Road Cycling - caling all sub 5hr century riders

As i am aiming for a sub 5hr century later this year, I want to hear experiences from riders here that have gone under the 5hr time bracket.

What sort of training were you doing in the months before the event (distance, intensity)

What did you eat

What did you drink

What would you do better next time?

What were pleased with?(other than your result)

How many started the event?

How big were the bunches you were in?

What was the terrain like?

Any input would be of help
Regards,
Brendon

I have done the sub 5 century once, it was years ago. It the Seagull century in southern MD. There where about 3000 rider that day. The group I went out with was the collage racing team, about 10 men strong. The Seagull is flat, it was like TT the whole thing. It was not fun, I ride century for fun. As far as the training went I live in the hill of MD, so I didn't nothing different before the ride. I would say that you should have a few 100 mile day under your belt. I would not change your diet for the ride, eat and drink what you normally would, just more of it. Don't wait to get hungry or thristy, it is too late at that point. If you can get some one to sag the ride for you, that way you know where the fuel stops will be.
Good luck.
Dave

A couple of weeks ago I finished a century second, in ~4:45 elapsed time, 4:40 ride time.

I've been putting in a lot of distance riding, doing either organized centuries, or group rides of 80-100 miles at a tempo pace. Darn near every week-end. Some of these have some serious climbs, otherwise, I save the intensity for AT intervals work-outs. There's a trade-off for me. The distance riding slows me down (takes me quite a while to completely recover). Summary: there's no shortcut, ya gotta pay your dues.

Event eating starts the day before. I'll eat a big lunch or EARLY supper. People say pasta is great... I do okay with my normal meals w/generous portions. The reason for eating early is to be sure that you don't have to take a major, um, nature break after starting the ride. Especially important if you wear bibs. I eat a normal breakfast a couple hours before (for me, that's 2 scrambled eggs, 2 slices of toast, 2 cups of coffee), a powerbar 1 hour before, an energy gel 20 minutes before. During the ride, it's mostly honey (in a Gu flask), energy gels, fig bars, whatever. I try to remember to eat a gel, or the equivalent, every 45 minutes to an hour. I'm probably going to incur some flamage for this, but I'm a big believer in preventive anti-inflammatories. I'll take an Aleve (naproxen) or 3 Advil (ibuprofen) before the start, and 2/2.5 hours into the ride.

I start hydrating the night before with Gatorade, but try not to overdo it. If I have to get up to pee in the night, often I can't get back to sleep. I start the ride with 2 bottles of Cytomax or gatorade (something with calories), and use whatever they have at the rest stops thereafter. Of the typical rest stop beverages, Powerade, if they have it, works well for me. Try to drink some every 15 minutes.

Better? I think I did okay!

Can't think of anything special I was pleased with.

About 160 in this one.

Once we started shedding the field, it was a group of about 30, then 20, then 15, all of these with about 7 to 10 of us working, the rest just sitting in. At mile 75, there were about 5 us in the lead group, and all were working. We stayed together until about mile 95. Getting with a good group is key, IMO. Both for sharing the work, and staving off mental fatigue... spending too much time thinking about how your legs feel, or how steep the climb is, etc.

Terrain was rolling... not real hilly. First half was mostly downhill, second half mostly uphill. Maybe 5000' total climbing.

Other thoughts? Pacing yourself is another key point. If you're killing yourself at the beginning to stay with the hammers, you're gonna blow before the finish. Find or establish a group with a similar target speed. But you'll probably be able to do exceed what you could do on normal training or recreational rides. I mostly can tell by how I feel, but also use an HRM. During extended efforts (long climbs, etc.) I try to limit my exertion to a little over my AT.

If there's someone in the group that's taking pulls fast enough that you're having trouble hanging on, you don't want to be next in line. When s/he pulls off, your nose is in the wind, you're already panting! Too much work. Try to let someone else take that pull.

Taper! You don't want any residual tiredness in your legs. Back down on the distance and intensity starting at least a week before. Do some sprints, maybe a few intervals, just enough to keep the edge... not enough to break the muscles down. There's a good discussion here: The peak period, by Joe Friel (http://www.ultrafit.com/newsletter/may01.html)
I've blown it way more times by training too much rather than too little in the last week or two leading up to a peak event.

Long, but I hope it helps... keep us posted!
Good Luck!

The sub 5 hour century that I was a part of was one year on TOSRV, that event goes from columbus to portsmith ohio, it's every mothers day weekend..I think this one was 2 years ago, and we were headed south and the wind was out of the north!!:)..It blew us down there the whole day..I went with my other club members, some racers some not, I think we had like 10-20 people in the core group, at times other people on the ride joined our train and it swelled in the back to probably 50 or so..I think the wind must have been blowing around 25 mph all day, cause we were constantly between 25 and 30mph..I think our time that day was 4hr 20min..

Just an awesome expirence!!...I really didn't do any special training for that event other than my normal spring buildup..Didn't eat or drink or sleep any differently..


Benjamin

4 hour 13 min 26 sec was the best time for the 100 mile. Other times this summer has been 4 hour 40 min total time, 4 hour 30 min, 4 hour 55, 5 hour 16 min ( very hilly)

I eat big meal, go to bed early, take 4 time release capsules of Enduro Caps from E-Caps online, 2 race caps, 2 Anti Fatiuge caps, 70 oz of sustained energy drink mix , and carry 5 servings of hammergel.

The caps are all consumed 1 hour before the race or ride. Well, I treat all rides as a race.


All these times have been solo, as there aren't very many pacelines that travel at the speed I like to do. I usually have to maintain a pace between 23 and 32 mph to end up in the mid 24 mph average for the 100 miles.

here is a pic of myself at the race where I did the 4 hour 13 min.

I'm the low guy towards the back of the main pack off to the side. I was making my move, where I then maintained a 1/4 mile lead in front of the pack for 26 miles before they finally reeled me in on a 3/4 mile slow climb.

http://www.grayling-area.com/blackbear2003/blackbearride-b.jpg

About half the pack did outclimb me and continue on in draft formation to let the winner get a time of 3 hour 47 minutes. I didn't do too bad for a solo 4 13 though I guess.

Originally posted by lowracer1
I'm the low guyhttp://www.grayling-area.com/blackbear2003/blackbearride-b.jpg

Low is right.... on the bent I take it?

Brendon