[Closed] 11 weeks to train for a 40 miler - help!

Find some mates to ride with, go ride with them is one plan.
If you have a bike you can put on a turbo then borrow or blag one from a mate or a kind soul in here

40 is doable at a leisurely pace without too much prep.
A few 20-30 mile rides in the weeks before and you should be good...

Get on a bike 3 times a week for at least 40mins. One of the rides build up slowly to 30 or 40 miles. Job done.

For endurance events\rides (relative to fitness) I find the most important things are fueling and a sensible pace, the rest is mental (positively focus on why you are doing it).

For getting fit do as suggested above really...
-Ride with others
-Do some shorter harder efforts on a turbo
-Or make a short local route where you can try hard on the climbs, recover in between.
-Do an increasingly longer ride once a week.
-Plot a short route with an easy option to extend if you're feeling like it.

Don't get too focused on big rides, if you're not feeling it just get out on your bike and do something, you'll feel better for getting out on your bike either way.

I had a similar thing a few years back, had a year or more with not much riding due to new job, then decided to do a 5 hour race thinking it would get me motivated to ride. I was massively out of shape, so my training aim was just to do some long rides to get used to being on the bike for hours at a time. I just started off with a long ride at a very easy pace, took some lunch and cruised around all day. After that, I had my confidence back that I could finish the race easily enough, so after that I just focused on building up pace to see how hard I could push without running out of energy. I found it motivational to be able to go faster every time out. Basically one long ride each weekend, trying to lift the pace a bit each time, plus a couple of 30 minute sprints during the week to get used to pushing hard again. I was still horribly out of shape for the race, but I did finish and wasn't last, which achieved my aim. Never raced again, realized it just wasn't fun anymore.

Sounds like a good plan to me, so good luck.

I find its the little things sometimes like making sure your bike and gear are prepped and ready at all times.

Consider some short runs as they are easy to fit in lifewise (be very careful and use Cto5K or something similar if you are new to it).

And a kettebell and YouTube is another easy way to improve. Have a look at Amy's classes, she has something to suit most folk and shes easier on the eye than some big daft roidhead bootcamper.

Good luck with the riding, it's a tough one especially as it's 43miles with 2,240 Metres of climbing (definately not feet.)

BHF.ORG.UK "https://www.bhf.org.uk/-/media/files/events/route-maps/dp-2016-riders.pdf?la=en"

I'd be tempted to say go for the shorter distance and on the day step it up from the 38km ride which for the location, hills and possibly weather and terrain is a good distance as it is .

Lose a little weight and increase the bike mileage, especially the up hills off-road.
On the day keep hydrated and eating every 20 mins, if you can walk and push faster than peddling uphill get off and push to reserve energy..

I'm tempted myself love the lady bower loop and not really done the blue section south of hope

Get out and ride ..initially just doing short loops 2-3 times a week ..you are on the doorstep of some great riding where you live and unless you have totally lost touch with them a few good lads to go out with ..( Pez etc.).
You haven't got a great deal of time and if you are starting from scratch 40 miles with 6000ft+ of climbing is a major undertaking and I would seriously consider the shorter option..
I truly understand the sentiment behind your reason ..but it isn't going to diminish the memory of your mother in any way ..maybe try the shorter distance for 2018 and build up to the bigger one the year after ..
Good luck Chris..

If you can commit to training for at least an hour, 2-3 times a week, I reckon you could easily be ready for the event. What you need to decide closer to the event, is how fast you are able and want to do it.

For compact training sessions, I love doing hill reps on the road, going hard on the climbs and often (but not always) freewheeling on the descents. Since the weather has got colder and wetter, these are usually on my Wazoo. A very typical session from Xmas Day morning https://www.strava.com/activities/1326569694/overview

This time last year, I had not started my quest to get fit again by cycling, back then I was commuting ~9 miles a day three days a week at a fairly sedate pace... And that was only March-October at best! I was very unfit and at least 12Kg heavier than I am now (so 90+Kg back then, got some new scales recently than read 3+Kg heavier than our old wonky ones).
Doing a ride like https://www.strava.com/activities/1330742738 from yesterday (albeit with some very cautious bits after nearly coming a cropper on ice) were completely beyond my capabilities back then, nevermind the likes of https://www.strava.com/activities/1249390435 and https://www.strava.com/activities/1273656671

Slogging 40 unfit miles in the Peak District? Sounds horrible. Do the 25 and enjoy yourself.

40 miles with that climbing in the Peaks will be a hard ride, so consider if you want the challenge or to enjoy the shorter distance.

If you are determined to do the longer, that could well be 6+ hours of riding so you need to know what level you can sustain over that period.

