cyclinfool

Warning - this is a long rambling post!

Yesterday was the first century of 5 planned for this year. I have been training hard for this ride - my goal was not to set a speed record but to do it with a consistent heart rate (75%) with only a short burst where I could sprint up a small hill. I also wanted to work on the discipline of consuming more calories and drinking more and doing these proactively. So this was what I would call an experimental training century - working on techniques and stamina for more agressive rides coming up.

I choose a century ride in the Adirondaks - it was a club ride led by someone I did not know but who runs this ride once or twice a month. I contacted him and got the ride route information and reviewed the elevation information - for my HR goals I did not want a lot of climbing - this ride was rolling but no bad hills. Physically I was ready - My training schedule worked perfectly and I achieved all my goals - my weight was even 1lb lower than I was shooting for. I had a meeting in Rochester on Friday so I drove out Thursday evening (3 hrs) and started to get irratation in my right leg above the knee. On the drive back Friday it amost felt like arthritis in the knee. Sat morning it felt like a dagger in the quad just above the knee and the knee felt stiff (My left knee is the one that has always given me trouble in the past). This pain is weird and bothersome, I decide to take my knee brace and use it on my right knee (I was planning to wear it as a preventitive measure on my left knee anyway).

I get to the ride start and the leader is a very nice 60 yo guy on a touring bike - decked out with wider tires and all the panier frames (no packs though). We wait on one other guy shows up - a 62 YO guy with a Specialized Roubeix and a paunch. He mentioned he participated in a ride I did the weekend before - the Serrotta ride I posted - he did the 25 mile option. I am thinking - this could be bad (as in a real slow ride). So it's just the three of us.

We take off - the knee is warming up nicely and seems to be holding OK. No one is hammering. The ride leader choose a wonderful coarse - beautiful farms, thoroughbred horses (this is Saratoga track territory), mountains to see, lakes, streams, waterfalls and rivers - sorry, no pictures. After we reach the warmup stage - about 5 miles its now time to get the HR up so I start to up the pace. They start to drift back - I keep going. At the first major turn I stop and wait. They show up. This becomes a pattern. When I am riding with the group I my HR is running at 65% at a speed around 14 - 15mph, when I am at my target for this ride (HR=75%) my speed is 19 - 21. I have three options, blow off the HR training and enjoy the company, ride at my pace and wait at each turn or just finish the ride. I decide to take a combination of option 1 and 2. I varied the routine to push the HR to 90% on the climbs and then stay with them for the rest of the ride - this meant waiting a lot, but the company was enjoyable and the knee was a bit of a concern. The knee did behave on the ride - I got a few sharp yells from it at certain points but could not correlate it to any particular thing. There were a few points on the ride I came out of the saddle to climb and no pain, there were a few points where I was crusing along and the dagger struck - go figure. The knee brace did help a lot.

Now - in looking at the forcast for this ride I figured we needed to be back at the cars by 3:30 or 4:00 to miss possible thunderstorms. At mile 80 it was about 3:00 (we started at 8:30AM ) and lightning was off in the distance and the clouds were rolling in. My average speed at this point was 14.6mph and we were starting up a long but gentle climb. I decided it was time to pull ahead because I knew this stretch of back country and there was no shelter. Then the cold blast and the rain hit - I needed a shower anyway! I hate riding in the rain so I just put the gas on. At the end of this stretch the sun came back out I dried myself and waited for the guys to show up at the next turn. When we were all together again we started down the last stretch with about 14 miles to go. As we started. As we started down this stretch I looked over my shoulder and there up in the mountains was another thunder head. At this point I was ahead again and I knew there were three steep but short hills left - I had enough of this and the rain so I opened up - kept the HR at 90% and finished the ride before the skys opened up. I had upped my average speed to 15.2.

On the nutrition/hydration side all that worked great. Taking in about 2200 cal over the ride and did not get a bit dehydrated - actually peed several times - not at all dark.

I figured I did a lot of fat burning and butt training on this ride but not a lot of strength/endurance building. I tested some new regemes and they seem to work. I carried Nuun tablets and tubes of Gatoraide powder to mix my own drinks, lots of gels and bars. I have found a new bar I like a lot - not gooey or too sweet.

This morning the knee seems almost fine - a little muscle fatigue in the lower part of the quad muscle above the knee but no pain.

The ride was a great ride - any century is. I now have some new roads to add to my list of great routes to take and I made some new friends. I am ready for the 80 mile ride in two weeks - this will be a hammer fest in the mountains with three long steep climbs. This will be the first event of three which I have been training for all summer. I will continue my routines over the next two weeks and hope the knee does not flare up again.

Road Fan

Great report! I'm right there with you on the HR/stress management strategy! I'm AMAZINGLY impressed you could crank out the last few miles at 90%!

Inquiring minds, etc: What is the new energy bar that you mentioned?

Also, how many did you eat thru the ride? I usually finish long rides (40 miles) with quad pain, but otherwise fine. I've been told I need a better fueling strategy, but I don't think I get how much one needs to eat.

Road Fan

The Weak Link

You wouldn't consider doing a century in a hilly part of the country, with an average speed of over 15 MPH good strength and endurance training? I must live in a parallel universe or something.

cyclinfool

I found the bar in the grocery store - it says Kashi TLC on the label, they are trail mix bars, I know where it is on the shelf - it is more or less a granola bar with whole almonds and a few raisans in it, I really like it. Has about 140 kcal/bar and less expensive than the power bars - I found it in the breakfast bar section. BTW - when I stopped for lunch on this ride I first picked up 1/2 an Italian sub sandwich for $3.85, put it back and went with an Egg, ham & cheese sandwich - more protein and calories and only $2.50. I also bought a 1 gal jug of cold spring water for $0.99 and was able to contribute a little less than a quart to my compatirates after I had completely refilled my supplies.

On past century efforts I would not drink power drinks because they upset my stomach in hot weather. For short rides of 30 to 40 miles I find nutrition is not a problem - I can drink plenty of water and not take in calories - relying on stored energy. When I get over the 40 mile mark I begin to loose power at the end of the ride so I do some fueling at 1/2 way through the ride. But when I go out to 100 miles I need to make it a habit of taking in food - 300 cal/hr from the beginning of the ride until the last hour. To accomplish this I am finding I need to take in gatoraide and if I mix it weak and I have an alternative (like Nuun) it seems I can tolerate it now.

Wow - have I gotten that sick!
Jeeze - I may get kicked out and into the roadie forum. Two years ago any ride done with an average of 15 MPH was a hard ride for me. I have lost 25lbs since then and have gotten serious about training. I don't consider myself an athlete and I look at some of the older club riders (some in thier 60's) who can ride a metric in our rolling terrain at an average 18mph and I am struggling to keep up. I guess it is all about perspective, maybe I lost a little.