Jason Koop of Carmichael Training Systems wrote a really useful training article about how to train for multi-day tours and relay rides such as the Bristol-Myers Squibb Tour of Hope. He ought to know, he’s the Coaching Manager for the 2005 Tour of Hope.
This article provides a wealth of information– surprising because it’s fairly short. He includes a section on Back-to-Back Training, where he says:
When you�re working at your normal day job, there are only so many hours you can realistically train. As a result, we increased the intensity of the workouts so we could get greater gains in less time. This meant interval workouts from the very beginning, but the length of the intervals was the key rather than the intensity.
He advocates long Tempo, SteadyState, and ClimbingRepeat intervals to maximize development of aerobic capacity. I have to get out my books and read about them, because I don’t know much about interval training.
To get to the level where you can ride a 9-day relay across the United States, you eventually have to do two workouts in a day. Koop discusses that also, as well as how to plan your eating and hydration so that you can train at that level.
The most interesting part of the article from my perspective is the “Bike Tour Survival Tips” section. He has four really good suggestions that obviously come from multi-day cycling event experience.
There are probably things in Koop’s article that every cyclist who is training seriously can adopt and improve their performance.