DISCLAIMER - THIS IS NOT EXACT AND I AM NOT AN EXPERT BUT IT'LL BE CLOSE ENOUGH FOR YOUR PURPOSES

Get or borrow a HR monitor and do a threshold test - do a warm up, then do 30 mins as hard as you can, best done on flattish roads. The first 10 mins you'll overdo it and have to ramp back so take your average for the next 20; x by 0.95 and memorise this number. For me it's 147.

This is the point at which you switch from aerobic to anaerobic systems, on aerobic you can ride 'for ever' as long as you keep sufficient fuel going in; on anaerobic you only have a limited capacity and once gone, it gets quite miserable quite fast. So by knowing that point you can then pace your ride to stay below that magic number as much as you can. On a peaks ride with >2K metres of climb, some steep, there will be sections where you can't stay under that number, hence even more important that you don't burn your capacity up by going too fast on easier sections where you need to throttle back and save it for where you need it.

Whereabouts in the country do you normally ride OP?

As others have alluded to, Peak District miles don't convert directly to everywhere else miles.

Make sure and train on hills, not on the flat.
I always forget then fail at the ride

might be worth doing the rochdale evans ride it on 3rd feb. 28 miles 1,325 metres offroad its tough on the main climb 'heart attack hill',
it'll be cold and hardwork a real test, but if you can do that it'll help you relax on the big day..

balls. just checked the date, i'm flying back from belfast that day, was hoping it was a sunday ride and I'd have done it.

Looking at that route, it looks like you can bail/shortcut in a number of places, not just at the end of the short route. So you can have a great day out even if you trim off a few miles here and there later in the loop/

At this time of year, it would be easy to get sucked into riding too hard to try to improve fitness. My plan would be to do a load of very steady, low pace miles to find the pace which you can sustain all day. My rule of thumb is to force myself to climb a couple of gears easier than normal. Maybe fit a smaller chainring to give yourself an extra bail gear.

Then sign yourself up for the 50 miler South Lakes Jennride in May..

Get some MTB miles in. I don't know if you are local to the Peaks but if you are do bits of the course before hand so you know what you are in for.

So I've signed up for the 40 miler

did a similar 40 miler last year, around 1400 m climb. Still three weeks before the event: was too lazy last spring and in no good shape. Planned already to get out.
But used the three weeks then to train really hard.
What helped a lot:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Isostar-Energy-Endurance-Orange-Powder/dp/B000MRS4E0
Isostar powder...
Planned to train in our small mountain bike group. But didn't work out.
The 40 miler itself was just great. Felt like a dog the day after so...
Rest of the year 2017: mountain biking was so much more fun!
11 weeks time for you: lots of good advice in above posts.
Enough time to prepare!

I would say ride when you can and it's fun, keep it fun, get out with mates.

If you're doing a reasonable amount of riding, you'll manage it, and if your stress levels are too high to enjoy getting out on the bike, that's fine too. Either go for broke, take plenty of food and have a go at the 40 miler, or just enjoy the 25 miler on the day.

I've had some stressful events over the past couple of years (injury, defending myself against criminal charges a couple of years ago, and a bad relationship with my wife for several years that's just coming to a head). Probably not as stressful over the last year as it sounds like yours has been, but I think you need to go easy on yourself and if you can't manage to get out enough, that's fine, as long as you're enjoying it when you do. I've recently let myself back off things when it gets too much and it does help.

Have a fun year!

Thanks for all the advice guys.
Yes it's going to be a tough ask - but willing to give it my best shot.

Training wise my local is the not so hilly Cannock.

Looking to get back to running as well so that should hopefully help with the fitness and weight loss.

The fuelling is the bit I usually get wrong on long rides.

What's the best way of keeping fuelled during the ride? How often and what should I eat?

Tough route, as has been said, but not crazy - you can do it with regular training from now and it doesn't even need to be that structured. If you could fit in two serious mountain bike rides per week, with the w/e one hitting the climbs, then just commuting on top of that would probably be enough. Plus you can play it by ear on the day with the conditions, how you're feeling etc.

A HR monitor will help on the day and stop you going too deep too early - if you train with it on strava or whatever you'll have your zones set up. You don't want to be smashing it up the broken road at threshold or it's going to be a long day [although plenty of people will be doing precisely this].

Decent balanced meal the evening before, porridge and fruit in the morning, then little and often, mixture of sugary stuff like raisins/flapjack and salty/meaty like mini pork pies.

But then again, I'm not exactly a high-performing athlete. 😀

What's the best way of keeping fuelled during the ride? How often and what should I eat?

2 days before no training.
from 2 days before LOTS OF SPAGHETTI. No fat stuff.

ride: ISOSTAR powder according recipe.
3 bananas, 2 sandwiches
(or similar.)
Isostar keeps me going and won't have pain in the muscles then

Quite fancy doing this myself actually, Saw the event for last year too late and then forgot all about it until reading this. I think the short route would be more realistic for me though!.

