Preparing For A Century

[ny biker]

FWIW, I have asthma which is triggered by riding up steep hills, but with daily medication and regular training I rarely have a problem with it. For me the key is to slow down my cadence on the hills. It means I will never be fast, but slow+breathing is better than fast+not breathing any day of the week.

For the mental aspect, music works for me. I was struggling up the hills on my second Livestrong ride when a song popped into my head. (It was the Foo Fighters' "All My Life.") Having that tune stuck in my head really helped me finish the ride. So now anytime I start to struggle while riding I will think of a good up-tempo song, and if I'm alone I will even sing it out loud.

Good luck!!

[Bethany1]

Did some thinking. June is probably too soon so planning on the August one. I realized I had a book from Selene Yeager that had a training plan. Is her plan better/worse than any of the others out there? She gives intervals for each planned ride that day..10 minutes of this..20 minutes of that so that would keep my ADHD span working.

Today's ride was a hard ride for one hour. I put my phone timer on 30 minutes and headed out. I figured hills, 35 degrees and 15-20mph headwind on a fat bike would be considered hard. After 30 minutes, headed back home via another route. Actually having the timer really helped so I was't wandering around passing the time wondering where to go. My cross bike is on a trainer so any fast interval training can be done there if needed as I have a computer w/cadence sensor.

I'm stronger than I thought. Strava really helped out last year on exploring your area and hills. I've seen some gorgeous views of my area while exploring the rural roads and found some favorite places to ride.

So..do I need a heart rate monitor? Anything that works with Strava or another phone app?

[Crankin]

I am not a fan of a heart rate monitor. Of course, you may like it. In fact, I don't like data at all, except for mileage, cadence, average speed. I judge my work using RPE, but I've been exercising a long time, so I know when I am going to blow up and when I am not working hard enough. And remember, heart rate ranges vary widely. My heart rate has always been higher than others when I am exerting myself, but my resting HR is low. I am not out of shape, it's always been like this.
You'll be fine. August is doable.

[Skippyak]

I love my HR and bike data. I love my Garmin. You can find plenty of century training plans, but for sure if it is August, just work at your time in the saddle until you start a real program. As well as doing intervals etc have at least one long ride a week (1 hours is a short ride), HR is highly individual. check out Freil (google, )and set your HR zones according to his LT test, I have a teen friend whose HR is crazy high when she rides with me and I am 3 times her age and I have a higher working HR than some of my friends but a lower resting HR. I have not been a lifelong athlete and I expect I have to pay for the years I smoked and was fat and sedentary.

[nuliajuk]

I've just discovered that the MS bike tour that I'm signed up for is minimum 135k, optional 155, so close to a century. Fortunately, it's in mid-August, so I've got 8 months to train.
Heart rate monitors can be great if you know your zones. There are several different methods for determining them. I'm not sure which one was used to find mine, two winters ago when I signed on for a progressive spin class put on by a local cycling club, but I hope they haven't changed much in two years. The idea of the class was to do our training in 18 week cycles where we spent 6 weeks in the zone2-3 range, 6 weeks where we added in more and more zone 4 intervals, then 6 in which we continued with zone 4 intervals and threw in some all-out sprints in zone 5. Probably more complicated than most people need to go for recreational riding.

[ny biker]

I haven't used a heart rate monitor in years. HRM data is interesting but not really useful for me. I never bother to try to stay in a particular zone.

I go more by perceived exertion, and sometimes I set a goal for average speed for a ride. Usually I do that when I'm by myself and riding a route that I am very familiar with, so I know what my average would typically be for it.

Something I read a few years ago that I thought made a lot of sense -- if you're keeping a training log, note your mood along with the usual information like average speed, cadence, distance etc. If you're finding that you're consistently not happy, it's a sign that you're overtraining. (It could also be a sign that you just really do not enjoy doing very long bike rides, which was the case for me. I'd much rather do a 65-mile ride and be happy than a 100-mile ride that leaves me feeling like I have to force myself to keep pedaling.)

Another thing about mood and overtraining -- make sure your training plan includes easy days and or days off. Otherwise you will burn out.

[Bethany1]

Thanks for the advice bout writing down your moods. I deal with some mental health issues so that's really important. Right now long rides are weather dependent but will get them in when the weather is good. My sister is interested in doing this as well. Even if it's long distance, having her help will be great.