|
2007 Mediterranean Unicycle Tour Training Program
Background
Training season for the Mediterranean Unicycle
Tour (MUT) officially starts on March 15, 2007 and continues for 12 weeks
until the week before the tour. Starting earlier is better if it’s possible for
you. Great news for Americans: Daylight Savings Time starts 3 full weeks earlier
this year! You will get an extra hour of evening training starting March 11 this
year (was April 2 in 2006).
Training responsibility
Training is the responsibility of each rider. Each rider needs to make sure they
are in the proper condition for the tour. While the riders can decide how rigorous
the training will be, all riders need to do the minimum amount of training. It is
really in each person’s best interest to do this as the difference between being
adequately trained and not will drastically
affect your own enjoyment of the tour.
When to start training
If you can’t start training as early as March 15, start the training when possible.
The later the training starts the more rigorous the training schedule and the more
dedicated time will be needed to train. 6 weeks of training should be considered
an absolute minimum, but if you’re forced
into a 6 week program, you should probably dedicate at least 2 full days a week,
plus many weekday evenings to training – basically your life will be training with
no leeway for injuries or time for anything else. The 12 week schedule still needs
intensity, but not as much. You must notify the organizers if your circumstances
force you to put off beginning training until May 1.
Knowing your equipment
Knowing how your unicycle handles and what problems may arise is very valuable information.
Learning this information on training rides is much better than dealing with unknown
problems on the tour. Nagging little creaks or other noises and problems will detract
from your enjoyment of the tour. Make certain you are completely comfortable on
your unicycle, both climbing and riding flats, and in rain.
Cross training
While the best training for unicycle touring is undoubtedly unicycling, cross training
is a good way to enhance your overall readiness and fitness. Focusing on more than
one type of training helps strengthen muscle groups making for a more well-balanced
body. There have been instances of knee pain from long distance unicycling where
running helped balance out the muscles and removed the knee pain.
Training Accountability
In order to make sure everybody is doing their part in training for the tour, monthly
stats will be asked to be posted to the group by email. Even better, send off a
quick message about each big training ride you do, with a photo or two. While nobody
wants the job of making sure everybody is doing an adequate job with their training,
there have been too many cases in the past where people did not train enough. Not
training enough will cause extra strain on the whole group and support. There simply
is not space in the support vehicle for anyone to ride in it other than the driver.
The “support crew” is just one person driving the van who can’t spend time rescuing
multiple riders unable to ride due to lack of proper training. If at the start of
a day on the tour, you’re tired from the previous day and can’t ride, you’ll be
on your own to find transportation to that day’s destination.
Peaking and Overtraining
The training schedule is designed to have the riders at their best physical condition
just before the start of the tour. For past tours, some riders have peaked too early,
sometimes weeks or up to a month ahead of the tour. Take into consideration that
pushing too hard early in the season may cause early burn-out. Another possible
downside of overtraining is injury or sickness that in extreme circumstances could
even stop you from going on the tour. It is better to moderate training early and
push later in the season than the other way around.
One strategy that some of the riders have adopted is to set a very difficult goal
a couple of weeks before the tour. A number of MUT riders are going to attempt a
100 mile ride on
June
3, 2007
which will be much harder than any day of the tour (although different from
daily long rides). The idea is that if you train for the harder goal, you
can relax and worry about packing and getting other things in order for the trip
rather than stressing out about training in the last week or two.
Enjoying Training
Training is actually fun! It can be as fun as the actual tour. Even if it's hard
and you have to make sacrifices (or long drives to get to hilly enough terrain),
even if it's raining, it's still can be fun. That multiplies if you are training
with someone. If you're alone try to find partners, on bike or unicycle. That can
change it from drudgery to awesome excursions. Training can get you out in the community
and lets you see things that you wouldn’t normally take time to see.
Offroad Training
On every tour, there are sections that must be ridden off the paved roads. Luckily,
the 36” unicycle is perfect for this type of riding, but only if the rider has some
experience. While we don’t anticipate large sections off-pavement, there are sure
to be some, so ride enough dirt roads that you’re comfortable. Dirt roads are bumpier
and require a little more concentration than most paved roads. They may also force
you to slow down a bit.
Journal
Keeping a record of all your rides is essential for successful training. It will
let you know how you are doing and how much more riding you need to do before the
real thing. For your training journal, keep track of:
* Distance ridden
* Average speed for actual riding
* Time of actual riding
* Max Speed
* Elevation gained/lost
* Anything else that describes the ride.
