hazben1

I am signed up for a century ride in about a month. My goal is reducing my century time. For the last month I have averaged 2 70 mile long rides a week. I have stopped my rides at 70 since the general consensus I have read on this board is a solo 70 is plenty long enough distance to prepare you for a century. Lately I have been wondering if one of my 70s I should push out to 80 or would I be better staying with the 70 and trying to hit it real strong for the last 5-7 miles of the 70? Ideally I think it would be best if I could do both of those 70s on back to back days but due to my work and home schedule it would be real tough to do.

Stay with the 2 70s with some quality thrown in at the end or push one of those 70s out to 80?

TrojanHorse

What's the drawback of going further? Ride 120 if you have time. 70 miles is certainly adequate but if you can cover the full distance on a training ride, you'll know what to expect when you hit the crappy miles at 80-90.

10 Wheels

Ride a 100 now....

therhodeo

You'd be better off not focusing on the mileage of a ride like that and doing some shorter harder efforts. 20 min. sweet-spot intervals would be a good one. If you can ride 70 miles you can ride 100. Maybe ride 25 easy, do 25 of structured intervals, and finish with 25 more easy. Adding 10 more miles or riding hard the last couple isn't going to get you where you want to be like doing some interval training.

colnago62

I agree that more distance will not necessarily allow you to cover the 100 miles faster. Doing shorter rides at a higher pace and some intervals that focus on the ability ride at or slightly above threshold will give you a better chance at going faster over the 100 miles.

StanSeven

Since your century is a month away, what often works is a breakthrough ride a few weeks before. That's a more difficult effort than you are used to. Then allow time for recovery. In your case it's a really fast 70 or a longer distance like minimally 80 and ideally 100.

gregf83 

+1. You're better off trying to raise your threshold power and doing long rides isn't the best way to raise FTP.

milkbaby

Jump in a time machine, go back a year and do all the different rides suggested from 120 miles, 30 miles at tempo, intervals, hills, blah blah blah.

You could also crash train for a week to two weeks, riding 400 to 600 miles per week. Then recover with much lower mileage for three to two weeks.

An easier way to finish your century faster is to get in with a big fast group, never hit the front, and draft/follow wheels effeciently.

GhostSS

+1

Before my first century I had never ridden more than 20 miles, and most of my riding was a 4 mile commute but I sprinted everywhere in order to stay the same pace as city traffic for about a year and a half.

I averaged a 16.8 mph over the century and it wasn't difficult at all, just eat well and stay hydrated.

bronco71

What's the terrain on this century ride? If its got 10000' of climbing I might train differently than one with only 3000'. With only month left I'd seek out groups that challenge my endurance.

spdntrxi

this is so true... last year did one with 9K+, I was a wreck.. Last week did one with 5500k.. cake walk more or less.

DXchulo

Split the difference. Do your 70, then add 5 hard miles at the end.

There's not going to be a right or wrong answer. The big thing, which you seem to realize, is to change things up one way or another so things don't get stale. I'd lean towards riding the 70 at a faster pace than you normally would. If you ride too hard and run out of gas, even better. You'll start to learn what your limits are.

Carbonfiberboy 

I think the four hour ride is optimal for the long training ride, but ride it hard, so that you are dead at the end. Longer and you can't ride as hard. The usual intervals, speed work, and hill repeats are always good and expected. The only reason to go long is to check your nutrition and hydration practices, make sure you have that nailed.

hazben1

Thanks for the response folks. The century I am signed up for is really flat hence this is the type of terrain I am picking for my long rides. I have not been doing the 2x20 intervals but, once a week I get on the rollers and go hard. I ride in the 52X12 combination and try to keep my cadence around 85. On this workout my heartrate will average close to 150bpm which is a little more than 75% of heartrate max. In fact sometimes I feel this workout does more for me than a regular 40 miler which probably takes a little over 2 hours. As far as riding in a group, I have limited experience and get kind of nervous when the group gets going 25mph or more. I think I have the fitness to hang in there just not the bike handling skills. Yeah I know not a good combination.

colnago62

You are correct. It sounds as if you have plenty of endurance for the ride. Now is the time to work on your ability to ride at and above threshold. The difference between sport cyclists and successful bicycle racers is usually not a difference in endurance; both groups are able to ride long distances. Those who race, have developed the ability to function in the red zone.

caloso

To ride faster, you must ride faster.








(This is both a zen koan and well-established training advice.)

Drew Eckhardt 

Spend the century several inches behind a faster riders rear wheels and don't pull much.

If like me you don't want to do that:

Quantify your fitness using heart rate or power. Use that information to pace your ride as fast as possible - slow enough in the beginning you don't use up your endurance early, as fast as possible at the end when it feels much harder but you remain physically capable. Lactate threshold heart rate is approximately what you average over the last 20 minutes of an all-out 30 minute effort. Functional Threshold Power (which you could theoretically manage for an hour) is 95% of a maximum 20 minute effort. You might be able to manage 60-65% of FTP or 80-85% of LTHR.

To repeat caloso get faster by riding faster. Increase your lactate threshold power which in turn will improve your sustainable output at relatively lower intensities. Relevant intervals are roughly in the 10-20 minute range.I like 3x10 minutes starting at 110% of FTP with 5 minutes rest; 2x20 at 95% with 5 minutes rest is the classic. Do that one day a week.

A 1-1.5 hour sweet spot or low zone 4 ride (90-95% of FTP, 94-95% of LTHR) might increase your endurance at higher power outputs.

Being new to structured training you can probably increase your power 10% in the month (three weeks plus a rest week) leading up to your ride. That might net you 0.5 MPH at a fast endurance pace on flat ground, although you'll be up to 10% faster up hills which have a big impact on your average due to the relatively long time you spend on them.

Intervals on the day you are freshest, one intense 1-1.5 hour ride, and one long ride. Active recovery only (55% of FTP, 80% of LTHR) if riding the day before one of your tough days so you can work as hard as possible. Smile when children on tricycles pass you. Nothing beyond your aerobic threshold (Friel Zone 2, 75% of FTP, 90% of LTHR) otherwise.

Drew Eckhardt 

That may not be hard even if (the oft used formulas have a 12 beat standard deviation) if you guess right about your maximum heart rate.

I ride for four hours at 75%. I average 90% on 10 minute intervals (ending at 92-96%) and 92% (ending around 95%) on 20 minute FTP tests.

You need to find your lactate threshold heart rate and perform your hard efforts at an appropriate fraction (or multiple) of that.

Fastfwd01

I never ride in groups. I have completed my first two organized events now and rode in groups with those. I think they would have preferred that I had better group riding skills, but I did my best to pay attention and not dick around with my Garmin, etc. too much.

Personally, I wouldn't want to add on the nervousness of an event being the first time I attempted the full 100 miles, but maybe that pressure helps some people. I'm more comfortable knowing I can do it and what to expect it's going to feel like. I seem to generally feel a little sapped around 80 miles or so and then get energized when the final miles are within reach.

Whatever you do - good luck! It should be fun!

FLvector

You say you would like to reduce your overall time for the century, but I didn't see what your goal was. If you want to improve your time the easiest way to do this is to hang with a fast group. Find a group you'll feel comfortable with. Otherwise, you'll be doing a lot of solo work, increase your time and probably be exhausted at the end. Focus on improving your pace line skills and increasing your speed. If you're too nervous to ride close to someone's wheel, then don't be concerned with your time and just enjoy the ride.