Training for Century

[OCRoadie]

Do you think 100 miles of continuous downhill would get boring after a while?

Yes, although the upcoming Breathless Agony century has 42 miles of continuous downhill after climbing 12,000 feet in the first 70 miles. My goal on this one is just to finish.

 

[bjoesloe]

Yes, although the upcoming Breathless Agony century has 42 miles of continuous downhill after climbing 12,000 feet in the first 70 miles. My goal on this one is just to finish.

Maybe you'll catch your breath by the time you get to the bottom!

 

[Coach Carl]

I have been involved in bike racing since 1968 and used to train on rides in the Rocky Mountains that were from 100 to over 175 miles. Based on your training and experience, you should start training for your ride at least 6 months to one year before your first century and ride some half and three quarter century rides before your first century.

You need a good developmental training program, to learn how to eat right (you should start eating within the first 20 to 30 minutes of riding and keep it steady small feeds), and learn pacing for both flats and hills.

If you don't do these things, you first century will enhale and be a death march and you won't want to do one again for a long time. You should be fit enough that it will be fun and you will want to do more.

My suggestion is that, this April, you do a 25 to 50 mile ride and start training for your first century in six to 12 months. That will be much more fun and sane. You want to keep your cycling fun.

 

[bjoesloe]

I have been involved in bike racing since 1968 and used to train on rides in the Rocky Mountains that were from 100 to over 175 miles. Based on your training and experience, you should start training for your ride at least 6 months to one year before your first century and ride some half and three quarter century rides before your first century.

You need a good developmental training program, to learn how to eat right (you should start eating within the first 20 to 30 minutes of riding and keep it steady small feeds), and learn pacing for both flats and hills.

If you don't do these things, you first century will enhale and be a death march and you won't want to do one again for a long time. You should be fit enough that it will be fun and you will want to do more.

My suggestion is that, this April, you do a 25 to 50 mile ride and start training for your first century in six to 12 months. That will be much more fun and sane. You want to keep your cycling fun.

I'm going to have to disagree with you. I think I could go out and bike 50 mile tomorrow and not suffer at all. I don't think my fitness lacks as much as you might think. I don't think for me come the end of April a 100 mile ride is out of the question at all. Why do you advocate being so cautious?

I don't know if I've come across as a complete newbie here, but I do have a considerable amount of cycling experience. I do understand eating and hydration. I even know what electrolyte depletion is like (worse than bonking)
Believe me, I'm going to eat and stuff all my pockets at every stop.

Maybe it was my earlier posts contemplating finishing in under five hours that has marked me as a complete neophyte. I am admitting here a bout of overconfidence, invoked by lots of time and sweat on the Lemond revmasters, the rollers, Eddy Merckz videos, and fantasies about racing. I officially repent.

Fun, yes! This is going to be fun. I feel I will be well-prepared. I have, however, suffered badly on bike rides, and it never stopped me from going out again. I don't think this is going to be a sufferfest, though. I exspect to start and finish strong.

 

[OCRoadie]

I'm going to have to disagree with you. I think I could go out and bike 50 mile tomorrow and not suffer at all. I don't think my fitness lacks as much as you might think. I don't think for me come the end of April a 100 mile ride is out of the question at all. Why do you advocate being so cautious?

I tend to agree with you Bjoe, I think 6 months+ is overkill for someone that already rides and regularly and is in pretty fit. On the other hand a month or 6 weeks is a bit on the short side. I would think 3 months to be ideal and 2 if you can ride a few days a week. Obviously it will be easier and faster with 6-12 months training. Just try and get those long rides in that everybody is suggesting. Also, if you don't have any gels, bars and drink mixes that you use, find some now and stick with what works for you. On ride day, the rest stops will have lots of choices, but I would stick to using what you train with. Your stomach will already be ****** that your dumping a full meal down every hour, so keep it to what it's familiar with.

 

[bjoesloe]

If anyone is interested...

