Tailor-made endurance: Optimise fitness for long distances & plan your training
If you want to master long distances, you should incorporate long distances into your training from time to time - to arm yourself against the fatigue that inevitably sets in when you have to cover longer distances than usual. Longer units are necessary for this. "Long" is anything that is longer than usual. Long enough is anything that trains all the body's systems so that the planned distance at an event is feasible. Targeted endurance training provides the necessary fitness to prepare for the long distance. Whether it's a long day tour or a marathon: we explain which training helps bikers to last longer.
Varied training: the key to success
Are you just riding for fun, or are you already training? And what's the difference? Don't we all cycle to have fun? Training begins when planned action plays a role. The transition from cycling for fun to training is fluid and has a lot to do with the goal you want to achieve. Only goals that are sufficiently challenging and not something that can be achieved just like that will motivate you to keep at it. A distance that you have never mastered before, a competition that would completely overwhelm you here and now? That's the stuff that good goals are made of. They have to entice you, but also instil a certain respect - this mix always makes training more attractive than a cosy hour on the sofa.
Good training: regular, sometimes calm, sometimes fast - but not always the same! - Robert Kühnen, training expert
Endurance training is not particularly complicated. You don't have to do anything crazy to increase your stamina. What you need above all is diligence and consistency. Most of the training should be done at a relatively steady pace, not with your tongue hanging out. The workload should increase slowly. The easiest way to do this is to make the distances longer. Little by little, the radius increases and the miraculous things that make our body more efficient happen along the way. The number of cellular power stations increases, more oxygen is metabolised and the muscles work together like a good orchestra.
To avoid stagnation after a few weeks, the stimuli for the body must be varied. So don't always ride the same lap and at the same pace, but alternate. Once the basis has been laid, you can increase the speed - but not always at full throttle, as that would be counterproductive. It is best to differentiate clearly: mostly easy and occasionally really fast. The things that play a role should be practised in the direction of the goal. If you are heading for the mountains, you should ride uphill in preparation. If the route is flat against the wind, this should be practised. Logical, isn't it? If you achieve the desired form, fun and happiness are guaranteed at the season's highlight. Overall, around 80 per cent of training should be in the basic area, while 20 per cent should be dedicated to the more intensive area.
Basic training and nutritional intake
If you only ever ride 30 kilometres, you will find that even 60 kilometres is much more challenging. 60 kilometres are difficult to manage at full throttle. Those who often drive 100 kilometres, on the other hand, will easily cover this distance because they have already learned the right speed for this. Even 300 kilometres in one go and more are possible if all systems are trained in such a way that the distances can be increased further. The key to extending the distances is to choose the pace with a sense of proportion and to eat enough. The training adage is: "Speed kills, not distance." This is based on the fact that the human "engine" in the area of fat burning remains efficient for a very long time if it is sufficiently developed and is also eaten during exercise. The long-term performance that can be achieved depends primarily on the energy flow - on fat burning and the carbohydrates consumed during exercise. Fat burning is trained through basic training and is almost unlimited, because everyone has a few kilos of fat available, fuel for thousands of kilometres. However, cycling at full throttle all the time does not help to break down body fat. This ability is only trained at a moderate pace.
Food intake also needs to be trained - by eating on the bike. This is also where the most has happened in professional sport in recent years. Professionals have trained themselves to utilise up to 120 grams of carbohydrates per hour, which is twice as much as they can consume without making specific adjustments. However, recreational athletes have a lower energy metabolism, so they do not have to (and should not) eat the same amounts as professionals. A good fat-burning metabolism plus a moderate, steady intake of carbohydrates will enable you to cover long distances. Riding ultra-distances all the time, on the other hand, does not make sense when weighing up the wear and tear and benefits that come with it. This is because endurance training relies less on forceful exertion and more on regular practice with a balance of length and intensity. On day X, all the pieces of the puzzle come together in such a way that even the seemingly impossible becomes possible, for example, completing an extra-long distance of twelve hours or more. As a rule of thumb, around eight long rides that stand out from your normal training are enough to prepare you for a long distance.
The most important questions and answers about long-distance training
How fast?
A power meter or the heart rate is used to categorise the intensity - ideally both. Target zone: lower to medium GA1 - a conversation in short sets is possible at this pace. It is better to start too slow than too fast. The heart rate should not start to run away at constant power (aerobic decoupling). This would be a sign of insufficient form or too high a pace. If your heart rate starts to run away, continue training according to your heart rate, i.e. reduce your pedalling power.
Which terrain?