Looking to get back to running as well so that should hopefully help with the fitness and weight loss.

That'll be the perfect way to injure yourself and prevent you from riding the bike then. 😉

I learnt a few things doing rides that I really wasn't prepared for this year...

The best one to take away is that if you keep turning the pedals you'll keep moving forwards (even 130 miles into a solo ride, head first towards a fenland gale*)

Obviously there's some pretty steep stuff in the Peak but if you've got a low enough bottom gear you'll just keep on keeping on.

Best of luck with it though, looks like a cracking route.

*may not have been an actual gale

Might be a good opportunity to upgrade my cassette to a 46t.

If you fancy doing some riding in the Peak in that area post up on here, I'm sure there are plenty of folk (myself included) that would happily show you around.

Get a road bike ad take your fitness to a new level.

You can easily do this 40 miler if you train at it, and you've plenty of time. I did similar early this year and concentrated on hills. Find one local, road or off, and just repeat it endlessly. I did so of an evening a few times a week, 10 reps of a one km 65m climb. You'll feel like superman/woman.

How often and what should I eat?

It depends, but if you're not sure about lasting the course, lots of stuff that tastes nice that you can carry and access easily would be my tip. Road biking I like fig rolls for longer rides as you can get them out of a packet in your jersey pocket whilst you ride along, for example.

Some bloke from Ayrshire that I seem to remember was OK on a bike recommended marzipan - but that was in case of an impromptu sprint from his mates, so he could put it in his cheeks until things had calmed down a bit.

You can easily do this 40 miler if you train at it, and you've plenty of time. I did similar early this year and concentrated on hills. Find one local, road or off, and just repeat it endlessly. I did so of an evening a few times a week, 10 reps of a one km 65m climb. You'll feel like superman/woman.

Good tip - got a couple of tough hills I can do that on.

was advised by a sports nutritionist, if you have a garmin set it to bleep every 10/20 mins for intake of water and food,

i find jellybabies can act like rocket fuel, just make sure you can still breath, i rammed a few too many in on a local event last year, must have looked like a hamster, got a top 3 of the day for the next strava segment :0)
I'm happy finishing top half..

ps. also have a look at the powerbar powergels, if you like sweet, the vanilla and or strawberry/banana gels(treacle) are amazing

My mum's still with us but only just 🙁 But she's lived her life believing that if something isn't fun it isn't worth doing 😀 If you can't knuckle down and get out at least 3 times a week the 40 miler isn't going to be fun just bloody hard !! Unless your feeling super strong on the day aim for the 25 and enjoy it.

For the biggest fitness gains in the shortest period a couple of HIT / Tabata protocol interval sessions per week will yield the biggest benefit, but they are truly horrible if you do them correctly - no need for a HRM as you're simply giving it full-gas. Combined with a longer ride at weekends where you try and push out your endurance e.g. start at 1 hour and increase by no more than 20% and in 10 weeks you'll be good for 6 hours which should be OK for your 40 miler. Nutrition is also important, particularly after 2 hours so make sure you're regularly refuelling e.g every 20 minutes. Lots of choices but be wary that mixing some to full concentration as it can be hard on your digestion, plus some dried fruit / bananas/ flapjack. Pure sugar can play havoc with your sugar levels so take sweets etc sparingly. Finally, if you're having to push really hard on hills, bigger cassette / smaller chainring and learn to spin on them hills.

2,240 Metres of climbing

My older post, above:

did a similar 40 miler last year, around 1400 m climb. Still three weeks before the event: was too lazy last spring and in no good shape. Planned already to get out.
But used the three weeks then to train really hard.

That was 840 m less climb than what you are planning.

In other words: get out and start with your training...quick!
2240 m is a different beast than 1400 m.
My 40 miler wasn't

similar

Didn't see the 2240 m information ...
Have to think....
...guess never made 2240 m climb in one day...

Nobodyofthegoat ..
I don't do Strava at all ..but just a quick question with regard to those Strava routes ..are they road rides ?

Yes, road rides.

And I've not been stalking this thread all day, just shear coincidence that I've replied seconds after you posed your question! 😆

While seriously impressive ..surely it's more of an ask for someone who has done very little riding in the last year to be ready for 43miles & 6000ft plus of off road riding in just 11 weeks ..
I wouldn't fancy it ( not that I class myself as being fit ) but I do ride off road 20 -30 miles every weekend with a short top up ride during the week ..

40 mile isn't so much unless you go off too fast initially, go steady.

I'd be spending a week finding a really nice saddle as a priority though.

The mileage is not the problem ..its the amount of off road climbing

Sounds perfectly doable, it's not *that* far.

Personally I'd try and find (or invent) a proper training plan - not that it'll make you much fitter than just going out and riding, but I find having a schedule makes me more likely to actually get out the door. There are loads available on Google, how much time can you realistically dedicate to riding each week?

