together to keep eachother going as the mileage goes up.

A couple of early sportives before the 200 will also get you used to how these things work and so forth.

On the day itself you don't really need anyone else to do it with. There are 2,000 other riders on the road, so you get chatting to plenty of people and you'll also bump into anyone you went out on training spins with. The WW200 isn't lonely, not by a longshot.

Inquitus

Sheer bloodymindedness and a generous compact gearing are 2 good attributes!

smacl

What Seamus said, plus make it your business to get out once or twice on cold, wet and windy days if you haven't done so already. The difficult bit of the WW200 this year was the weather more so than the distance or the hills, so get out in it and choose your gear accordingly. FWIW, I also went through loads of HI-5 and energy bars en route, and arrived back tired but otherwise ok.