training guideline for a century

found this.....your opinion always helpful

carbboom.comcentury.phpOpen ↗

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STaudio said:

found this.....your opinion always helpful

carbboom.comcentury.phpOpen ↗

Sure, that's as reasonable a generic plan as any. Personally it looks like an awful slow build to me with a lot of 10, 12 and 15 mile rides scheduled on your hill and moderate days. With your background of long rides including STP I doubt you need that sort of slow build. It's also a generic plan so it doesn't take into account anything related to your weekly schedule, your local terrain or your strengths and weaknesses. I'd say start with it but don't be afraid to go a bit longer than they suggest if you feel good, are having fun and are recovering well from your rides.

Basically just get out and start ramping distance, effort and time on the bike but listen to your body and don't wipe yourself out in the early going. But I wouldn't be surprised if some of those 15 mile rides on the schedule become 20 to 30 mile rides if you have the time and you're recovering well. I'd also make at least one of the moderate days a week a bit more intense than their definition.

Read up on Sweet Spot Training (SST) on these forums or google it on the web. I'd do at least one day a week of SST where you'd target a couple of 20 to 30 minute blocks that get you breathing deeply but not out of control or gasping. Just good steady hard focused effort for longer blocks. These really shouldn't kill you, but they'll do wonders for making you faster, fitter and ready to handle harder efforts. the 70% of max HR they define for moderate rides is awfully low. For me that translates to the high end of recovery pace and well below my all day or threshold paces. Everyone's different, but my long SST blocks (half hour or more for the long blocks) are done at ~85% of my max HR and these are fun and pretty comfortable. Check out these threads for ideas and motivation: cyclingforums.comt 314849 15 1.htmlOpen ↗
cyclingforums.comt397725.htmlOpen ↗

One thing I'd definitely change is the final week. I never go into a key event after a complete rest day as they advise. On their schedule I'd take Friday and perhaps Thursday off before the Sunday century ride but I'd make sure I got out Saturday for an hour or so of easy riding with just a few short efforts to wake up the legs. I do much better after a wakeup ride that doesn't leave me tired than after a complete rest day.

Good luck,
-Dave

appreciate the feedback...

so far...

week 1
sun 15 miles
mon 15 miles
tues off
wed 20-miles
thurs off
fri-?
Sat-?

week 2
Sun-?

now I hope to (depending on work schedule) plan to ride at least 20-miles fri, sat and sun if not a bit further...that would give me close to 100 miles for the week.......I too agree that the chart I found did look a bit light...and I plan to do more hills....

thanks for the input

don't worry about "miles"...training is all about time and effort. Those seem like very short rides, I personaly wouldn't even bother getting on the bike for 15 miles (45-60 minutes?), It takes me that long just to get ready to ride and shower afterwards. Even when I've been off the bike for a long while and i'm in lousy shape I know I can jump on and go do 2-3 hours at a slow pace. Keep doing that 3-5 days a week and your body will tell you when to add time/effort. I'm not really a century type guy, I do them when they fit into my schedule as training for racing though. I had never done a double century before this year, longest previous ride was 125 miles, and I just went for it. Finished in 9:29 for a 20mph+ average solo. Longest previous ride this year was maybe 4 hours.

daveryanwyoming said:

Sure, that's as reasonable a generic plan as any. Personally it looks like an awful slow build to me with a lot of 10, 12 and 15 mile rides scheduled on your hill and moderate days. With your background of long rides including STP I doubt you need that sort of slow build. It's also a generic plan so it doesn't take into account anything related to your weekly schedule, your local terrain or your strengths and weaknesses. I'd say start with it but don't be afraid to go a bit longer than they suggest if you feel good, are having fun and are recovering well from your rides.

Basically just get out and start ramping distance, effort and time on the bike but listen to your body and don't wipe yourself out in the early going. But I wouldn't be surprised if some of those 15 mile rides on the schedule become 20 to 30 mile rides if you have the time and you're recovering well. I'd also make at least one of the moderate days a week a bit more intense than their definition.

Read up on Sweet Spot Training (SST) on these forums or google it on the web. I'd do at least one day a week of SST where you'd target a couple of 20 to 30 minute blocks that get you breathing deeply but not out of control or gasping. Just good steady hard focused effort for longer blocks. These really shouldn't kill you, but they'll do wonders for making you faster, fitter and ready to handle harder efforts. the 70% of max HR they define for moderate rides is awfully low. For me that translates to the high end of recovery pace and well below my all day or threshold paces. Everyone's different, but my long SST blocks (half hour or more for the long blocks) are done at ~85% of my max HR and these are fun and pretty comfortable. Check out these threads for ideas and motivation: cyclingforums.comt 314849 15 1.htmlOpen ↗
cyclingforums.comt397725.htmlOpen ↗

One thing I'd definitely change is the final week. I never go into a key event after a complete rest day as they advise. On their schedule I'd take Friday and perhaps Thursday off before the Sunday century ride but I'd make sure I got out Saturday for an hour or so of easy riding with just a few short efforts to wake up the legs. I do much better after a wakeup ride that doesn't leave me tired than after a complete rest day.

Good luck,
-Dave

Nice advice in there.

Yes, get a hill ride in each week, that will naturally make you ride harder and help to raise your fitness.

If you do end up increasing the training load by say lengthening the rides or increasing the intensity as Dave suggests, then it might be wise to consider a "recovery week" or at least a few recovery days at various times through the training cycle. That's just a lighter week of riding than what you have been doing in recent weeks, say repeat week 1 of the cycle. Prob not needed if you stick to the plan as shown since the ramp up does not look onerous.