Making The Most Of A Week-Long Training Block (Like Festive 500)

Written by:

Chris Carmichael

CTS Premier Cycling Coach

Updated On

December 15, 2025

The week between Christmas and New Year’s is often an opportunity for cyclists to pile on miles and hours. The Rapha Festive 500 (riding 500 kilometers between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve) is one of the original and still popular versions for ending the year with a giant week-long training block. Whether you are going for the Festive 500 or creating your own holiday training block, for Time-Crunched Cyclists (TCC) a week-long endurance block represents a big jump in your normal training volume. To get the most out of it, avoid injuries, and reach your goal feeling tired but not shattered, keep the following considerations in mind.

Go In Prepared

The first thing to realize is that a week-long training block will be 2 or 3 times your normal workload, and as a Time-Crunched Cyclist you can’t realistically ramp up your training hours to prepare for that. This is where the “3 Hour Rule” I describe in the Time-Crunched Cyclist books applies. It essentially means TCCs can expect their best performances in events shorter than 3 hours. Longer days are certainly doable, and will be necessary to complete something like the Festive 500, but because you have fewer matches to burn, so to speak, you’ll need to be more thoughtful about how and when you dig deep.

Obviously, it’s best to go into an week of back-to-back rides as physically prepared as possible. Regardless of your fitness level, the next most important thing is to go in fresh and rested. Don’t cram for the exam by adding extra training in the last two weeks before your week-long training block. It will do more harm than good. Instead, continue with your normal weekly ride frequency (i.e., keep your schedule the same), but back off the hours/distance by about 50%, and maintain some intensity with short intervals. Focus on eating well, getting adequate calories (this isn’t the time for last-minute weight loss), and plenty of sleep.

Ride Like You’re on a Budget

If energy is money, Time-Crunched Cyclists start challenges with a thinner wallet than most. You have to ride economically, even frugally. The biggest mistake you can make is to overspend on Day 1. Ride easy the first day, let everyone else spend their money while you conserve yours. Pick a day or a climb, a few items you really want to expend energy for. You’re after an experience you can remember fondly, so be deliberate about it.

Ride Smart

Leverage your cycling skills and experience. During a week-long training block, ride with groups, especially on your long days, and draft whenever you can. Take short pulls at the front even if others are taking long pulls. Ride in the drops, not necessarily to go faster but to maintain the pace with less power. Don’t charge up climbs; backing off your power just 5% at the beginning of a long climb or up the early hills of a rolling day can make you as fast or faster overall by reducing or delaying the power drop-off later on.

If you are completing some or all of the training block on an indoor trainer, take special care to use plenty of fans and drink enough fluids to stay hydrated during and between rides. Also, take breaks during your rides. Riding on an indoor trainer eliminates stop signs and traffic lights, and most of the coasting on downhills. Although this is convenient, it also locks people into their riding position for longer periods that usual. There are no extra points for riding your indoor miles nonstop (unless you’re racing an esports race or participating in a virtual group ride).

Level Up Your Fueling

Increase calorie and carbohydrate intake on the bike. When you’re stretching your fitness it’s important to level up your fueling. Even though it’s likely that your pace and power output for longer back-to-back rides will be low to moderate, aim to consume about 50% of your hourly kilojoule workload in carbohydrate calories. In other words, if you’re riding at 500 kJ/hr, aim to consume at least 250 Calories, primarily from carbohydrate, each hour.

Off the bike, pay closer attention to replenishing fluids and calories within the first hour after each ride. For many Time-Crunched Cyclists, post-workout nutrition within 60 minutes of a ride isn’t critical because you have more than 24 hours before your next workout. But when you are riding several days back-to-back, it’s more important to start the glycogen replenishment process more quickly after each day’s ride. Consuming protein with carbohydrate improves glycogen replenishment and provides necessary protein for recovery, muscle maintenance, and your immune system.

Big training blocks are a great time to leverage “concentrated carbohydrate sources” like rice, potatoes, pasta, bread, and oatmeal. Some Time-Crunched Cyclists have shifted their daily sources of carbohydrate to favor fruit and vegetables while reducing their intake of grains. This works well when you’re only training 3-4 days per week and you can take more time to replenish glycogen stores. When energy expenditure suddenly triples, like it does during a bike training block or a cycling camp, you want to ramp up your calorie intake with (in priority order) carbohydrate, then protein, then fat.

After the Training Block: Leverage the Training Stress

Once you have completed your big block, be diligent about using it to further your fitness. For many athletes, the consistent riding during a week-long block can jumpstart new routines or rekindle old ones, like getting up early, riding on a daily basis (even a little), or using good post-ride recovery habits.

Bring caloric intake back down. Eating more is easy and enjoyable, and many TCCs hang on to that increased intake well after the training block is over. If you had eating habits that were working for you beforehand, be deliberate about returning to them once you return to your normal training pattern.

Don’t wait too long to get back to normal training. Recovery after a big training block is absolutely necessary, but don’t back off too much or for too long. Recovery from a one-week training block should only take 7-10 days. It’s fine if you wait longer to return to interval training, but keep riding instead of hanging up the bike for weeks. Continuing with unstructured, moderate pace riding helps foster the physiological adaptations you’re gaining from the stress of your big event.

Set A New And Audacious Goal

What are you going to do next? Whether it’s next month or next year, don’t wait to put something on your calendar. Just as athletes have to cultivate fitness, you also have to cultivate and nurture inspiration and motivation. Completing a challenge like a week-long endurance block should make you feel empowered and proud. Keep that flame burning by looking forward and committing to a new goal.

Need some inspiration for 2026 goals? Join CTS Founder Chris Carmichael April 12-19 for The Golden State Epic and experience California’s most spectacular cycling terrain on six unforgettable point-to-point stages from Santa Rosa to Solvang. Or join professional CTS Coaches for the Santa Ynez Spring Training Camp Feat. Solvang Century, March 2-7 in Solvang, California. This camp concludes with the Solvang Century and your choice of a 70- or 100-mile day! And if East Coast riding is more your style, check out the Brevard Cycling Performance Camp, April 22-25 in Brevard, North Carolina.

Other event ideas to keep on your radar for 2026 include:

• Gran Fondo National Series road gran fondos: These events can qualify you for USA Cycling Gran Fondo National Championships.
• Belgian Waffle Rides: Multi-surface cycling races that blend pavement with dirt, gravel, sand, and single-track.
• Lifetime Leadville Race Series: Even if you miss out on the Leadville 100 MTB lottery, there are several MTB and Gravel events from Lifetime that have no entry lotteries.
• Tour of America’s Dairyland: For all the criterium racers out there, Wisconsin is the place to be from June 18-28!
• Gravel Earth Series: If you’re looking for gravel racing with an international flair, check out the Gravel Earth Series. US races include Oregon Trail Gravel.
• Rebecca’s Private Idaho: September in Sun Valley, Idaho with our friend Rebecca Rusch and some of the best gravel routes imaginable.