Master Unbound Gravel Training in Just 90 Days

Welcome to another training tip. I'm Coach Frank Overton. Some call me the big cat and Unbound Gravel is coming up fast. If you're staring at your calendar and thinking, "What should I be doing for training right now?" This video is for you.

Whether this is your first time lining up for Unbound or you're coming back trying to beat your time from previous years, the next three months are critical. And I do mean critical. What you do in March, April, and May is going to determine how well you do when you roll off that start line May 30th. We've talked a lot about Unbound over the years and coach Mini Roder finishing and everything we said then still holds true.

The big difference now is that we have the Coach Cat app live with Unbound specific training plans, gravel power workouts and AI coaching to help you execute your training. But today I want to get specific month by month, March, April and May what to do and why. Because the mistake I see runners make every year is either training too hard, too early, or waiting too long and trying to cram fitness into the last few weeks. This is not your collegiate exams.

This is a very rugged race that deserves all the respect. So, here's the fast cat philosophy for Unbound in one sentence. Build as big of an aerobic engine as you can from now until race day. In other words, ride as much as possible.

Unbound is literally a fitness contest. We're talking about your ability to sustain sweet spot, tempo, and high zone 2 power for as long as you can. I interviewed Unbound 200 winner Ian Boswell 2 days after he won in 2021. And you know what his power was for 10 hours?

High zone 2. I also analyzed Pete Stetta's 2019 data. You know what his power was when he finished second? High zone 2.

Even when Cam Jones won Unbound last year and set a course record, you know what his normalized power of 327 watts was? You guessed it, zone two. Clearly, Unbound is not a crit. It's not a 45minute V2 max fest.

It's a 10 to 16hour time trial. Rolling hills that require repeated phrase above threshold over and over. Death by a thousand cuts as it's been described. And the roders who can hold their power the highest for the longest are the ones who have the best days.

And this is what we call diesel watts. So how do you train to become a diesel watt monster? Well, let's go through it month by month in simple easy to digest concepts that you can apply in your training starting today. And if you watch until the end, I'll give you a free custom gravel training plan that encapsulates all these training concepts that I'm about to describe.

All right, starting in March, March is all about building the aerobic engine, laying down the foundation that the rest of your training is going to sit on top of. And what does that mean practically? Sweet spot training. We know you don't have all day to train.

You need to make the most out of your limited time that you can. And sweet spot is the ticket. I know it's not sexy. I know everyone wants to talk about V2 max intervals, tabital workouts, maybe threshold, but here's the thing.

We've analyzed thousands of gravel race files at FastCat, and they all tell the same story. Gravel races are essentially about how long you can hold sweet spot before you get tired. Whether that's 60 minutes, 2 hours, or 4 hours, or the whole race, fatiguing at sweet spot is the limiter. So in March, your weekly structure should look something like this.

Five rides per week, two to three sweet spot sessions, and one long ride on the weekend with as much sweet spot as you can achieve before you get tired. And as a side note, this is what we do on our Sweet Spot Saturday group ad. So we'd love for you to join join the Fast Cat Coaching Club and the Zift Companion app. We are running this Saturday, 11:00 a.m.

Eastern. And those long rides, they should be progressing 30 minutes more each week. I want you to go from riding about two and a half hours at the start of March to about four hours by the end of the month. Start gradually.

You don't need to employ any heroics yet. Now, here's where it gets interesting. This is also the month I'm going to introduce the gravel power workout. If you followed FastC, you've probably heard us talk about this one.

So, let me walk you through it. The gravel power workout is designed to simulate what actually happens in a gravel race. You start with a short hard effort, 5 minutes at V2 max because that's what happens off the start line. Everyone goes out hard.

And then you're going to drop to about 10 minutes at threshold because that's the first group selection happening. And then, and this is key, you settle into a long sustained block of sweet spot training freestyle. And then you finish with high zone 2 riding to simulate the fatigue that happens in the final hours of a gravel race. In March, I want you to do the shorter version of this gravel workout.

And then we're going to add time in zone in April. In March, your sweet spot block will be 45 to 60 minutes for a total workout time of 1 and 12 to 2 hours. You're teaching your body to open hard and then settle into those diesel watts, which is exactly what you'll do on race day. Oh, and if you haven't done a field test recently, do one in March.

You need to know your FTP so your zones are dogged. Coach Cat can walk you through that. Hint hint, you got to go hard for 20 minutes or more to set yours accurately. And then Coach Cat will autodetect FTP improvements from your training and racing data uh as you go along over the next 3 months.

