Originally Posted by ginsoakedboy

I searched first, but to my surprise didn't come up with anything helpful. I would have thought there would be a ton of stuff on this topic.

I need to prep for a century ride in about 5 weeks. I do a moderate amount of biking - 3K in 2008 - and have continued to ride through the winter, albeit on a less frequent basis than in the warm-weather months. I have never done a century before, but do typically ride a few longer rides each summer in the 60-80mile range. So, in other words, it's not like the impossible dream - I do have some conditioning for longer distance riding.

Looking for a good training regimen to get me ready. I'm sure personal anecdotes would be interesting, but I am looking more for a reference to a program with some scientific basis or developed by someone with some credentials and background. A program that would be comprehensive in terms of the riding part of the preparation as well as the nutritional part would be a bonus. Anyone know of a good resource? Thanks.

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

I do a ten week training program that I saw published in BICYCLING MAGAZINE years ago, and retrieved from the Mt. Diablo Cycling Club website, though it has been removed the last time I looked. There are two variations, called Easy Century Training, or With Strength to Spare. I do the latter one, and it is about the most time I can spare to train. Fortunately I commute, so that's where I do it by lengthening my usual 14 mile distance. I find that the schedule motivates me to do keep up, and it's very satisfying to plug the data into my Excell spreadsheet and watch the charts expand.

I don't consider myself a strong rider, but I did my best century (actually 107.5 miles because I got lost ;-) in 6:58 at about 15.4 mph, with about 40 miles in a paceline and about 60 miles solo. My modification of the plan is to make Sunday my rest day, and Saturday is my century day. This won't print on the Forum as a nice table, but I think you can figure it out:

WITH STRENGTH TO SPARE:
Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun. Weekly
Easy* Pace* Brisk* Pace* Pace* Pace* Mileage
10 12 14 Off 12 40 15 103
10 13 15 Off 13 44 17 112
10 15 15 Off 15 48 18 123
11 16 19 Off 16 53 20 135
12 18 20 Off 18 59 22 149
13 19 23 Off 19 64 24 162
14 20 25 Off 20 71 27 177
16 20 27 Off 20 75 27 177
17 20 30 Off 20 75 32 194
19 20 30 Off 10 5 Easy Century 184

1,516

EASY CENTURY TRAINING:
Week Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun. Weekly
Easy* Pace* Brisk* Pace* Pace* Pace* Mileage
1 6 10 12 Off 10 30 9 77
2 7 11 13 Off 11 34 10 86
3 8 13 15 Off 13 38 11 98
4 8 14 17 Off 14 42 13 108
5 9 15 19 Off 15 47 14 119
6 11 15 21 Off 15 53 16 131
7 12 15 24 Off 15 59 18 143
8 13 15 25 Off 15 65 20 153
9 15 15 25 Off 15 65 20 155
Cent Week 15 15 25 Off 10 5 Easy Century 170

1,240