Training & Nutrition - Can I please get some advice?

Hi. I have my first century ride this coming Sunday the 30th. Without going into too much detail, I have been commuting to work for 3 months, and working hard at bettering myself every day. I have approximately 1500 feet a day of elevation to pump up. My longest ride was a 50 miler this last Saturday. It had a moderate variety of hills. I ride a new Specialized RH comp with road tires. I know that I am at a disadvantage with this bike, but it is what I have and I can ride it hard. My 50 took me 3 hours 8 minutes, and I felt great afterward. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being brutal, it was probably a 3, maybe a 4.

I have 5 days before my century. Any help on what to do this week to prepare would be greatly appreciated. I feel like I should do something fairly strenuous prior to the event, maybe tomorrow, like do my hills a couple times or something. But I really have no clue.

Any tips? THANKS!

PeterMac

Just 5 days? I would not recommend that you do anything strenuous with the century so close unless you recover really fast. I don't think that with just 5 days that you can really achieve anything by doing training now. Just go out and do training rides.

The rule of thumb for rides is you should do a ride of 70% your target distance in training. Your 50 mile ride sounds like a good tuneup. Just take the century easy and ride within yourself. Go a little slower than usual. If you have energy to burn, you can use it on the last 20 miles or so.

No time left for any real training, I'd say taper off and don't ride at all on Friday, certainly not Saturday. Get plenty of rest Saturday and eat a breakfast that gives both fast and slow carbs. ie: bagel and fruit, and pace yourself. If you did 50 without hurting, you should be OK as long as you keep hydrated and take in some calories throughout the ride. Sounds to me like you should be OK.

Exactly the kind of information I was looking for. Thank you very much. For the heck of it, I'll post here how it goes!

PeterMac

+1 on the tapering the days before. I would recommend a nice light spin on the day before the ride just to keep your legs fresh. The most important thing you can do at this point is to make sure that you are well feed and hydrated in preparation for your ride. At your pace, you are likely going to be on the bike for 7-8 hours. Make sure you eat a meal rich in carbs the night before and drink lots of water all day Friday. Here is a good reference that should help:

http://www.ultracycling.com/nutrition/eatingfor200.html

During the ride, make sure to go out nice and easy and gradually build up your pace. Make sure you have enough in the tank to complete the distance. Good luck and enjoy the ride.

Well, the Century was yesterday Sunday. I appreciate all the advice, I am sure that it aided in my success.

I completed the 100 miles in 6 hours 25 minutes on the bike, and a total elapsed time of 6 hours 45 minutes from start to finish. I was pleased with the time.

I am difinantly going to get a road bike. I love my Rockhopper, but, it would have been nice on a road bike!!!

PeterMac