RAAM Blocks

Race Across America!  (RAAM!)  I’ve mentioned it in a few previous posts, but let me officially introduce our Sorella RAAM cycling team:

L-R: Lauren Schrichten, me, Korey Gotoo, and Jennifer Klein

We are so excited about completing this epic journey; Expect Adventure, indeed!  We’ll start on June 20, 2015 and cover 3,000 miles from Oceanside, California to Annapolis, Maryland in 7-8 days.  One of us will always be on the road, 24 hours a day.  A crew of about 12 will follow us in several vehicles.  Also, we are so pleased to be partnering with Wellspring Living, an organization that helps victims of domestic minor sex trafficking develop the courage to move forward and the confidence to succeed.  I’ll be posting a lot more about our RAAM training, logistics, etc. in the coming months.

Today I’ll describe a little bit of my training approach.  When I first decided to be part of my RAAM team, I envisioned hours and hours of riding my bicycle, during both training and the race itself.  That turns out to be only partially correct.  Yes, I’ll do ¼ of the 3,000-mile course (about 750 miles), but it won’t be hours at a time on the bike.  My teammates and crew members with previous RAAM experience explained that a 4-person team is a different animal from a solo RAAM racer or a 2- or 8-person team.  Our team will work in pairs.  The pairs will alternate 8-hour time blocks, which means we’ll take turns riding through the night.  During an 8-hour “on” block, those two riders will alternate back and forth between riding 30 minutes and resting 30 minutes.  Each 30-minute effort will be fairly intense, allowing us to keep up a race pace.  Thus, I have two training goals, which are somewhat in tension.  I need to ride as many miles as possible, but I also need to train in short blocks with periods of rest in between, mimicking the way we’ll race.

I’ve set weekly mileage goals for myself, increasing each month from January (150 miles per week) through May (575 miles per week) and tapering for about two weeks before RAAM.  I set 575 as my longest weekly mileage goal because I don’t want to do the total RAAM mileage (750 miles) until the event itself.  It’s kind of like how someone training for a marathon doesn’t get all the way up to 26.2 miles until the actual race; his/her longest training run might be 20-21 miles.  I used a similar proportion to determine that 575 miles would be a good target for my longest weeks.  Additionally, I’ve mapped out my training schedule week-by-week on a spreadsheet.  Because of work and other commitments, I won’t actually be able to ride the total mileage goal every week of every month, but I’ll definitely be trending upward.  As the days get longer, I’ll be able to ride more after work.  Also, I’ve built lots of long rides into the weekends, including brevets, permanents, charity rides, a ride to Atlanta on Mother’s Day to see my mother, and a lot of just-get-out-there-and-do-it rides.  I’m confident that I’ll get in plenty of miles to be ready for RAAM!

My other main type of training is what I’m calling RAAM blocks.  Brigette, our crew chief, emphasized that I need to do event-specific training, becoming used to getting on and off the bike.  So far I’ve done two RAAM block training sessions on the past two Sunday afternoons.  The first time I rode a 10-mile block and a 20-mile block with a 30-minute rest between.  This past Sunday I rode three blocks, 20-20-10, with 30-minute rests between.  These aren’t lollygagging blocks, though; I ride at 75-80% of my threshold power.  I’ll probably experiment with shorter blocks, too, maybe 10 miles max at a time.  Also, I’ll work up to 100 miles’ worth of blocks (20 miles each) with 30-minute rests between, which also will help me achieve my weekly mileage goals.  As I add blocks, I anticipate having to back down a little on my power, maybe about 70% of threshold.  I’ll be curious to see how it goes.

My RAAM blocks are loops that I ride from my house.  This allows me to do a little housework, e.g. fold laundry, during the 30-minute rests.  One of my biggest challenges between now and June is balancing training, work, church, home life, volunteering, and down time (ha!).  My training spreadsheet accounts for just about every hour.  I have to admit that I’ve already been feeling the pressure.  I wouldn’t be able live with such regimentation indefinitely, but I feel like it’s more than worth it for these few months.  Ride on!