Blog Posts From Active Expert: Gale Bernhardt Tagged With race_across_the_sky

Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race Training Resources

Gale Bernhardt — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:54:55 GMT

To help 100-mile mountain bike racers with some training references, this blog is a good start. Many of the resources can help 100-mile mountain bike racers for any event. Some of the resources are Leadville 100 specific.

First, training plan help.

In my newest book, Training Plans for Cyclists, you will find two foundation fitness training plans. (You can see the table of contents online.) The two foundation fitness plans are designed to help cyclists maintain or improve fitness in the off-season. Often, there are two Levels of training plan presented in the book. Level I is for completion and Level II is more competitive. Level I and Level II descriptions are also relative to event distance. For example, I classify a Level I rider looking at a 100-mile mountain bike race differently than a Level I road rider looking to complete a century. Of course, the event route itself can have a major influence.

The book contains detailed, daily workouts. (Not just general instructions on how to assemble your own plan.) Here are athlete profile descriptions:

Level I Profile (Chapter 19)

The plan in this chapter is designed for a Level I rider. Before beginning the plan, you are riding two or three times per week, indoors or outdoors; but, your workouts are not consistent. It is not a problem for you to ride for an hour, though.

You are looking to build strength, endurance and increase your riding speed. You’d like to begin a weight training program, but don’t know where to begin.

One big issue you have is time. There is never enough time and you don’t have much of it to devote to staying fit. If you can see a training plan that would whip you into shape on three to six hours a week, you’d jump up and down.

Get ready to jump.

(This plan is available in electronic form on Active Trainer)

Level II Profile

The plan in this chapter is designed for a Level II cyclist that is riding three or four times per week before beginning the plan. You are currently capable of comfortably completing a two-and-a-half hour ride. Your current long ride is mostly aerobic, but may include a small amount of intensity.

You are looking to build strength, endurance and increase your riding speed for next season. You want a weight training program included in your plan that will deliver on-the-bike speed later.

Your schedule allows you to train six or seven days per week.

(This plan is available in electronic form on Active Trainer)

All plans found here.

It really doesn’t matter what your season goals are (road vs. mountain) because the foundation fitness plans can be used for preparation for century rides, multi-day tours, short-course mountain bike racing, 24-hour races or 100-mile mountain bike races.

After you have built foundation fitness on your own or used one of the above plans, then you transfer that fitness to a more event-specific plan taking you right up to race day.

Keeping attention focused on just the mountain bike events for now, below are the plan descriptions contained in the book:

Chapter 16, Level I Rider, 100 Mile Mountain Bike Race, 16 Week Plan

PROFILE

Before beginning this plan, you are riding consistently and doing between five and six hours of training each week. Your long ride is around two hours long and it includes some intensity as well as hill riding. At least one other ride during the week contains some intensity. That ride can be an indoor spinning class.

If your current fitness does not meet the description above, begin your training journey in Chapter 19 to build foundation fitness. After the last week of the Chapter 19 training plan, begin with Week 1 of this chapter.

During the week, you are limited to an hour of training on three days. You need two days off for other activities. Additionally, you do not have time to commute to a mountain course, so the training needs to be on an indoor trainer, spin class or a road bike.

GOAL

Your goal is to comfortably complete a 100-mile mountain bike race. While you want to ride in a time that is as fast as possible, you realize you are restricted for training time. You want the best time, given your limited training time.

(The biggest training week is 13:30. This is not on Active Trainer yet. It should be posted and available by the end of February.)

Chapter 17, Level II Rider, 100 Mile Mountain Bike Race, 14 Week Plan

PROFILE

Before beginning this plan, you are training approximately nine hours per week. You are riding two long rides each week. One ride is around two hours long and the second one is roughly three hours in length.

You are riding two or three other weekday rides that are an hour each. You may or may not be strength training.

This plan is designed to follow the Level II Foundation Fitness training plan found in Chapter 20. After completing 18 weeks of that plan, you can move directly into the plan in this chapter. That combination provides you with 32 weeks of training.

If you are not using the Chapter 20 training plan, review the last few weeks of that training plan. Before beginning this training plan you should be capable of completing those workouts, or similar workouts, both in time and intensity.

