gobot

So, the other day I was at an outdoor movie in DUMBO, and this organization called transalt was signing people up for a century ride around NYC. https://www.nyccentury.org/ I told the lady I didn't have any money to participate and she said "Hey, no problem! You can volunteer!"

30 seconds later I had volunteered to be a marshall, which means I will be riding a part of the route and helping people who need water or a snack or have a flat tire. Which is cool-- its something I believe in, and it would be great to meet some new people and get a free tshirt.

Here's the problem-- I have never ridden 55 miles in one day, much less 100! I would like to ride the whole thing, but I need at least to be prepared to complete my 55 mile section successfully.

So, here's the issue: I have only been riding for two weeks, but I ride about 18 miles in a workout. What should my training regimen be like if I want to do a century on September 9 2007?

What should my workouts be like? Should I be riding every day? Should I try to ride 50 miles tomorrow to see if I can do it? I am excited by the idea, but I could really use some insight into what I should be doing! I looked at some books about training, but they have a lot of nonsense about computers and VO2 Max and perceived effort levels. I am not trying to become a competitive cyclist in a month-- I just want to be able to ride 100 miles in one day!

Thanks,
Brian

Tom Stormcrowe

If you can ride 18, you can likely ride 50 with no issues, as long as your hydration and nutrition are right. If you can ride 50, you can likely ride 100. The main thing is to PACE yourself on a long ride. Don't burn it out in the beginning.

Do a mix of Endurance/recovery rides and sprints

The sprints build your anaerobic capacity, that's where VO2 max comes in.
Endurance/recovery riding is a steady 90 cadence easy ride that you can hold all day once you are in good shape.

On your sprint days, start off with a push, then glide concept. Start out pushing as hard as you can for 1 minute, then ride easy to let the HR drop again for 2 minutes. repeat. Do this for your average workout miles.

On your recovery day, the key is self control. steady pacing is the word of the day.

I use a 7 day cycle, with this regimen

1. sprint
2. endurance
3. sprint
4. endurance
5. sprint
6. endurance
7. rest day off the bike

Try to build your miles to your goal miles, and have fun, first and foremost! I suspect you can already do this ride, by the way, but do train for it anyway.

gobot

Thanks, I hope I can figure out the cadence thing... I have been on a stationary bike before that told me my RPM, but I have never tried to figure out what my cadence was when riding a real bike. Is there a good way to figure out the cadence without using a computer? Do I just count? I'll have to do some googling to figure it all out.

I will try out your sprint/endurance alternation and report how it goes!

Saturday I did 25 miles, felt pretty good and took sunday off and swam instead. I'll start the 7day cycle today!

also, is it ok to do other types of cardio work on my off day? When I used to lift weights on a 3 on 1 off cycle, I was still supposed to do cardio on my off days from lifting. I have never tried an "endurance" sport before so I'm not sure if I'm just resting my leg muscles or my heart and lungs too...?

Tom Stormcrowe

You are allowing time for the muscle tissue to recover and repair, as well as flush out residual waste products. If you overtrain, it's actually counterproductive. The key is to maximize the efficiency of your training for your goals.

Here's the deal, the Hight Intensity wreck your legs sprint training builds the explosive power you need for a sprint, or a short term burst of energy to climb a hill as well as increasing your pulmonary function.

The Aerobic endurance training builds the cardiovascular and pulmonary capacity as well as your "Slow twitch" muscles. These are the muscle groups you use when doing a long, extended effort.

East Hill

As Tom says, if you can do 18 miles, you can do 55 miles. If you've already done 25 miles, 55 isn't that much more. Just don't try to go too fast. As a marshall, you would be expected to help folks in need, so I don't think you would be going overly fast anyway.

That's great that the person signing up participants thought to enlist you as a marshall! And cool that you accepted .

Oh, and you could let people know about the Clydes/Athenas forum here, too...small plug...

East Hill

Tom Stormcrowe

a 90 cadence is approximately 1 1/2 turns of the crank counting 1 thousand-one with your voice. That's about a second.