2012 Le Mans 24 hours cycling race on the Bugatti circuit - PREPARATION OF THE RACE

Management of recovery

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:45:01 +0100

Ride… Recover!

In a 24 hours race, no one is exempt from a loss of energy. The length of the effort, the accumulation of the relays, management of the food, of the resting periods will be all the hard points to deal with. Here is our advice about recovery.

The first question that comes to mind is probably: what to do between the relays?

Eat? Sleep? Watch the race? In the first place the best way to recover would be to force yourself to 10 minutes of bike or home trainer but very relaxed. Before going back into the race, the same thing should be done, 10 minutes of muscular waking up. This is mostly for the teams that are planning to win.

For the rest, you have to put all the chances with you and do not leave anything to chance in terms of recovery.

Hydration will have to be important between the relays, especially if it’s hot (over ).
We mentioned it when we spoke about food: the way you will eat during these 24 hours will have an incidence on your performance.
Avoid massages between the relays, especially if you are not used to it. Indeed the muscular feelings could be damaged when you’ll go back on your bike. Keep this pleasure for the days after the race.
What of electro stimulation? Yes, of course yes! Electro stimulation session (after the 10 minutes of bicycle) is the best way to have a good muscular recovery between two relays. Opt for a program of active recovery or a warm down session depending Minimal stretching can also be interesting but be careful because the stretching must not be painful; it should be done without jerks, during 10 minutes maximum and immediately after the race. An hour after the muscle is relaxed and it is too late to start stretching.

With this bit of advice you now have all the cards in hand to manage the resting periods between the relays. Although the race will be won on the road it can also be lost in the warm-up areas. Be very careful of recovery.

In the day following the event force yourself to continue applying this advice: intensive hydration and healthy food will help you recover quickly and sleep a lot and force yourself to at least one or two electro stimulation sessions to help you eliminate the toxins. It is the same for the end of your season.

Management of effort

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:38:34 +0100

What is specific about this event?

Apart from the duration (24 Hours) it is the fact that it is a relay race. The objective is to run as many miles as possible, the relays have to be short in order to allow the racer to give his best. Here is our proposition regarding strategy.

Length of the relay

This is the main question, the one that keeps the debate going. Take for example a team of 4 racers that would go for relays of an hour each. Each one of them should theoretically follow this scheme: 6 x (1 hour of race / 3 hours of rest). But be aware of the level of each contestant. The best should lengthen his relays while the slightly weaker one should shorten his in order to give the team the best chances.

In a 24 Hour race you also have to keep in mind that everyone will be weaker at one time. Even if it’s better to keep the same order during the whole race, the length of the relays will have to change and be adapted. The objective is to keep a constant speed (even if the first four hours will be faster) in an endurance team everyone will agree on saying that it is regularity that will pay.

Management of sleep

No way will you have a cosy bed in the night of 22^nd to 23^rd of August, but everyone has to recover. The difficulty will be to fall asleep with all the excitation of the race (the organism will produce a lot of this well known hormone, adrenalin.) In this case you will have to rest during short periods. During the night and especially at dawn (when tiredness will be the greatest) you will have to manage the race regarding the strength of each of you and of the sleep of each of you. The length of the relays will have to be longer for a few riders and shorter for the others, but without going on a relay of more than 1h30.

The intensity

We vaguely spoke about it in the article about preparation: it is an intensity close to the anaerobic line. Why that?

To be simple, over this line you will go too far in your stock of energy. In that case you might be less and less efficient in the relays. On the first relay keep your heart rate around 85% of your maximum heart rate. At the end of the race, because of the tiredness you will be around 80%.
We can keep this intensity during about an hour, that’s why we are suggesting relays of this length. At the end of the race the muscular tiredness is very important; some of you might be completely exhausted. From this moment, the relays should be shortened.

Physical preparation of the event

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:57:15 +0100

How to deal with the physical preparation of the race?

A 24 hours relay race is very particular: it’s all about linking short but intensive relays over a long period. From there, how to deal with training? A lot of long rides? Or more specific short rides?

As the event takes place in August (22^nd and 23^rd) it is clear that there will be other cyclo sports event before. So just prepare yourself as usual, for the races throughout May, June and July. The 24 Hours Cycling Race being only at the end of August means that you will all arrive with many miles done in the different events, and certainly a good rhythm. Try to avoid during the summer long endurance trainings (6 hours and more), they will tire your organism and won’t help in going for high intense efforts, especially the first relays.

On the contrary go for short but specific trainings. Take the drama out. Twenty four hours, three words that are a bit scary but for a team of 4 racers it only represents 6hours of cycling divided into several relays. Of course it is not that easy but it doesn’t represent more than a classic course. And you will be trained, especially if you have done one or two good “events” during the summer.

If you’re able to put these 24 Hours Cycling Race into perspective, change your training from mid-July but work on the most important points and spend time on the points that will help you make the difference. What are they?

The intermittence of the event (in a team of 4 you will race an hour for three hours of rest).

The intensity of the race: during the relays the intensity will be here, and you will notice it, the 24 hours race isn’t a simple endurance race. On the contrary the evolution is mostly done at intensity more or less close to the anaerobic line.

From these points, how to get prepared?

For a good preparation of the relays the best way to train is two rides per day. For example 2 hours in the morning, 2 hours in the afternoon, with 4 hours of rest minimum between the two rides. Repeating this training three times before the big day will help you to prepare your organism to achieve this kind of effort.

To be well prepared for the intensity, specific training is the best. You will race at high pulsations; training has to be adapted. Prepare yourself by doing 45 minute- sequences at the beginning, then a week before the event 1h30 sequences at around 85% of your maximum heart rate. Divide these sequences into 3 (3x15’ the first time, then 3x20’, ending by 3x30’).

In six specific trainings divided over 6 weeks (beginning of July / mid August) you will be well prepared for the event. Of course this training implies already having a good level and a good training.