Due to the volume of training necessary to complete this plan you will need to focus on recovery as much as you focus on accomplishing the training. Improved performance is accompanied by recovery techniques and high density nutrition. In summary, in addition to completing the training sessions, you need to get adequate rest and eat nutritious foods that fuel a high performance body. Be sure to read Chapter 3 that covers nutrition.

GOAL

Your goal is to ride a 100-mile mountain bike race in a personal best time. This competitive goal is more than just completing the event, it is competing at the event. The competition may be for a spot on the podium or to beat a past personal record (PR). You want a new PR.

(The biggest training week is 22:00. This is not on Active Trainer yet. It should be posted and available by the end of February.)

Now that the training portion is covered, below is more information within columns and blogs:

Description of key points and challenges in the Leadville 100 mountain bike race: (Note that the entry numbers are low compared to 2009 because the column was written in 2005):

Race Across the Sky: The Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race – Part I

Description of key training elements to any 100-mile mountain bike race and a few Leadville specifics:

Race Across the Sky: The Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race – Part II

Two-part training-specific interview with Dave Wiens after he beat Lance Armstrong in the 2008 race:

How to Win the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race, An Interview with Dave Wiens Part I

How to Win the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race, An Interview with Dave Wiens Part II

Acclimatizing to altitude before a race:

Acclimating to Altitude Before a Race Part I

Acclimating to Altitude Before a Race Part II

Post-race analysis of items that affected one of my personal races

Snow can be on the course in the weeks pre-race

Wiens and Williams family photos – for fun

A general list of columns that can be used by all endurance athletes.

Found here is my personal training plan, unconventional for a mountain bike racer. I will often post what I’m doing for training on this blog, Twitter and Facebook. I also try to answer as many questions as I can on this blog.

Running 100 Miles

Gale Bernhardt — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:39:00 GMT

Running for 100 miles is entirely beyond my image of "doable for Gale". I just don't think I'm built to be running for 100 miles, nor does it even sound like a fun thing to do.

I've trained a 100-mile ultra-runner, I know what it takes to be ready for such an event. I have a deep admiration and athletic respect for people that can do things I cannot imagine doing.

Last Saturday I was a volunteer at the 50-mile turn around aid station, the ghost town of Winfield, for the Leadville 100 Mile Race Across the Sky Run. Some racers came through looking great (which blows me away), others looked good, some okay and a few not-so-good. Seriously, think about driving your car 50 miles, then consider running that distance.

It's not only the distance, but the course. The profile you see on the link is only half of the course. Racers turn around and at the small yellow dot and go back to town again.

Altitude? Of course. Climbing? Absolutely - the official website notes 14,958 feet of elevation gain (and loss) over the 100 miles. Ouch.

I was able to get a few photos at the aid station before the runners started pouring in. The food tent volunteers, organized by Harry Camp were ready and waiting.

Volunteers brought up drop bags for the racers and organized them for the runners. Some runners would use only the drop bags, others would meet crew members and pacers.

Winfield is the first place that runners can meet pacers should they choose to have pacers. Some runners use only one pacer to help get them from Winfield to the finish line, others use a different pacer at each opportunity.

Pacers can indeed help the runners hold a steady pace, pacing them to a faster finish. Some simply encourage the runner to keep moving. The pacers can be pack mules and carry all of the runner's supplies; leaving them with only one thing to carry, the hope and dream of completing the race.

My buddy Eric did not achieve his Leadman goal. When he got to Winfield his hamstrings and calves were taking turns locking up. His pace reduced to a stiff walk, he was able to get just beyond Winfield and up part of Hope Pass before he decided this was not his day. Doing the other four events prior to this one took a significant toll on him.

Best I can tell from the website results, 24 people registered for the Leadman goal and 5 made it through all of the events. For just the 100 mile run, 583 people registered and only 210 completed the event under the 30-hour time limit.

Beginning at 4:00 am on Saturday morning, runners needed to be across the finish line by 10:00 am on Sunday morning. The shot below is looking away from the finish line toward "the hill". Depending on the runner, it typically takes five to seven minutes to get from the top of the hill to the finish line, which is really the top of the hill. Yes, an uphill finish.

The final photo I'll leave you with is a shot of the last finisher, David Strong. Strong indeed. He does have a bit of the "Leadville Lean", the name given to the hunched over running form. Although each runner has their own lean style, I noticed that the variety of Leadville Leans and Ironman Leans are identical.

I hope to be as strong as David when I get to be 62 years young.