Last year we ran a club training program for this great event, unfortunately this year I just don’t have the time or resources but I’ve been getting a lot of questions around how to prepare for the Busso 100. Because of that I thought it might be a good idea to put up a general guideline to save you having to ask (and me having to repeat myself!)
I’m sure most of you are already well into your training, it’s a mere ten weeks out, but I thought I could offer some long range tips to give you confidence (or guidance) that your training is going to be enough. After 3 x 100s (soon to be 4), 9 x 70.3s, 13 x Iron distance and one Rotto long course I’ve done enough trial and error for all of us!
Trav’s Top Ten Training Tips for Tackling the Tonne (or any race Olympic or longer)
1) Long course fitness is built on the bike. To finish the race comfortably you need enough aerobic fitness to keep going for four, five, six, maybe seven hours. The only place you can get that without breaking down physically is on the bike, so ride long and ride often. A minimum of three times a week, preferably four, with your long ride hitting 3+ hours (preferably more) with about eight weeks to go and held there for about six weeks. The other rides can be done in an hour.
2) Busso is flat. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, it means that if you stop pedalling you will slow down immediately and eventually fall off. You need strength endurance (aka muscular endurance) in the second and third hours of the ride, so unless you want to ride the Tonkin PSP holding the brakes on you had better hit the hills on your long ride for two out of every three weeks. The third week you can go flat on your TT bike (if you have one) but add some 10-15min intervals in aero position or on the drops, because Busso can also be very windy. For any hillier race like Karri Valley you might even do every long ride in the hills.
3) Don’t think you can just “survive” the swim. It takes very little for this to turn into a DNF or getting out of the water with so much energy used that you will never recover. Ideally target some rough days to go and practice with an OWS so that you can learn how to deal with it. In heavy conditions know how to increase your stroke rate and breathe to either side. There are limited safety resources in the race and you’re putting not only yourself but others in danger if you need a babysitter in tough conditions. Over the years we’ve had some atrocious conditions and it’s been bad maybe one in every three or four. Spend extra time swimming if you are not both competent and confident, three times a week or more. Two will do if you know you can handle what the conditions might throw at you, but don’t be complacent.
4) Run training is overrated. It’s where you’re most likely to get injured, the bike fitness carries over massively, and you can’t use that run fitness if you get off the bike already knackered. If you’re time limited then you can drop every run if you want. Come race day your body will remember how to run and it will be fine. Better to injure yourself on race day and walk to the finish than injure yourself in training and line up underdone (or DNS!)
5) Back-to-back runs are basically as effective as long runs, allow for better recovery, and are much lower likely to cause injury. My favourite way to do this is to run at night and then again the next morning as you are guaranteed good rest in-between. Second to that is a morning-night split (yes, you have to do mornings!) If you do this do it with the first run shorter than the second, I favour about half the distance. Starting the second run fresher will have you running more time with good form and reduce injury risk.
6) Nutrition is all important in long course racing. If you haven’t already, formulate a plan to get carbohydrates (60g/hr or more) into you during the race and start using it for every session longer than an hour. Your body and mind need time to get used to this or to find out if it’s too much. Some people won’t be able to get up to that 60g figure, just get what you can without feeling sick. Once at a comfortable level give it a couple of weeks and try to lift it again. For what it’s worth I take in 90+g/hr for races but Simone can only handle 40g. Yes, it’s not cheap using 6-8 gels a week for ten weeks but you just paid half a grand to do the race so don’t spoil it by being cheap.
7) Also practice carb loading before a couple of your bigger weekends. No, that does not mean just a big bowl of pasta the night before. It’s a couple of days of shoving low fibre sugar in your face, so eat like you’re at a kid’s birthday party. Try and get 8g of carbs per kilo of body weight per day. Yes, that’s a lot and you will feel sluggish when you’re doing it but you will be amazed what it will do for your race/training day.
8) Some sessions are going to suck big time. You will occasionally (or regularly) spend more energy coming up with justifications as to why you should miss them than it would take to do them. Consider this training for the mental side. If you quit in training you will find it easier to quit in the race (not necessarily to DNF but to go softer than you are capable of.) Soreness is not an injury. See a professional (physio generally) ASAP if you are actually injured and get back out there as quickly as they say it’s safe to do so.
9) Underdone is better than overdone. Training too little in the few weeks leading up to the race will reduce your performance slightly but training too much will kill your race. For the 100 I would normally start reducing volume about ten days out. Keep a little intensity (as intense as you had been doing anyway) but drop the hours dramatically. And if you feel a bit of sickness, a niggle, or an injury coming on feel free to take a rest day.
10) Surround yourself with people that have the same goals and intent as you. It’s like a drop of cold water in a cup of hot tea compared to a drop of tea in ice water. You will normalise to what’s around you. Use it.
Good luck, and as always feel free to hit me up if you need any advice. I’m always happy to help anyone wanting to push their limits.
Coach Trav