Training for a century...

[Brandy]

I have signed up for a ride in August and I'm undecided about whether I will do the metric century or the century. I want to train with the latter in mind, just in case I'm up for the challenge. I can only get in outdoor rides 2-3 days a week right now because of prior commitments and limited childcare options. Do you think that I can make this work if I am combining it with indoor cycling classes?

[maillotpois]

You can make it work. Use 1 - 2 of your outdoor rides for gradually longer distances. Use your spin classes/indoor cycling a couple times a week to maintain your fitness when you can't ride during the week and as interval training.

What's your longest ride now? Build from that 5 + miles per week for as many weeks until 2 weeks before the century until you have a ride of 80 miles 2 weeks before the century.

In other words, if your longest ride is 30 miles and (let's say) there are 9 weeks til the century, then add 5 - 10 miles per week until you hit a long ride of 80 miles or so.

Also, what's the terrain of the century? If there's substantially more lcimbing than your usual training rides, then you will need to train for that. If there's less climbing, then you are ahead of the game!

As you are building your ride endurance, also find out what works for you and doesn't work in terms of nutrition and hydration. Training rides are the time to experiment with new foods, gels, drinks, whatever. Century day is not the time to experiment. Same with clothes. Test out new shorts, shoes, gloves, etc. on your traiing rides.

[Brandy]

Thanks Sarah. I'm completely new to outdoor cycling, but I'd like to think that I'm in decent shape from indoor cycling, weight lifting and the other cardio that I do.

I only have two rides under my belt on my new bike. Last Thursday I did 21.6 miles and then I did 24.5 miles on Sunday. Both times I felt like I could have easily kept going if I didn't have to get home to do the kid trade-off and then my little technical difficulty with my flat tire on Sunday. I'm planning to ride 30 miles on Friday morning in honor of my 30th birthday and then I have a ride planned with bcipam and tprevost on the 29th that will be either 38 or 48 miles. We have some trips in the coming weeks that will limit my riding through mid-June, but after that I will be able to get more riding in because the kids will be out of school and I can leave for rides earlier before dh has to go to work.

The metric has 1400 feet of climbing and the century has 3500 feet.




If I stick with the river trail around here for my regular rides, I'm only riding flats, so I'm going to seek out some more hilly routes that bcipam recommended. I'm also hoping to start doing some rides with one of the local clubs in mid-June so I can get accustomed to riding with other people.

[Trekhawk]

I have signed up for a ride in August and I'm undecided about whether I will do the metric century or the century. I want to train with the latter in mind, just in case I'm up for the challenge. I can only get in outdoor rides 2-3 days a week right now because of prior commitments and limited childcare options. Do you think that I can make this work if I am combining it with indoor cycling classes?

Hey Brandy your description sounds like me. I have three kids - two in school, one in Preschool 2 days a week. So I get out 4 times a week max and sometimes only three. Im training for LRRH and so far so good. I guess I will have to wait until after June 3rd though to tell you if it was enough.

PS I dont have a trainer or go to spin classes so you are ahead of me there.

[tprevost]

Brandy,

You're in really good shape generally already so I think you're going to do fine with the Century route. Since you are going to have that break in training in June, keep your training rides consistant between now and then, and follow Sarah's advise once you're back riding again in June.

Also, I don't know how 'easy' your kids are but there is a drop-in day care over here in Temecula so if you ever wanted to hoof it inland we could let the kids play there and do a ride - we've got some really good hills over here too - Fallbrook is great for varied terrain!

Go back and search the archives and look for advise all of the women who regularly do long distances - there is SO much info, its fabulous. You could also go to www.bikejournal.com and check out the forum as there is a lot of good info there as well - not as good as here though !

T~

[tprevost]

okay, this is probably going to show what a goober I am, but based on the mileage, the century actually looks easier to me, more smaller climbs.... but the operative word being 'smaller' or less gain per hill obviously with the exception of the 'BIG' one. Am I missing something... anyone???

T~

[Brandy]

I think that it just looks easier because the scales are different. Most of the climbs look to be around 200+ feet...with the exception of "the big one" of course

[Brandy]

Brandy,
Also, I don't know how 'easy' your kids are but there is a drop-in day care over here in Temecula so if you ever wanted to hoof it inland we could let the kids play there and do a ride - we've got some really good hills over here too - Fallbrook is great for varied terrain!
~

I'd love to come out sometime!

[maillotpois]

The century route does not look too bad, I agree with Tracy. 3500 feet over 100 miles is actually not very much at all. You should be fine. I know the kid thing can be a juggle, but it sounds like you can work it out.

Good luck!

[Brandy]

Thank you for the tips and encouragement...I love this board!

[kaian]

Hi! I'm also training for a century right now. I plan on doing my century the first week of October this year. I have 2 rides to choose from (they are both on the same day). I started my training in mid-May. Last year the longest ride I did was 60 miles. During the winter I was training like a mad-woman on the trainer, but then had 2 overuse injuries to deal with - achilles tendinitis and upper back/neck problems. So I kind of had to start over in a way and I'm adding 10% to my distance each week. Let me know how your training goes!

[Jenerator]

Sarah's advice on gradually adding milage and using the longer rides to experiment with nutrition/hydration etc is right on.

In preparing for the long ride I did last month, I used one of the many century workout schedules that are on the web. I found it useful as a guide to help keep me on track and not overdue the mileage build up. Between life and work, I couldn't follow it exactly, but modified it to fit my schedule and didn't get too worried when I wasn't staying exactly on track. If I missed rides, I just picked up where I left off. This link shows one chart and has downloadable Word documents for a few other variations.