TORQ in your Sleep 12 hour solo

Good effort.

Good effort, i do long stuff (Audax) but don't go near gels etc, normal food works far better for me personally, but i guess that might be difficult to access/carry enough on this type of event.

i guess that might be difficult to access/carry enough on this type of event.

The 12 hours is done as laps over an 8 mile course, so I have the option of pit stops where I can pick up food & water. I fully intend to take advantage of these, so as not to have to lug loads of stuff around all day :-)

It's certainly possible to chow down on some real food. A cliff bar per lap gets a bit horrid after eight laps or so :)

One of these each lap should do it.

+1 for real food. Some stuff I like to eat when riding are cereal bars, oatcakes, half sandwiches, skittles. I find gels unfulfilling.

Not done very much since the 70 miler two weeks ago, except a couple of shortish XC rides. Felt like I had some sort of bug late last week, which had a shitty effect on my mood, so I really couldn't be bothered with anything.

Eventually decided to get out on the road today and get some miles in, while the weather was nice. Upped the gearing on the Straggler from 71" to 75" for a bit more resistance.

https://www.strava.com/activities/981452974

110kg today \o/

Now at 108.5kg

Lovely day out there today. Currently staying 15 minute's ride from one of my favourite riding spots.

Would my head let me get outside to enjoy it :-/

Maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow.

Whatever food you do use, road test it beforehand - as in eating when you are riding.

A Ginsters may be lovely for lunch but could make you want to throw up 4 hours into racing. Physical exertion and nerves etc can play havoc with stomachs.

Solid foods make me feel really sick when racing. I eat a Torq gel per lap try and drink as much Torq as I can and from 9pm a swig of full fat coke each lap

I'm doing ok on current gels and carb & electrolyte drinks at the moment. Bars are ok when I stop, but I nearly choke myself trying to chew food on the move.

and from 9pm a swig of full fat coke each lap

I was thinking of not using anything caffeinated until around 9-10pm. Do you reckon it's worth staying away from caffeine for a little while beforehand, to get a greater benefit?

I think I've seen @hippy mention doing that ahead of his 24 hr races.

I'm very excited for you fella, and a little envious!

The only 'energy' thing I ever use is SIS go (not the caffeine shit), which is really good for me...the recovery drink 'rego ' is also spot on for avoiding cramps and muscle pains.
And I also agree about the full fat coke, flat is better, for when you are totally ballbagged.
Sorry I missed you this week....I was late up there first of all then I had to bail yesterday as it was so fucking hot!
I threw the magnet in the river a bit instead :0)
I'll definitely be going up next week if you are about though? Or if it's doable, a road ride wherever you happen to be.

I have done but I'm VERY caffeine tolerant so I've never really noticed a difference.

I was talking to some sports scientists the other day (as you do) and they reported very different effects. One didn't like caffeine (weird tingles) and the other was more like me, could have lots and go straight to sleep.

In a 12hr, you shouldn't really be struggling with sleep so I would take caffeine for the whole event. You don't need to abstain in order to get the performance benefits. I normally keep it to 600mg/12hr when racing 24s although could quite easily take grams of it I don't want any gastric effects later in the race.

I like SIS Go. I use Torq now and it has fewer negative effects after 24hrs.

Rego is soy-based so that can do one. If you have a lot of soy your lady hormones increase and you might give birth during the race.

I prefer Pepsi to coke and will have it throughout the race but only now and again, generally towards the end when I'm sick of Torq flavours.

I would probably be getting my sleep patterns fucked up before the race but like I said it's only 12hrs so adrenalin should easily keep you going for all of that. My missus sleeps like a cat but when she's supporting me during 24hrs she's up 100% of the time and hyper.

Sorry I missed you this week....I was late up there first of all then I had to bail yesterday as it was so fucking hot!

No worries. I ended up going yesterday instead :-)

I'll definitely be going up next week if you are about though? Or if it's doable, a road ride wherever you happen to be.

Would be good, but unfortunately I'm busy all over the bank holiday, and then probably going back to Norfolk on Wednesday/Thursday.

I'm thinking about incorporating some interval stuff, once I get back home. The steady road miles seem ok, but I've been reminded that riding bumpy off-road is pretty much impossible to do at an even pace.

The only interval type training I've done for months is on the rowing machine; mainly to try and keep some strength in my lower back.

Well, that's my race outfit revealed.

Could be good. What sort of interval sessions do you have in mind? People talk about the 2x20 for endurance intervals but 20 mins seems like a loooong time for an interval. I've only ever really done 40x20: 10 min warm up and then 40 seconds on, 20 seconds off for 10 mins, 3-4 min recovery, then 40 on 20 off for 10 mins, 3-4 min recovery and then either try another one and fail in the middle of it or stop knowing I would probably fail in the middle of the third set, 10 min recovery. Of course by all means do 3 or 4 or 5 sets if you love it.

PS nobody loves intervals but my god they are effective.

What effort is your '40 seconds on' in % term please? Is it 100% full gas?

What sort of interval sessions do you have in mind

Nothing really as yet. Stuff anywhere between 30 sec - 3 or 4 minutes, I expect. May fire up TrainerRoad next week and see what it has to offer.

I'm going to need a bigger fan in the shed...

That's going to mean an ftp test :'(

I think I did it based on rpm so I was 80 rpm for 20 and then up to 120 for the 40. Hard to put a percentage on it at it gets harder to maintain the rpm as you approach the end of the interval. This was recommended for me when I was (trying) to train for track so something approaching 80-90% maybe cumulatively by the end?