Hi everyone,

I need a little advice or suggestions as to training. Yesterday, after a group ride of 56 miles, I have now reached the 1000 mile point in my training. Up till now, I’ve pretty much just been riding without any real direction. I guess you could say the mileage was junk miles although I have improved my overall average. My purpose has been to get as much saddle time as possible with the initial end result being to ride in the MS 150 in September. I’ve got the miles in, I’ve seen my average speeds increase from right at 13mph to a current 15.5mph, and I feel pretty comfortable on longer rides now.

I’m now interested in not just the MS 150, but riding more in general, to ride longer, like 70-80miles and be comfortable at a 16-17mph average. My goals have changed from just doing the MS 150 to becoming a better rider, riding longer (time & distance) and to be able to stay with a group or not get dropped on every hill or to fall off the back of the paceline on flat to rolling terrain. I also hope to lose some weight in the process.

I have Friel’s book, but it seems that it is really geared more towards the racer, which I have no interest in becoming. I’ve been riding with someone who is in their second yr of riding. During our rides, we can pretty much hang together until the hills. Mind you, I need to lose 30 pounds, but this guy has 30 pounds on me (heavier by 30) and he can get up the hills and keep on going. Me on the other hand, I can get up them, but recovery takes forever. I’ve been using a HRM the past 3 weeks and have found that when I get past 160, and really anywhere in the 160’s range, I know that I can’t continue at that pace or intensity very much longer. If I do, then it just wears me out and I will fall off the back and then have to work my a$$ off to bridge the gap. Then because I’ve worked so hard to catch back up, it just becomes a vicious cycle that just wears me down till I can no longer keep up.

Yesterday, we were cruising along in a 3 person paceline at around 22-25mph, and our average at the first rest stop was 17.2mph! This is a lot more than I’ve ever done and after the rest stop, I just couldn’t keep up with the 2 others in my group. They would get a couple of hundred feet in front of me and then slow so I could catch up. I got stuck on the end of the line and just got left behind. I’ve been riding 3x during the week, doing a long ride of 2-3hr on Saturday and a recovery ride on Sunday. I’ve tried to keep my HR between 60-75% on the weekday rides but on the weekend long ride, I’m getting my HR into the 80% range.

What advice or training suggestions can anyone offer to help me be able to keep up on rides and not get dropped off the back? Is it time for intervals? If so, how do I do them? Since I didn’t really have a “plan” while on my way to 1000 miles, should I continue in such a way as to build a better endurance base? I’m just so befuddled right now as to how to improve. If it helps, in all of my rides so far, my avg HR has been around 145, and so far the max HR I’ve seen has been 183, which was yesterday. I’m female, RHR of 60, and 41yo. I’ve been using 182-60=122 and taking my HR% from 122 and then adding 60. (so 70%=(122*.70)+60=145). Is this a correct way to calculate HR%? Is there any other information needed?

Thanks for taking the time to read this and offer any suggestions. Karen.