Ok ..when was the last time you did a 43 mile ride off road on pretty rough & techy terrain with 7349 ft of climbing in The Peak District with zero to very little fitness and only 11 weeks to get up to speed ..sorry but unless you are out most days training you ain't going to do this ..go for the shorter ride..

If the OP used a heart rate monitor to record training sessions that they upload to Strava, they could use https://cricklesorg.wordpress.com/ (which someone here posted a while back, a handy site) to get an idea of their LTHR.

As suggested earlier, they could use this info to pace their effort this time around. If the bike bug bites again and they try the event in 2019, they might be in a much fitter place and fancy increasing the pace.

I appreciate that ~6000 feet of off-road climbing will require more energy than on smooth tarmac, but if the OP trains hard before tapering off just before the event, they could complete the challenge.

All good points - thanks lads.
Hodgy you are quite correct - too much to do and too little time to do it in.
Will go for the shorter route - still need to train my ass of for that though.
Once again thanks lads.

Again..best wishes & best of luck..both with the training & the day itself ..hope you enjoy it and let us know how you get on

Haha, I should've put two and two together, 40miles + Peak District. Yer do the shorter one, it will still be enough of a challenge with the time\fitness you have at the moment. Maintain your fitness after and enter another event later in the year.

Sign up to Strava if you haven't already, even just to log and remind yourself of what you've been up to. You can't lie to yourself when you haven't done enough, plus you feel satisfied seeing it all laid in front of you when you have. Keep the thread updated too, i'm sure people will be happy to give some positive nagging when needed 😛

I just checked the 'hardest' MTB ride I did in recent times; around Exmoor so similar type of riding to the Peaks. 45km, 1600m climbing, and it nearly broke me and I was riding regularly at the time. Don't underestimate the challenge.

As suggested earlier, they could use this info to pace their effort this time around. If the bike bug bites again and they try the event in 2019, they might be in a much fitter place and fancy increasing the pace.

True but just for the record, if you do a Threshold test to find your swap-over point, that number won't actually change much as you get fitter. What does change is the amount of power you can output at that level, so while you might go faster you can't actually go any harder.

This is my observation that I'd make to any of the top pros; in effort terms when I climb a big hill I'm working just as hard as they do in relative terms, trouble is I'm just going slower. Consequently I have to work hard for longer which i why they should respect my achievements far more than I respect theirs 😉

I'd take a different approach. 11 weeks. Thats nearly 3 months. 1/4 of a year.

40 miles is a decent distance, but its not [i]that[/i] far. 2000m is a reasonbale amount of climbing, but all those climbs are perfectly rideable with the possible exception of House Of Pain, and you'll get a cardio rest on the majority of the descents. There's also a decent distance along the reservoirs that's virtually pan flat.

If you really WANT to do it, just commit to doing it. I wouldn't say you need any fancy training plan - just get out and ride whenever you can, and MAKE time for it, commute, night ride, whatever. Cannock isn't so flat, and it's not much more than an hour to the Peaks so you can get some onsite practice in. A decent day ride or 2 before hand would help. It's not a race, it's just riding your bike, so go ride your bike. Eat plenty, drink plenty and it'll go. Might not be easy, but it wouldn't be a challenge if it was, right?

How are you getting on with your training OP?

Right, I know that route I can get the train out and chase you if you want!! Feeling unfit and fat but in need of a challenge at the moment

csb
How are you getting on with your training OP?

Unfortunately I can't make this weekends ride as the revised date clashes with other commitments.

My training wasn't going brilliantly due to snowmageddon/the beast from the east and work - I think my longest ride since getting back on my bike has been about 15 miles.

I had decided to drop to the shorter 25 miler - which I might have had a chance of getting round.

What has happened though is that despite the disappointment of not being able to do this ride I've made a few changes to diet and training and since January I've shifted nearly a stone in weight. This has led to increased enjoyment on rides and improved general fitness and my mental state. I still have about the same again to shift (getting there slowly).

I'm back to where I was nearly 2 years ago with times and fitness levels out on the trails - managing to clear tougher climbs than I was before Christmas and not feeling knackered at the start of the ride.

Good luck to anyone who is taking part this weekend - hopefully the weather will play ball!

40 miles isn't the problem, it is the terrain in the Dark Peak which are the killer. The climbs are hard  (often steep and techy) and the descents even add to the fatigue; as do all the gates.

I often think 40 miles in the Dark Peak is not like 40 miles anywhere else in England. (Apart from the exception of the Lake District high fells perhaps maybe).

I have managed a 40 miler in the Dark Peak. I rode 2 or 3 times a week regularly (never really had a long time off the bike) mostly doing shorter rides like 20-30 miles. Once I could do about 30 miles on similar terrain without being excessively tired towards the end of these rides,  I knew I was ready for the 40 miles.