Today we have a zone 2-focused workout featuring low cadence intervals. The Flint Hills of Kansas - where UNBOUND takes place - are notorious for being short, but very steep. Being able to repeatably generate power in a high-torque setting is a key piece to success in the event, and this workout will help improve exactly that. UNBOUND Gravel is a grassroots event, organized and managed by folks who are passionate about cycling, and have done so for the primary purpose of providing life-enriching cycling experiences for event participants.
Just ENJOY today. You have a few options. Ride around the amazing Worlds on Zwift, join in a Zwift group ride, or head outdoors - ideally on your gravel bike and off-road. The goal is to aim for 1.5 hours of endurance riding. Ride on feel today at a 3-5/10 perceived exertion level (RPE).
Welcome to the Garmin UNBOUND Gravel Training Plan! We're starting off with some easy riding this week at zone 2. In zone 2 training we are stimulating your type 1 muscle fibers, also called slow twitch. Spending time in Zone 2 is essential to improving performance and a zone you'll spend a lot of time in during ultra endurance events - like UNBOUND! Zone 2 training is one of the most important aspects of any training plan. We don't always get faster by training faster. UNBOUND Gravel is a grassroots event, organized and managed by folks who are passionate about cycling, and have done so for the primary purpose of providing life-enriching cycling experiences for our event participants.
Lake Kahola is another landmark of the UNBOUND route and a a welcomed change in scenery away from dirt and dust. Today, we are tackling mainly zone 2, but are throwing in some low cadence work at zone 3. A key piece of these early workouts, as you have probably learned, is getting used to repeating high torque efforts in preparation for what the Flint Hills will throw at you. UNBOUND Gravel is a grassroots event, organized and managed by folks who are passionate about cycling, and have done so for the primary purpose of providing life-enriching cycling experiences for event participants.
Texaco Hill is an infamous feature in UNBOUND and is a challenge to summit, even for the fittest of athletes. It's placement en route also means most will have some fatigue built up in the legs. Today's workout, focused on longer tempo intervals, helps to improve your fatigue resistance and bumps up the overall work rate compared to week 1. Tempo intervals build a foundation of endurance and fatigue resistance. UNBOUND Gravel is a grassroots event, organized and managed by folks who are passionate about cycling, and have done so for the primary purpose of providing life-enriching cycling experiences for event participants.
Just ENJOY today. You have a few options. Ride around the amazing Worlds on Zwift, join in a Zwift group ride, or head outdoors - ideally on your gravel bike and off-road. The goal is to aim for 2 hours of endurance riding. Ride on feel today at a 3-5/10 perceived exertion level (RPE).
We have more tempo training on tap for today - perfect for preparing you to hit the sandy sections of UNBOUND. Tempo work is the basis of many training programs and is an area of great necessity. The key benefit to completing Tempo work indoors is the lack of interruptions to the effort, and ERG mode makes things much simpler. Tempo intervals also build a foundation of endurance and fatigue resistance - keys for a long and challenging event like UNBOUND. UNBOUND Gravel is a grassroots event, organized and managed by folks who are passionate about cycling, and have done so for the primary purpose of providing life-enriching cycling experiences for event participants.
Having grit, or being able to persevere from a challenge, is a key trait when undertaking a challenge like UNBOUND. Riding at tempo for extended periods of time is a good way to test yourself in training. Tempo riding is also a great way to improve your aerobic efficiency. Today's session consists of a pair of long tempo efforts. However, to make this more specific to UNBOUND and focus more on muscular endurance, the target cadence starts at 75RPM and increases by 5RPM every 5min. UNBOUND Gravel is a grassroots event, organized and managed by folks who are passionate about cycling, and have done so for the primary purpose of providing life-enriching cycling experiences for event participants.
Just ENJOY today. You have a few options. Ride around the amazing Worlds on Zwift, join in a Zwift group ride, or head outdoors - ideally on your gravel bike and off-road. The goal is to aim for 2.5 hours of endurance riding. Ride on feel today at a 3-5/10 perceived exertion level (RPE).
Our 2nd recovery workout this week has us doing a progressive zone 2 workout featuring cadence increases every interval. It's important to have balance in your training and allow the body and mind to recover from the hard training days. UNBOUND Gravel is a grassroots event, organized and managed by folks who are passionate about cycling, and have done so for the primary purpose of providing life-enriching cycling experiences for event participants.
Welcome to the recovery week! You made it through the first 3 weeks, and we have nothing but happy trails ahead. Today, we have a low-key zone 2 workout with alternating intervals of comfortable and fast cadence. UNBOUND Gravel is a grassroots event, organized and managed by folks who are passionate about cycling, and have done so for the primary purpose of providing life-enriching cycling experiences for event participants.
Just ENJOY today. You have a few options. Ride around the amazing Worlds on Zwift, join in a Zwift group ride, or head outdoors - ideally on your gravel bike and off-road. The goal is to aim for 1.5 hours of endurance riding. Ride on feel today at a 3-5/10 perceived exertion level (RPE).