Don't start with too many metres in altitude; first extend the distance, then sharpen the profile. Background: Excursions into more intensive training zones prevent fat burning - the way back into the fat zone is slower than the way out. A route profile that is too toxic can destroy fat burning and block the desired training effect. The better your fitness level, the easier it is to incorporate longer, higher-intensity climbing sections.
When is long too long?
With up to eight hours of training per week, journeys of three hours or more are considered long. Journeys of up to twelve hours per week are four hours long, and five to six hours for longer journeys. The hours are decisive, not the kilometres.
What if my competition lasts eight hours or longer?
Such long training sessions are not necessary in preparation. However, it helps to push your limits from time to time during your preparation and occasionally incorporate distances into your training plan that go beyond the usual scope. In this way, you learn step by step that you can do what is important for your mind. Consecutive competitions with increasingly longer distances are an effective way of getting used to the really long belts.
Good planning is half the battle
The rough annual plan begins with a calendar check: Which goals fit into your personal annual plan? Where is there room for an above-average amount of training? Can and should holidays be used for this? How should the sports year be organised once the goals have been set? Paying attention to the following three points will increase your chances of a successful sports year in 2025.
Step 1: Set target(s)!
Goals are the key to motivated training. Without a goal, nobody stays on the ball. Good goals are ambitious, but not utopian, and ideally measurable. Finishing a marathon within a certain time would be such a goal. So sign up and share this fact with the world. This helps you to seriously pursue your goal.
Step 2: Sketch out the plan
The way there is planned backwards from the goal. Minimum duration for the physical adaptations to work: eight weeks. More won't hurt. The goal should be coordinated with the other milestones of the year, such as holidays, business trips, etc. It helps to identify favourable time windows for training focal points (weekends/training camps).
Step 3: Keep a record
Sounds stuffy, but it helps to stay on track: Training documentation is the reality check to see whether the plan is being implemented and everything is going in the right direction. Digital helpers such as Strava & Co. make this easy and clear today. In principle, it should be recognisable that you are constantly training towards your goal. Large gaps in the build-up are poison for your form.
Effective training from day to day: how it works
Training starts with three training sessions per week. More is better; if you cycle a lot and include short units (commuters), you will get significantly more training sessions per week. One rest day per week also makes sense for frequent cyclists. In principle, the hardest intervals should be completed when you are as fresh as possible. Endurance training sessions, on the other hand, can follow one another with pre-fatigue. The training duration is increased slightly over three weeks, followed by a rest week. For older athletes, the rhythm of two weeks of exertion to one week of relief may be more suitable. The intensity, combined with the length, determines how demanding a training session is. The basis is a moderate basic tempo, into which sections with more speed (intervals) are embedded. The intensity of the training can be read from the pedalling power in watts and (smoothed out more) from the heart rate. There are models that are very finely divided into training zones, but basically a simple model is also sufficient.
Training bag of tricks: How to achieve your goals
Continuity is non-negotiable for ambitious cyclists. Continuous training is the most important building block of all. Doing nothing means going backwards. This does not mean that you have to train every day, recovery times are important. But regularity is more important than individual feats of strength. The basis is therefore a weekly plan with at least three, but preferably four or five sessions per week. One to two-week training camps can be the ultimate form booster. They are the most efficient method of focussing training time and initiating adaptations. The main advantage: 100 per cent focus on the sport. Spring camps are the classic way to rack up the kilometres and get into shape. But training camps always make sense. The focus changes over the course of the season and becomes more and more specific towards the competition. The most concise form of training camp starts on your own doorstep and goes beyond the usual home territory: Friday afternoon on the bike and off towards the horizon. Overnight stay in a hotel. The next morning, a long day's stage to the second hotel. Back home on Sunday. The whole thing can be done with minimal luggage - rucksack or saddle bag. If you prefer the purist approach, you can sleep at the roadside (overnighter). In any case, you can make serious kilometres this way. Two such camps in a row, plus a training block in between, are on a par with a normal training camp.
Integrating training into everyday life saves time and makes more training possible. Cycling to work? Why not! Easy to get there, with an extra lap back - that way you can cover plenty of kilometres and the extra time required is manageable. Even one or two blocks of heat training can help athletes make progress in a short space of time. Training means pushing the body out of balance and creating new stimuli. Heat is an artificially created training stimulus for advanced athletes. Eight units with increased body temperature within two weeks form a block. Each session lasts a maximum of one hour at low intensity (45-50 per cent of FTP) on the roller - in warm clothing. This complements normal training, ideally after pre-fatigue, i.e. in the evening. Effect: Adaptation to summer heat, increase in VO2max and threshold performance.