And by the way, Gravel Power workouts, all these sweet spot sessions, everything I'm talking about, it's all in the Coach Cat app. Just search gravel power in the workout library and it's it's right there. Once you get to April, this is when the training gets real. Two big things need to happen.

Your volume needs to increase even more and you start doing full dress rehearsals. And I'm talking gravel simulation rides. Let's start with the volume. Your long ride should now be graduating to four to five plus hours.

If you can get one long six-hour ride in April, that's gold. I cannot overstate how valuable these long training days in the saddle are for unbound. You're training your body and honestly your mind to just keep going. And this is where you run the gravel power workout at full duration.

This is the one that I showed you earlier. Now you're going to do the whole thing. 5 minutes of V2, 10 minutes of threshold. Settle into as much sweet spot as you can do. Maybe up to three hours.

And then you when you get tired and you can't do sweet spot anymore, you got to keep going. You're gonna finish off the however long the workout is by pushing in zone two. And what you're doing physiologically is you're working on that durability when you're tired, but you got to get to the finish line. So that's a 5 hour workout that simulates exactly what race day is going to feel like.

And here's the beauty of it. If you only have 3 hours, you can scale the sweet spot block down. If you have four hours, you can scale it a little less. It's adaptable and that's why we love this workout for the time crunch gravel rider.

If you're doing the 100 mileer at Unbound, the 5-h hour gravel power workout will double as your simulation rod. Speaking of gravel simulation rides, these are different than the gravel power workout. A simulation rod is a full dress rehearsal. You ride on your race bike, you wear your race kit, and that includes the hydration pack.

You eat exactly what you plan to eat on race day. The same food, the same timing, the same amounts. You're going to ride terrain that mimics the same flint hills as close as you could find. Make it rolly and punchy.

Because a simulation ride is not just a workout. It's a rehearsal to flush out any problems with your training, nutrition, and equipment before you discover them 100 miles into Unbound. Now, speaking of those Flint Hills, let's talk about them because if you think Kansas is flat, you've never been to Eporia, they're they're short, they're punchy, maybe one to two minutes each, and they just keep coming over 200 miles. They absolutely add up.

There's over 10,000 ft of climbing. So, you want to train for that specifically. And we have what's called flint hill repeats as workouts. These are one to two minute efforts above threshold at or near max.

They're simulating getting up and over those rollers. And you can include six to 10 of these within your long rod. Or you can do them in a one to one and a half hour workout during a Tuesday or a Wednesday. Again, we have these specific Flint Hill style workouts in the Coach Cat app.

If you're already training with us, search in the workout filter Flint Hills. The other thing to really lock down in April is nutrition and your ability to consume 70 to 100 grams of carbohydrates per hour for 6 hours in a row or more. You're going to do this on a simulation ride because you have to practice in training to flush out any digestive side effects. So, you know, and this could mean switching your nutrition products you're using all the way up to developing a completely different strategy to get the carbs in.

The point is you got to just basically verify does this work. Same thing with equipment. Ride your race setup every single weekend. Tire pressure bags, bottles, hydration system, kit, whatever you plan on using on May 30th.

You should be using every Saturday in April. Become one with your bike and your equipment. And again, if you're worrying about the specifics of all this on race day, don't. We got you.

We'll get that into your unbound plan at the end of this video. Now, by May, you've put in a lot of work. You've got time invested, and it's time to sharpen the sword. Hopefully, you're not watching this video and thinking, "I didn't ride enough in March and April." But if you are, we'll also get to that in a second.

For the riders who've been building since March, here's how to handle the last four weeks. The first week of May, this is your final big week where you're going to ride the most hours out of this entire block. Approximately 10 to 20% more riding than your longest week in April. If you've done 12 hours, now you're going to do 13 to 14.

Really drive your level up as high as possible. This week should also include your final longest big gravel simulation up to 9 hours. We get asked the question a lot, if I'm doing the 200, should I do a full 200? And the answer is no, not really.

Kind of similar to to marathon training where you don't do a full marathon in training, you might do 18 to 20 miles. So, you work backwards from your expected finishing time approximately 60 to 80%. The second week of May, you have some options here, especially if you've been good with your training. You can keep going on volume and drive up that level.

Or if you're tired from the previous week, which is oftentimes the case, you can take a couple of rest days and you can sharpen the sword with a really hard quality gravel power workout on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Again, our unbound plan will tell you exactly what to do and our AI coach will guide you through the decision-making process so you don't have to second guess anything. But by week three, now you're two weeks out, you're going to start your twoe taper no matter what. It's better to be 10% undertrained than 1% overtrained.

