Training
FondoFitTraining
Follow our 12-week FondoFit-Training Plan to help prepare for GranFondoOttawa. The plan is fairly intense and more aimed at the SuprFondo event but can be easily adapted for the GranFondo by scaling it back by 15%, for the MedioFondo by dialing it back by 25% and by 50% for the CortoFondo. Keep in mind this is only a guide and its to best to pick/choose your scale without pressure to suit your schedule and goals.
Download Training Plan Here
Wednesday & Sunday Rides
Our rides start from Westboro Beach parking lot, off the Ottawa River Parkway, West of Island Park.
The Wednesday rides start at 5PM [follow Facebook for sunset updates] & offer options to Kinburn/Carp or the Gat’s and will aim at 90+ minutes.
The Sunday rides will start at 11AM and aim at longer distances to build endurance.
The post-ride refueling will be hosted by ClockTower on Richmond Rd., our Team Time Trial Challenge sponsor.
Other Ride Options
We will be hosting monthly Fit-Days beginning in late April to be hosted by a locla sponsoring bike shop, stay tuned for details.
We are also working on a Perth Pre-Ride to be hosted by the Best Western Parkside Inn in Perth. Our plan is to stage a Sunday ride from Perth to McDonald's Corners and up to Snow Road Station and follow part of the SuprFondo route and offer a Monday ride for those interested in staying overnight. Stay tuned for further details.
Nutrition
The benefits of proper hydration and fueling cannot be oversold. Riding for more than an hour without the benefit of an electrolyte supplement makes your body suffer for nothing and drives your ride benefits in reverse as your body fights to survive the stress you are putting it under.
At a reasonable intensity [beyond a short and easy recovery ride] you need at least 500ml of an electrolyte replacement product every half hour and when taking gels, at least 250ml of water with every gel-pack to prevent stomach problems from improper digestion.
After a ride of an hour or more, your body needs a recovery drink to replenish it’s depleted reserves to help muscle recovery and give your system a boost to replace lost nutrients. There are many opinions about the right mix of protein and carb’s and with so many options on the market, pick one like Evervit’s R2 and give it a try.
After work there’s often not enough time to grab a snack when rushing from work to your ride but [again] there are many simple and quick options vs trying to ride on an empty stomach…. which is like trying to drive your car without sufficient fuel…. eventually it runs out and stops and in the case of a rider, bonks! With solutions as simple as a banana w/yogurt or toast with almond butter or a handful of nuts and dried fruit with water….. why let that happen!
Our Official Nutritional & Platinum Sponsor Enervit will be providing special test package offers at greatly reduced rates featuring a complete range of scientific and race proven pre-ride, during and post ride recovery supplements. Stay posted….
Granola by GranFondoOttawa
While I am not claiming to be a baker by any means…. and did manage to botch the first few batches…. here’s a great and simple recipe loaded with lots of slow release nutrients that takes less than 20-minutes to make & clean-up and provides 20 servings.
In a bowl, mix 6 cups of rolled oats, 8 tbsp of flax seed, 2 cups of chopped figs, 6 scoops of protein powder & 1 cup of sprouted chia/flax, 2 cups of almonds, 1 cup of walnuts, 1 cup of pecans, 1 cup of dried cranberries, 1/4 cup of bee pollen, 1 cup of Agave nectar, 1 cup of molasses and 1 cup of pepitas. Melt 4 tbsp of coconut oil and spread on tray/pan surface.
Bake at 275 for 40 minutes, depending on whether or not you have a convection oven and let sit for a few minutes, then wrap and refrigerate. Feel free to substitute other dried fruit and canola oil for coconut oil but the figs and coconut oil have better nutritional benefits based on what I have read.
Servings 20, 400cals/cup
The Edge
For those looking to shed a few pounds to help increase the power/weight ratio, try this app I was introduced to called…. My Fitness Pal as a user friendly means of tracking calories. It is loaded with most of the foods you might eat and allows you to also load your own foods and daily activities to help monitor the input/output facts of your diet which is paramount to understanding what needs to change to help you loose weight. No matter what you do each day, if your body needs 2,000 calories and you eat 3,000 calories and only burn an additional 500 calories every second day riding or cross-training…. seeing results will be impossible. The app helps, try it.