Nothin' like a little dirt in your teeth, right!? Guess what? If you are riding gravel, and especially the dirt roads of Kansas for UNBOUND, there will be plenty of dirt to go around! This session is designed to improve your FTP. However, to make this session as specific to a long-distance event as possible, there are some specific 30-second bursts to induce extra fatigue before settling back tempo. Moreover, this variable intensity has been proven to be effective at pushing thresholds up. This session also allows you to become more proficient at removing lactate and using it as a fuel during the lower intensity efforts - key to recovering after surging over the Flint Hills! UNBOUND Gravel is a grassroots event, organized and managed by folks who are passionate about cycling, and have done so for the primary purpose of providing life-enriching cycling experiences for event participants.
Holding a steady pace and being able to surge repeatedly over short and sharp climbs is key to finishing UNBOUND. The course itself looks fairly flat, but in actuality, there are dozens of small rolling hills to contend with. This workout will help prepare you for dealing with them. UNBOUND Gravel is a grassroots event, organized and managed by folks who are passionate about cycling, and have done so for the primary purpose of providing life-enriching cycling experiences for event participants.
Just ENJOY today. You have a few options. Ride around the amazing Worlds on Zwift, join in a Zwift group ride, or head outdoors - ideally on your gravel bike and off-road. The goal is to aim for 3 hours of endurance riding. Ride on feel today at a 3-5/10 perceived exertion level (RPE).
The couch, or chaise, photo is a cultural highlight surrounding UNBOUND and is always a treat to get to during the ride. Plus, some of the photos taken can be hilarious. Today's session will prepare you to get to the chaise, and more specifically, this session is typically known as an up-and-under session, where you perform periods of time slightly over and then slightly under your long-distance power. This is a great way to get more comfortable at that pace, while also improving that number. Here, you will be doing 8-minute reps — two rounds of 2 minutes above (around 90% FTP) and two rounds of 2 minutes below (around 80% FTP). From a physiological perspective, these sessions help promote fat oxidation and structural changes at a muscular level. UNBOUND Gravel is a grassroots event, organized and managed by folks who are passionate about cycling, and have done so for the primary purpose of providing life-enriching cycling experiences for event participants.
Emporia, Kansas, is where the start line of UNBOUND can be found. So, what better way to celebrate that with some 'Emporia Exertions'! The focus today is on your ability to produce a steady Zone 3 effort after first completing some high-intensity accelerations. Again, key to recovering after pushing it over the many rolling inclines the Flint Hills offers. However, across the course of the session, the intensity and duration of the Zone 3 interval will increase. UNBOUND Gravel is a grassroots event, organized and managed by folks who are passionate about cycling, and have done so for the primary purpose of providing life-enriching cycling experiences for event participants.
Just ENJOY today. You have a few options. Ride around the amazing Worlds on Zwift, join in a Zwift group ride, or head outdoors - ideally on your gravel bike and off-road. The goal is to aim for 3.5 hours of endurance riding. Ride on feel today at a 3-5/10 perceived exertion level (RPE).
The final training week of the training plan, you made it! Time to pulverize the prairie or Attack your way into the base of the Flint Hills climbs today. By performing a high-powered effort at the base of a climb, you will build up some lactate before completing a zone 4 effort. This will help with being able to tolerate lactate as well as recover after hard efforts. But, to make things more specific to the short and steep Flint Hills, today is all about high crank torque. UNBOUND Gravel is a grassroots event, organized and managed by folks who are passionate about cycling, and have done so for the primary purpose of providing life-enriching cycling experiences for event participants.
Stone roller, gravel crusher, pebble pounder are all things you can call yourself after completing UNBOUND! We have a climbing-focused workout planned for today that features surging and recovery. Over the 10 minute intervals, we'll switch between 4 min efforts at a moderate cadence just below FTP to 1 min low cadence work above FTP to mimic a steep section of the Flint Hills. UNBOUND Gravel is a grassroots event, organized and managed by folks who are passionate about cycling, and have done so for the primary purpose of providing life-enriching cycling experiences for event participants.
Just ENJOY today. You have a few options. Ride around the amazing Worlds on Zwift, join in a Zwift group ride, or head outdoors - ideally on your gravel bike and off-road. The goal is to aim for 4 hours of endurance riding. Ride on feel today at a 3-5/10 perceived exertion level (RPE).
Race week is here, which means it's time to focus on Recovery. Regeneration. Renewal. It is just as important as the hard stuff. Fast cadence efforts facilitate flushing the legs without fatiguing them. Today is an active recovery day, so NO HARD EFFORTS! Save yourself for the Flint Hills. UNBOUND Gravel is a grassroots event, organized and managed by folks who are passionate about cycling, and have done so for the primary purpose of providing life-enriching cycling experiences for event participants.
Nothing else left to do but to optimize your recovery for off-road performance! This workout features a series of openers to prime the pump for a big effort. Enjoy this short and sharp workout designed to get you ready for whatever UNBOUND will throw at you. UNBOUND Gravel is a grassroots event, organized and managed by folks who are passionate about cycling, and have done so for the primary purpose of providing life-enriching cycling experiences for event participants.