Cut your total weekly hours by 40% from your peak April weeks. But, and this is key, keep the intensity in your sessions. What? Saturdays, you're going to do a threehour diesel power ride and see if you can do the whole thing in high zone 2 from start to end.

Don't worry about doing the V2 and the hard stuff. Just see if you can hold high zone 2 for three hours. And if you can, man, that's going to be a huge confidence booster. So, by cutting your ride volume, your body will absorb all the work from March and April, and you're going to peak.

Trust this process. Sleep more, recover more, eat well, stay hydrated. Use the extra time that you've normally spent riding to win in the garage. Do your final bike check, and do it this week in time to take it to the shop in case you need to.

Finally, race week is here. It's just a lot of rest. Monday and Tuesday are rest days. On Wednesday, I want you to do a short ride, maybe 45 minutes total, 15 to 20 minutes of sweet spot, two 30 second intervals efforts just to keep the legs snappy.

Thursday, you're going to take an off day, maybe travel to the race and get ready. And on Friday, day before the race, you really have two goals, and it's to do your openers and to eat your carbs. That's it. Don't get caught up in the social events and make it a point to stay off your feet as much as possible.

Ideally, you're laying around like a sloth. Then on Saturday, tow the start line and send it. Be confident knowing that you've put in the work and now it's time to have some type two fun. For those of you who are finding this video a little late and thinking, I'm behind, don't.

Here's what you can do. Start training. Get on our gravel training plan. Even if you only have six to eight weeks, it can make a real difference.

This gravel power workout I showed you perhaps be the single greatest workout for you to do. You can adopt it for your 1 hour rides, your 2-hour rides, all the way up to your long rides on the weekend. It is the single best workout for the ton crutched gravel rider. Start there.

Use AI coach to make adjustments to your plan. for example, I can ride longer or a need to ride shorter. Wrapping up, let's recap the game plan. In March, you're going to build your base with sweet spot training. You're going to start riding more.

You're going to start riding longer. In April, you're going to ride more than you ever have. Ride as much as possible. You're going to do full gravel simulations, Flint Hill repeats.

You're going to dial in your nutrition and your equipment. You're going to leave no piece of gravel unturned. Now, in May, you're going to sharpen the sword and taper. You're gonna arrive in Emporia fresh and not tired and fit.

Fresh and fit. That's the name of the game. So, if you're thinking, "Wow, this is all great, but I need someone to put it all together for me." That's exactly what the Coach Cat app does. And I promised a free custom gravel training plan.

You can start a free 30-day trial. You can build this custom unbound plan. We'll ask you how much you can train. will give you access to an AI coach to help you adjust it along the way. Your plan will lay out exactly everything we've talked about, the sweet spot rides, the gravel power workouts, the simulations, and perhaps most importantly, it'll tell you when to rest and when to start your taper.

Your AI coach will also help you dial in your nutrition for that 70 to 90 gram of carbohydrates per hour target. The link is in the description. But if you're training for Unbound or any gravel race, see our gravel playlist and subscribe to this channel because we're going to be dropping more content between now and May. And with that, I will bid you u so you can go and train.

And until the next video, you know what to do. Work hard, ride fast, have fun, and as always, FTFP, I'll see you in Emporia.

Coach Frank describes a 3 month Unbound training plan that you can for FREE for 30 days → /app

Coach Frank Overton breaks down what to do in March, April, and May to arrive in Emporia fresh, fit, and ready to send it. Whether you're lining up for the 200, 100, or XL, this video covers the training concepts that have helped thousands of FasCat athletes finish strong — from sweet spot base building to full gravel simulation rides to the art of a proper taper.

You'll learn the Gravel Power Workout (the single best workout for gravel racers), how to build your long ride from 2.5 hours to 5+, why Flint Hills repeats matter, and what race-winning power data from Ian Boswell, Pete Stetina, and Cam Jones tells us about pacing Unbound.

📱 The CoachCat app gives you a custom Unbound training plan, AI coaching to adjust on the fly, and nutrition guidance — all free for 30 days.

🚴 Drop a comment: What distance are you riding at Unbound 2026?

#UnboundGravel #UnboundGravel2026 #GravelTraining #FasCatCoaching #CoachCat #SweetSpotTraining #DieselWatts #GravelSimulationRide #FlintHills #EmporiaKansas #GravelPowerWorkout #HowToTrainForUnbound #GravelRacing #CyclingTraining 00:00 Introduction 01:33 the Power Demands of Unbound 02:47 March 05:50 April 09:50 May