Put in 56 miles this afternoon.

Conditions: 1st half flat and windy, 2nd half tailwind and rolling

Felt good, kept nice steady pace, pulled hard at the end, had fuel left in the tank for more. One short break, 10 min. Only got honked at once, I screamed back like Tarzan.

Rollers have improved my form a lot. One unexspected benefit is I feel a confidence in traffic that I haven't before.

The Ironman Century is a little over 4 weeks away. Based on what I did today, I think I am right on track for a good ride. I should be able to get in some even longer rides over the next few weeks. I'm going to keep doing the speed and power work on the rollers, too. It doesn't seem to be hurting...

 

[OCRoadie]

If anyone is interested...

Put in 56 miles this afternoon.

Conditions: 1st half flat and windy, 2nd half tailwind and rolling

Felt good, kept nice steady pace, pulled hard at the end, had fuel left in the tank for more. One short break, 10 min. Only got honked at once, I screamed back like Tarzan.

Rollers have improved my form a lot. One unexspected benefit is I feel a confidence in traffic that I haven't before.

The Ironman Century is a little over 4 weeks away. Based on what I did today, I think I am right on track for a good ride. I should be able to get in some even longer rides over the next few weeks. I'm going to keep doing the speed and power work on the rollers, too. It doesn't seem to be hurting...

Good work, try to keep adding 5-10 miles to your long ride over the next 3 weeks, try to take it easy the week before the century and you should do fine.

 

[dhk]

Good advice from OCR. Add 5-10 miles to the longest rides, but this isn't the time to start anything new or make a heavy increase in weekly mileage. Agree tapering the last week is important as well if you want your best performance.

 

[bjoesloe]

The weather here has turned quite nice so I've been out on the road a lot. I put in a long ride monday, 82 miles. I got a bit lost which added maybe 10 miles I hadn't intended. There were some pretty significant climbs through about the middle 1/3 of the ride. I found my third chainring for the first time, which I had previously only scoffed at. I brought no food with me, and intended on stopping at a convenience store or gas station somewhere along the way. I made it so far into the boonies, that when I was ready to stop there was nothing to be found. It was many miles and climbs before I finally found civilization and my favorite store. I think I shed tears of joy. After eating I was much rejuvenated and set of for the last leg of my journey. I finished weary but not completely depleted. I jammed the last few blocks to my place to put the exclamation point on it.

I learned a lot from this ride. I don't have any more anxiety about the century next month's end. I'm starting to "get" training. It's rewarding to see yourself getting fitter and stronger.

 

[stuart smith]

Just thought i would add a bit also and if you follow all the other advice you'll do fine. One thing i notice when people do big rides is they dont eat enough. You can be the fittest person out but if you dont eat regularly you wont make it. You need to eat at least every 20-30mins and drink a couple of big gulps of water at least every 15mins. Make sure you start this routine from the word go. If you start when you feel hungry its too late. I ride between 160km and 180km every weekend and the rides i dont eat properly on are the ones i struggle with towards the end. Unfortunately the rides i do i dont stop for a break so carrying enough to eat is a pain. if your planning on stopping do so at a bakery or something and top up your stores. Remember the first one is always the worst after that it becomes a formality. Good Luck!!

 

[davidbod]

So what happened on your century?

 

[ottoman]

Not only 'How Did Your Century Go?' but what advice did you take and what advice would now give to someone else with similar circumstances to yours?

 

[limerickman]

.........and if you could give us the duration and the conditions of the terrain. of the 100 miles, it would help.

 

[king4wd]

You don't have DNF on your poll . That was my first&last century attempt so far. Course marshalls wouldn't let me back out at the last rest stop- to much blood and a broken bike . Anyhow, Good luck on your ride. My goal here in a couple weeks is to finish in less than 8.5hours. Though I think I'll finish in closer to 7, I'm not going to push too hard. As the old saying goes: You'll never finish first if first you don't finish.