Suggested training schedule
Below is a suggested training schedule that people can use to prepare for the tour.
A lot of insight has been gained from previous long distance rides. During every
tour, almost all riders have said they didn’t train enough. Do what you can in training.
The more training you get in the better chance the ride will go well and you will
enjoy the actual tour more. Since we’ll be using kilometers and meters rather than
miles and feet on the tour, all training information will be given in metric units.
It’s up to you whether you want to set your cyclometer on metric for training, the
tour, or at all.
Types of training:
x km total riding goal for each month – The suggested minimum total of km
that a rider should complete each month. The suggested total will help attain the
final distance goal before the start of the tour.
x km with no breaks – This means there are no breaks at all; no dismounting
and no resting allowed. Idling would be ok if waiting for a traffic light or at
a stop sign.
x km for y days in a row – For every y days ride at least x km. This is to
build up endurance by going at least a certain number of kilometers each day.
x km of riding in wet conditions – It is good to practice to ride while everything
is wet so the riders are comfortable with wet feet and making sure the equipment
works correctly. If possible, try to get out and ride when it is really raining
hard. While we hope it doesn’t rain for the days that we are on the trip, it is
best to plan for rain.
x rating within y days – For y days do a total of x rating. The entire rating
can be done on the first day or spread it out over all the days. For each month
there are several different scenarios of days and rating. See the rating spreadsheet
for more information on the ratings. For the rating targets, some samples are given
assuming flat riding. But the easy way to get the rating of your training ride higher
is to include a fair amount of climbing. It just so happens that this also is a
great way to increase your riding strength and stamina.
10 km timed course – In order to help with speed and stamina, each rider
should setup a 10 km course for speed comparison throughout the training season.
The course is setup by each rider and can be as challenging or full of obstacles
(traffic lights, stop signs) as they want. As each rider’s 10 km course may be different,
the times are only for comparison by that rider throughout the training season.
March
16 days of available training
100km total riding goal for March – averages out to be 6km a day
50 rating within 1 day (50km flat riding)
75 rating within 2 days (40km day 1, 35km day 2)
April
30 days of available training
300 km total riding goal for April - averages out to be 10 km a day
10 km with no breaks
5 km of riding in wet conditions (should be easy for most of us!)
10 km timed course in the first week of the month
75 rating within 1 day (63km flat riding)
125 rating within 2 days (63km day 1, 42km day 2)
175 rating within 3 days (63km day 1, 42km day 2, 50km day 3)
May
31 days of available training
500 km total riding goal for May - averages out to be 16 km a day
15 km with no breaks
20 km a day for 5 days in a row
10 km of riding in wet conditions
10 km timed course in the first week of the month
150 rating within 1 day (100km flat riding)
200 rating within 2 days (100km day 1, 25km day 2)
300 rating within 3 days (100km day 1, 45km day 2, 25km day 3)
June
10 days of available training [pack last week]
200 km total riding goal for June - averages out to be 20km a day
20 km with no breaks
30 km a day for 5 days in a row
15 km of riding in wet conditions
10 km timed course in the first week of the month
200 rating within 1 day (117km flat or 87km w/1000m climbing or 25km w/1500m climbing
& descent)
300 rating within 2 days (117km day 1, 56km day 2)
400 rating within 3 days (117km day 1, 56km day 2, 69km day 3)
500 rating within 4 days (117km day 1, 56km day 2, 69km day 3, 69km day 4)
The tour
June 19 to July 6
19 days of touring (16 days riding)
1031 km total riding for the tour - averages out to be 64 km per riding day
9375 meters in total elevation climb for the tour - averages out to be 585m per
riding day
40 km a day for 4 days in a row three times (days 1-4, 6-10 and 16-19)
At least 106km in one day (day 9)
?? km of riding in wet conditions (probably significant)
?? km of riding in very hot conditions (also probably significant)
?? km of offroad riding
At least two days with over 1000m climbing (days 7 and 11)
255 rating within 1 day (day 9 - 106km)
397 rating within 2 days (day 8,9 - 58km, 106km)
590 rating within 3 days (day 7,8,9 – 84km, 58km, 106km)
626 rating within 4 days (day 6,7,8,9 – 36km, 84km, 58km, 106km)
|