How to Prepare for Mallorca 312

With the annual event of Mallorca 312 selling out this season, I'm sure many of you have a place and are anticipating getting to the start line next April. Elspeth founder and coach of GGSC is no stranger to the event, having taken part in the full 312km distance and multiple times the 167km and most notably winner of the 167km event in 2021. Elspeth has also coached many women in successfully completing the event. She is here to share her advise on how to get prepared for the event.

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Pick Your Goal

What is great about the event is that there are 3 different distances so you can pick your challenge, and you can decide on the day. Don't be fooled that the short distance is easy, the short distance is 167km with 2475m of elevation, with a middle distance of 226km and the full 312km with 5050m of elevation. There are also strict cut off times, so I would suggest unless you have a good level of cycling and confident long hilly distances at a good speed, go for the 167km, it's a challenge in itself.

How to train

I'm sure many of you entering the Mallorca 312 or similar events did so because you want a goal to train towards, it's going to keep you motivated throughout the winter. However training in the winter, does pose some challenges. The event will require long hours on the bike, and it's not always fun to cycle through the winter. But don't be deterred, because miles indoors can translate to outdoor fitness.

Intensity

Get into a regular routine and doing zone 3 and zone 4 - (10 - 20 min) efforts are doing to help emulate the efforts you would do on the climbs. Also some zone 5 vo2 max (2 - 5min efforts) will vastly improve your fitness.

Long Rides

When you can get in some long rides, start now whilst it's still warm enough, the base will help prepare you for the intervals. Build up your distance gradulay and have some 6 hour rides leading up to the event. Also back to back long days are a great training tool. But keep these less often as they will build up a lot of fatigue.

Rest and fuel appropriately

Increasing your training does take a lot out of you, so you do need to fuel well on and off the bike with adequate carb intake and give yourself time to recover each week

Be consistent and have a plan

Consistency is key, regular training gets results over time, so have a plan, make a schedule and stick to it.

If you want to take the guess work out of your training and have an expert to support you along the way. Schedule a Free Discovery Call to find out how coaching with Elspeth could work for you.