biazda

Hi all,

I ride lots of centuries but my brother wants to ride a charity century with me this fall and is looking for training advice. He is a runner, ran (as in actually ran) a marathon last year and is typically a top 10% finisher in local 10K and half marathons. But he hasn't turned a pedal in years.

He is SUPER time crunched and I want to offer him a realistic minimum that will get him to the point that he can complete the century. It's a SUPER flat route in FL, and I am going to ride at his speed, not the other way around. Obviously he's plenty fit so I figure it's more saddle time and exposure that he needs prepped for. Oh yeah he's in his late 40's so bear that in mind.

Anyway here is a plan I whipped up for him after googling around and adding some of my experiences (I just started cycling again seriously about 15 months ago and I went from couch-potato to century rider in that time).

Please let me know if it looks okay before I send it off to him. Too much? Too little? Again remember the goal is to get him ready in the absolute minimum reasonable saddle time. I will also send him more advice on food/hydration/etc, but I'm comfortable with what he needs to know there

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Training Suggestions:

Prerequisite: get yourself some bike shorts if you don't already have any. Mountain bike shorts are okay. Just make sure they have some padding and no seam in the crotch.

Main goals are:

1) Acclimate to long periods on the bike
2) Get your "bike muscles" back in tune

If at any point you find yourself hurting on the bike, (except for minor pain in the butt which may take a few weeks to break in) you might want to schedule a bike fitting at a good local shop. It wouldn't be a bad idea to do that anyway before you start, since you're going to want to get your bike tuned up.

There are three kinds of rides on my suggestion below:

1) Strength - either pick a moderately hilly route and work hard on your way up the hills, or include some intervals, reps of 1-4 minutes hard effort followed by 1-2 minutes are fine (mix it up depending on how you feel).
2) Tempo - target 80-85% max heart rate for the middle half of the ride
3) Endurance - ride at a comfortable pace, avoid hard efforts, target heart rate < 70% of max

You can start early of course, and do more. The most important things are to:

1) start very slow the first couple of weeks so you can get your body used to being back on the bike.

2) work your way up to a 70+ mile ride which should happen 1-2 weeks ahead of the century.

Avoid riding two days in a row if possible. This is critical the first two weeks so your body can adapt. I'm assuming you will continue running some as well. If not, I'd add at least one 15-20 mile tempo ride any week after week 2 that you don't run.

Week 1: Two 10mi tempo rides (do not exceed 10 miles in one day this week)
Week 2: Two 15mi tempo rides
Week 3: 15 mi. strength, 20 mile endurance
Week 4: 15 mi. strength, 30 mile endurance ride
Week 5: 15 mi. strength, 40 mile endurance ride
Week 6: 15 mi. strength, 55 mile endurance ride
Week 7: 15 mi. strength, 70 mile endurance ride
Week 8: Three 15 mile tempo and/or endurance rides
Week 9: Century

deex

Is he riding by himself? If so those long rides are going to be very boring. Where in Florida are you? The best rides for me have been with groups of people. People forget that biking is not only a physical activity but a mental one as well.

I also like the long rides that go from point A to point B and back to point A. Puts a mental goal in mind. Nutrition is a biggie as well as it is different than running.

I dated a girl that was a super runner, but sucked at biking big time, mainly because she did not care for it. I am ok at running but hate it. Hence why we broke up.

Good luck to your brother. Also what bike is he riding?

DrIsotope

We took an avid runner on a pretty leisurely ride with us awhile back. She is quite fit, runs 5+ days a week, spin classes, you know, one of those "active people." By mile 5 she was absolutely blown up. She said something along the lines of, "I don't know how you do this. This is torture."

Start him getting saddle time ASAP. Completely different muscles at work.

trailangel

^^ good advice.
Rear end needs to get in shape just as much as using different muscles.

Chesterton

Different people have different preferences in this regard. I have no real problems riding long rides (100 km) alone. I enjoy the meditative state of mind that the rides induce, and the slightly surreal feeling of discovering "secret" places on long rural rides. Having other riders with me kind of breaks that spell and brings it back to the regular world.

Riding with others also introduces a whole new set of complexities regarding matching pace, breaks, feelings of competitiveness or embarrassment if your speed doesn't match the others, etc. Not necessarily bad things, but they are present. I rode about half of my century last year with a small group that I caught up with and stuck with for 50 miles or so. It was nice to talk to people but I did have mixed feelings about the experience overall.

Regarding preparation, I had some background bicycling fitness from being a daily commuter (5 miles each way) on an upright bike. I rode a few 40-50 mile rides in the month or two before the century, and a 100 km solo ride a couple of weeks before the ride. I was not fast compared to the carbon fiber warriors that made up the bulk of the century riders, but I finished the ride without any substantial discomfort or pain.

I don't know how a runner's fitness maps to bicycling. Presumably, he will have the basic cardiovascular fitness, but his body may simply not be used to sitting on a saddle for a whole day.

I think he will just have try a few longish rides have see how he feels. I never really focused on your strength or tempo categories (though I did seek out some hilly routes), and I did OK, but maybe I would have been faster if I had consciously worked on training at harder efforts. I think your plan looks pretty good but in the end it will come down to how your brother's body responds to a long bike ride.

Psychologically, made sure he understands that the goal is simply to complete this ride and he shouldn't expect or try to be a top 10% finisher, at least not this time!

Popeyecahn

This is a worthy read:

https://www.bikeforums.net/13565788-post1.html

FrenchFit 

I might add, a spin bike is fine way to get saddle time without much risk or wasted time. I knew someone who rode doubles after training with regular 4 hour spin 'marathons', thought it was a great way to burn in that saddle and spinning time.

I don't think running and cycling have much in common besides the need for cardio. Not to start a flame war, but running is about as natural as you can get along side walking, cycling is a rather bizarre form of exercise. (Obviously, I like running.)