Former ProTour Cyclist Shares His Tips on Preparing for Multi-Day Events

Former Professional Cyclist and Coach Matthew Busche provides cyclists guidance and training advice on how to prepare for challenging multi-day events

We recently sat down with former ProTour rider, 2x Pro National Road Champion, and current CTS Expert Coach Matthew Busche to get some insight on how to best prepare and ride multi-day events. Matthew knows a thing or two about racing on back-to-back days. During his pro career, he raced in some of the toughest stage races in the world including the Tour de France, Vuelta a España, and Tour of California. Last year he participated in and won the inaugural Mavic Haute Route Rockies.

Now, he’s sharing his knowledge from years of training and racing with tips and strategies you can use to prepare for an event like the Haute Route.

CTS: What does your training look like preparing for a multi-day event?

Matthew Busche (MB): Going into a multi-day event I try to think about the cumulative effects of the effort. It is relatively easy to train for a single day event, but stacking days on top of each other is where it becomes tricky. You have to consider a lot more than just your relative fitness level. You have to consider recovery strategies, racing strategies, how many “matches” do I have to burn, etc.

As a professional, those are questions I asked myself on a daily basis and things that became more or less second nature to me. Also, the fact that I did it for a living meant that a multi-day event didn’t scare me. Now, however, thinking through training for a multi-day event is a whole new ball game because I have a limited amount of time to train, which means my “depth of fitness” isn’t as great as it used to be. So in preparing for an event like Haute Route Rockies, I have to choose wisely how to spend my limited training time and avoid “junk” miles because every mile and minute I’m out there counts.

CTS: For time-crunched athletes, what do you recommend they focus on to perform well over multiple days?

MB: Given that I am now a “time-crunched” athlete myself and have a much greater respect for the challenges that come with it, I would say that the two most important things to focus on are tempo and nutrition/hydration. Training in the tempo zone provides the biggest “bang for your buck” because it gives you big aerobic gains while not breaking you down so much that you need to recover for long periods. In other words, you can stack together large volumes of work and really build your depth, which will give you a larger platform to “stand” on throughout the race.

The second most important factor is nutrition and hydration. Racing for 3 to 7 or more days requires huge amounts of energy. Most people can survive through 3 with reasonable success, but stretching beyond that is a huge ask for the body when you’re training on 6, 8, or 10 hours a week. So going into an event like Haute Route Rockies, an athlete really needs to focus on staying on top of their nutrition and hydration.

Hydration may be the more important of the two, but we will call them equal here. Athletes need to be hydrating before, during, and after each stage, as well as continuously eating. The primary energy source is carbohydrates, so an athlete needs to make sure they are getting adequate amounts of good quality carbohydrates throughout the day. An athlete always needs to be forward thinking because everything they do on day one will affect day seven. The better they fuel each day means the toll on the body is slightly less, which means they can recover slightly better for the next day. It all adds up!

CTS: Mentally how do you deal with back-to-back hard days racing?

MB: Back to back days of riding at an event as challenging as the Mavic Haute Route Rockies and Haute Route Asheville can be tough. I think ultimately it comes down to enjoying every moment, even when you’re racing. The suffering is temporary and a really short amount of time in the grand scheme of things, so I just try to embrace it. Plus the suffering usually is rewarded with a prize, whether it is a nice view or a nice descent. Also, Haute Route is a unique event because the stakes really aren’t high, so I would encourage people to simply push themselves as hard as they can, but ultimately take a moment to look around and meet new people. Live in the moment!

CTS: How do you go about recovering between back-to-back days of racing?

MB: I touched on this earlier, but I always try to think about the “big picture” and remember that everything I do in the moment affects what I will be able to do later. So if I let myself get dehydrated, I will not have the power I want/need late in the stage. Also, that means I have a bigger hole to recover from for the next day, which requires extra energy that would be better spent elsewhere. So, if I stay more on top of my hydration and nutrition, I can avoid that. I’ll also say that chocolate milk can help — at least for me!

CTS: Are there any changes or things you focus on when it comes to your nutrition during 3-day or longer events?

MB: The biggest thing I focus on is thinking “big picture.” Always being aware that I need to take care of myself for the long run.

CTS: What are your recommendations for riding at altitude?

MB: One piece that is unique to Mavic Haute Route Rockies is the altitude. People react differently to high altitude. In general, though, you cannot ride as hard at altitude as you can at sea level for a whole host of reasons. The biggest one being the lower partial pressure of oxygen which creates a whole bunch of other physiological problems. So, while riding, avoid going into the “red” as much as you can because recovery is significantly more difficult at altitude. And not only is acute recovery more difficult, but also chronic recovery. Day to day you won’t recover as easily. A big component of that is how difficult it is to get high-quality sleep at altitude. The best advice I can give on riding at altitude is to stay hydrated and avoid going into the red!

CTS: Any other tips for athletes participating in their first multi-day event?

MB: Participating in a multi-day event is a challenge. In the lead up to the event I would recommend working on your longer, lower intensity training. In terms of exertion levels, I would put in a lot of time between a 6 and 8 out of 10. I would recommend being sure that at least once in the preparation that you try to put together a 3-day training block totaling at least 10 hours with two rides of 4 hours plus. Riding over 2 and 3 hours puts whole new demands on the body and can bring to light a lot of potential issues: chamois problems, bike fit problems, nutritional problems, etc. A rider needs to experience going for long rides on continuous days to learn a bit about their body and what it will feel like.

My final piece of advice goes back to the “big picture”. I would recommend avoiding getting too excited and going too hard too early. If you burn up all your energy early, you’ll be in for a long day and week.

About CTS

This article was supplied by Carmichael Training Systems, the Official Training Partner of Haute Route.

If you’re interested in participating in either the Mavic Haute Route Rockies or the Haute Route Asheville events this year, CTS has support packages available, as well as a 3-day Mavic Haute Route Preparation Camp Powered By CTS in Boulder, Colorado starting on April 25, 2018.