How to train for the Headstock 200

Background

This year I have the privilege of being chosen as an ambassador for All Mountain Adventures. AMA put on a host of MTB & gravel events across Wales, and I, in my infinite wisdom have signed up for most of them! However, after some cycling disappointments last year, I made a commitment to myself that I would not arrive on the start line of an event unless I knew I was able to get to the finish.

In my last blog post I discussed "How to train like a Dad"- my philosophy for getting through winter without digging a big fatigue hole, needing to balance work, family & cycling. My plan was a resounding success and I capped off March with a weeks family holiday, which although still exhausting with the family fun, gave my legs and brain a chance to switch off from cycling for a week.

This post will discuss my training phases, volume and how I build on my baseline winter miles to get my in good shape for my first event, the Headstock 200. Remember, these are the words of a punter, not a pro. My plan is not perfect and might not get the same outcome as hiring a coach, but its definitely easy enough for someone to replicate should they choose!

How fit do you need to be & what are my ambitions for the ride?

Lets keep this simple. You don't need to be super fit to go bikepacking. You do however need resilience. We have from 11am Saturday to Sunday evening (lets guess 5pm?) to complete the Headstock 200 - 30hrs. This means, including stops we must average somewhere around 10 km/h. Very achievable if you are suborn person who enjoys cycling for a whole day.

So what is the best way of building the resilience required to complete within the time limit? Consistent bike rides, each week, over a long period of time - ideally building up time of bum on the saddle.

There are many factors that come into how efficiently one can ride a course, e.g. minimising stop time & managing effort, but consider the following "back of an envelope calculation". Riding for 3hrs at 10km/h, taking a break for 30mins, and repeating 7 times would mean completing the course in 30hrs (Sunday 5pm), including a sleep of 6 hours during one of those stops. 200km of Welsh hills will never be easy, but by riding consistently is definitely achievable!

Komoot says we can ride this in 16hrs!

My personal ambitions are to finish quicker than my example above, but I wont be getting there by going faster. I will choose to ride for longer and stop for less time. Personally I don't think this effects training too much, both still require resilient legs to cycle hour after hour over the course of a whole day. That's what this next section will discuss.

Winter Base

My previous post discussed my winter training and how it focussed on having fun and not maximising hours on the bike. Looking back over my Garmin data I can see I averaged 5-6 hours a week Jan-March. This was spread over 3 rides a week including the occasional long ride of 4hrs. I also did 2 gym sessions a week. Most rides were low intensity because my gym would account for the high fatiguing work.

Garmin summary from a winter month

Towards the middle of March I added some medium intensity training, something like this sweetspot workout once a week.

Spring Build

After my March holiday I focussed on building volume and intensity. Its probably not ideal to do both at the same time, but I manage my fatigue levels by tracking HRV and overall Garmin training load. I am confident that the inclusion of gym work over winter means my legs can handle this, assuming my brain and body get enough sleep.

The last 2 weeks have seen volume increase to 9hrs, gym drop to once a week, and the inclusion of a Threshold and VO2 session per week. Good examples of these in Zwift are Threshold and The Gorby Be warned, The Gorby is vomit inducing and I'm not entirely sure I have ever finished it! Make sure your FTP is set correctly before hand!

This 3 week block will end with a 15hr week, mostly ridden on the MTB outside (with the exception of my two intensity workouts). I will then take a week off, dropping volume by about 50% and shifting focus to bike & kit prep - we only then have 3 weeks until the Headstock 200!

My last weeks will be about squeezing a short but hard training block into the first 2 - ideally both will mimic my 15hr week. As this time coincides with the Easter holidays, it will either be easier or harder depending on time off work v additional time with family... watch this space!

The Taper!

The final week before the Headstock will be a taper. In this week I plan to do almost zero cycling and as much sleeping as possible. In theory it's possible to go into an event over-rested, but in practice I think this is only something professionals need worry about. By holding off exercise for the whole week I expect my brain and body to be crying out for a long bike ride by 11am on Saturday 3rd May!

Feeling blue? Nope!

To summarise...

I am happy to share an example week from my Base and Build phases for those who are interested. Essentially I did my Base for 2.5 months January - mid March and my Build for 1.5 months mid March - end of April. The pattern I try to stick to is 3 weeks on, 1 week off, but I use HRV and listen to my body on how I'm feeling. If I feel tired, I have no issue pushing the intensity day later in the week. If I feel fresh, I might shorten my week off to 5 days.

As training plans go, this is relatively low volume and builds slowly over 4 months. If you were entering a 1000km race, you might need to be thinking about 12/15hrs consistently and building over 6 months. However that requires a level of commitment I am not sure we all have - I certainly don't. I am confident this will get me (and you if you have done similar) to both the start and finish of the Headstock 200 comfortably!

Any questions then hit me up on Instagram and I will more than happily give you too much non professional advice! :)