Ultra Marathon
Training for Ultra-Marathon:
1. Many people think that it is necessary to do huge amounts of riding to prepare for an ultra-endurance event but this isn’t the case. It is necessary to do some long rides and practice some short blocks of 2, 3, or 4 days in a row a few times, but it isn’t necessary to do huge mileages every day.
2. Build your aerobic fitness and endurance with long and short rides at an easy pace.
3. Build your speed with harder and faster workouts each week.
4. Train consistently over several months to gradually build the fitness you need.
5. Develop a weekly routine for your training so that you can quickly understand what works and what doesn’t by making small incremental changes.
6. Develop a daily routine for your event that is based on duration, not distance, and practice it.
7. Build your endurance and practice your systems with gradually longer rides and practice events.
Find Success with a Coach
A good coach is someone who is an expert in their field, who facilitates two-way communication with their athletes, and who uses an outside perspective to schedule their athlete’s training, plan periods of rest, and do everything they can to ensure their athlete performs at their full potential on race day.
Nutrition:
1. Nutrition is vitally important to being successful. Obviously the most important is to get enough calories to keep you going and I can think of several accounts of experienced ultra-endurance racers where they have lost significant time and places in events due to inadequate nutrition. Learn what is likely to be available along your route and make a plan accordingly. Make a nutrition plan, practice it and make it a routine. If in doubt, play it safe and spend a bit of time making sure you have sufficient supplies. Glycogen Stores Are Limited
2. Even a lean, well-conditioned athlete has enough body fat to fuel a long ride; however, your body can only store a limited amount of glycogen. Through endurance training, your body can store 20 to 50 percent more glycogen. Even after months of training, you can only store enough glycogen for several hours of moderately hard riding. When you run out of glycogen: You hit the wall. Your legs feel dead. Fat burns in the flame of carbohydrates so even at a slow pace using primarily fat for fuel, you need some glycogen to provide the energy. You bonk. Your brain feels like mush because your brain can only burn glycogen for energy. You quit. Depressed, unable to think clearly and with tired legs, you're tempted to DNF.