Whistler GranFondo: I Got MAP’ed

There are some marked differences between my previous goal – a flat, 60km course where the emphasis was on it being a community, not a competitive, ride – and my current goal, the Whistler GranFondo. The GranFondo is a 122km route with 2000m, give or take, of elevation gain. And it’s definitely a race. People can win money, for Pete’s sake.

So, in the hope of crossing the finish line with some semblance of grace or coherence, a change-up to the training plan I used for my 60km ride was in order. I’ve since increased my mileage, built out my arsenal of stretchy apparel, and will be taking my first climb up Cypress this week (please feel free to cross a finger or find a 4-leaf clover on my behalf).

While I’m not sure that I would categorize my current training as hard core, in that Strava is something my 2009 not-smartphone refuses to entertain and my helmet is the opposite of being “aero,” I’m definitely game to put in the work required to successfully complete the race. We’re now 6 weeks – gulp – out from the race, and I’ve asked MEC Envoy Allan Prazsky, Executive Director of Triathlon BC, Certified Road Cycling Coach, and member of the MEC Alta Team in the Whistler GranFondo, for advice on what I can do to make the most out of my last month and a half of training.

***

When I said “make the most out of my training” I thought Allan would maybe talk about nutrition, emphasize the importance of weaseling my way into a peloton, and recommend that I try to get more sleep. Instead, he put me through a Maximal Aerobic Power (MAP) test.

The very remembrance of it makes me sweat involuntarily.

“A MAP is a common test that athletes use to benchmark their fitness level,” Allan says as he broaches the topic with me. I have visions of breathing into some sort of plastic face mask with nodules wired to me, while running my brains out on a treadmill. Bottom line: Not interested.

Turns out this test is far more civilized. Well, sort of. “For a MAP test, a rider completes a series of resistance steps to failure,” Allan explains. “Even though the test is relatively short in duration, it requires the rider to push to exhaustion, and is very demanding physically and mentally.”

Cue involuntary sweat.

So, what makes it so demanding? “After a warm-up, the rider starts the test at a fairly easy load, about 150 watts.” (Watts = a measurement of power; in this case, the energy being created by an athletic motion). “After carrying the same load for 3 minutes, the load is increased – without any recovery. The new load is then carried for another 3 minutes, and so on, until the rider can no longer carry the load, or turn their legs for that matter.”

So yeah, that happened.

There was obviously a lot of sweat involved (a fan was imperative), the burn in my legs toward the end was pretty potent, and there was definitely a moment when I contemplated falling off the side of the bike just to make it be over. But all in all, it wasn’t the worst 16 minutes of my life (pretty sure I can assign that honour to Grade 9, when I got lapped at regionals during the 1500m. It’s like, a 4-lap race).

So what’s the payoff? Why do people voluntarily do these tests? Most importantly: how will this help me ride to Whistler?

“Through testing, we can identify various work zones. Magic happens when riders spend an extraordinary amount of time training at, or near, their threshold,” Allan said to console me partway through the test, when I demanded a reason to continue. “Fitness jumps through the roof with multiple long threshold intervals, increasing power and efficiency while climbing, and translating to a vastly improved level of fitness.”

Sold.

So how does the information captured by Allan’s Computrainer help to do all of this? Well, based on my 16 minutes of sweat equity, Allan was able to tell me my maximum aerobic power, maximum heart rate, power/weight ratio, my lactate threshold, and my power threshold. And why all of this matters, in addition to just the pure fascination of what your body is capable of, is that these are the factors used to establish 5 optimal training zones. And these zones are important because they’re what you can use to optimize your training and efficiently grow your power.

Here are my 5 zones, based on my Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) of 180bpm and my Maximal Aerobic Power (MAP) of 250.3watts:

“To maximize the training effect, cyclists work to their prescribed zones,” Allan says. “Use an electronic device (a power meter to gauge watts, or a HR monitor to watch your heart rate) to monitor output and get more bang for your training buck. It gives you a guideline of where you’re at your most efficient, or most powerful, over a given distance or time.”

So while this chart is neat, and may or may not be tacked to my fridge at home, these zones ultimately translate into a training plan. “To get the most out of a limited schedule, each ride should have a specific purpose: long/aerobic, short/intensity, or threshold,” Allan recommends.  “Make sure you look at the global picture. Tailor the training to reflect the details of that specific event.”

Training Target: Whistler GranFondo
Distance: 122km, elevation gain: 2000m, goal finish time: 6 hours

• Zone 2 – Long Ride: “Get in at least one long ride each week,” Allan advises. “Ideally, a rider would build distance, riding the event-specific distance (or slightly more) at least once, 3 to 5 weeks out from the event.”
• Zone 4 – Long Threshold (what Allan refers to as “Pure Gold”): “These are long intervals, +8 minutes in duration, done in multiples – start with 2 repeats, and build to 5, or more,” coaches Allan. “The total number of sets or the total duration of each can increase. Target 45 minutes to 1 hour spent at threshold, and you’ll see dramatic improvement in your riding.”
• Zone 5 – Short, Hard Efforts (what I like to call “Breathless Torture”): “Once a week, visit the hurt locker,” says Allan. “Try to include short, super-maximal efforts.  These VO2 efforts are short, 30 seconds to 2 minutes, but they hurt the most.  To be effective, they need to be done as hard as possible, with full recovery between bouts. At minimum, you want a work/recovery ratio of about 1:3.”

Taking my training to this level is a little daunting, and borderline – dare I say? – hard core, but I also find a lot of satisfaction in it. I no longer have to worry about the quality of my training miles – Am I developing endurance but zero top-end speed? Am I on an express route to physical and mental burnout because of over-training? – and I like that even though the guesswork has been eliminated, the grunt work hasn’t. These mini goals (e.g., Sustaining 144–157bpm for 8+ minutes. Twice.), within the larger goal of hitting my finish goal time of 6 hours, give me that much more to measure my progress by and motivate myself with.

“Gone are the days where a cyclist needs to ride 20 hours or more a week to be competitive,” says Allan. “Through data analysis, riders can routinely get away with a fraction of what they once were riding.”

***

I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is an emphatic “no.” A MAP test isn’t something reserved for all-star cyclists like me, a Strava-fearing, non-aero helmet wearing, 6-hour-finish time rookie cyclist. “Any rider looking to maximize their fitness can benefit from a MAP test,” emphasizes Allan. “Many accredited coaches and trainers with the proper tools, like a Computrainer or something similar, can perform one.”

And even without getting a full-blown MAP done, just being mindful of your output or heart rate when you’re training will make a big difference in terms of the quantity versus quality equation, and your capacity to build power.

What that looks like: While it’s not as precise as testing, you can use the Karvonen Formula to find your target heart rate-ish. From there, go with your gut, which in this case is called your Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE). Based on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 = you’re strolling in the park with an ice cream cone; 10 = you may have died from exertion, you can’t be sure), simply gauge how you’re feeling and what you perceive your output to be. For example, instead of watching your HR monitor on a long threshold interval, Allan suggests trying to target 2 x 20 minutes at an RPE intensity level of 8–8.5 out of 10 (the ballpark equivalent to Zone 4 in the chart).

And with that fellow Fondo riders, I leave you – we’ve got training to do!

With cycling gusto,

Jess

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