A Training Plan for a 5 hour century

[danfoz]

Originally Posted by Vortigal .

What I was really looking for is something like a training plan on calendar. Something that I can just wake up look at my calendar and know what I need to ride that day. I've just been riding and don't really have a concentrated plan. Also I am 6'5" 165 pounds. I don't have any way of measuring power output. I'm 6'5" 165 pounds. I live in Tucson, AZ so its stupid hot most of the time. I know that my goal is difficult. I have a lot of free time before I go to work in the late afternoons and I'm willing to put it all into cycling in the next few months in order to reach my goal. Also I meant 5 hours or less, not anything longer than that.

I'm going to recommend Carmichaels' Time Crunch Training book. Sounds like you have about 10-12 weeks before your event which coincides with the length of the plan. It helps that you used to ride a lot and that you are young. It's much easier to get where you once were, and it sounds like recovery won't be as big an issue as it is with us 40 somethings.

The Century plan sessions will be split up between 2 and 3 hour endurance pace rides and shorter 1 and a half hour LT interval interval sessions of 12-15 minutes that include the warmup (not much VO2 work as there is in the Competitor plan). It will put you on the bike about 8 hours a week split among 4 days of riding. The plan caters to folks without power meters or HR as it also uses perceived effort. You will however get a lot more out of any plan investing in at least an HR monitor.

You will get much faster, especially coming from such a current low level of fitness. I had very good results with the Competitor plan getting back into road racing after 10 years off the bike smoking and boozing it up. Some folks need the discipline of looking at a calendar and having it tell you "today we do this...". Coaches serve the same benefit but usually cost a whole lot more than the 10 bucks you'll spend on the book.

Any ******** retort will get the horns this time around /img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif

 

[An old Guy]

Originally Posted by dhk2 .





Old Guy, if you ride 54 miles a day, even in the extreme heat, and can put out 400-500W in the middle of the ride just to catch some guy you don't know, but now you're old and have a bad leg and don't train very hard, I've got to wonder what pro team you rode for, or what kind of race titles you have?

I'm wondering because the ride you described sounds like more than the fastest guy I know here would attempt in 105F, and he was World Master's champ for a few years. Maybe I'm just jealous, because at 105F heat index, such as we've had for a couple of weeks now, my HR is above recovery level almost all the time....certainly on every climb.

I hear so many guys who are Cat1 claim that they can beat pros. I never ask them for proof. I am not going to ask you for proof that the World Master's champ cannot ride in the heat. But I will say that by the time I am done riding for the day there are very few people out and about.

I would suggest that you don't train properly for doing the efforts I do so you assume that no one can. You are wrong.

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I don't post personal information because I don't need a stalker.

 

[An old Guy]

Originally Posted by jsirabella .



a) his HR monitor does not work correctly b) Or he is not telling the truth c) he is SOT d) Both b and c

Obviously if he has this kind of detail to his ride he can show us something to prove the claim. Since he has been asked multiple times his background with no response I doubt any will be coming soon.

Sorry bad leg, 105 degree heat, daily 54 mile rides, old guy but can not take a post with that much in it at face value.

-js

I would post the information that you want, but I don't need a stalker.

 

[jsirabella]

og->Not sure how posting a file that shows these remarkable rides gives us your personal information?

I guess you have bodyguards too cause people stalk you regularly cause of your cycling skills. LOL...I have never heard anything that silly in months.

You are correct that you do not need to provide proof but the difference between you and dhk2 is that his are within reason and do not need it. Your statements on the other hand are not reasonable and can not be taken seriously unless proven.

-js

 

[An old Guy]

Originally Posted by danfoz .





I'm going to recommend Carmichaels' Time Crunch Training book. Sounds like you have about 10-12 weeks before your event which coincides with the length of the plan. It helps that you used to ride a lot and that you are young. It's much easier to get where you once were, and it sounds like recovery won't be as big an issue as it is with us 40 somethings.

The Century plan sessions will be split up between 2 and 3 hour endurance pace rides and shorter 1 and a half hour LT interval interval sessions of 12-15 minutes that include the warmup (not much VO2 work as there is in the Competitor plan). It will put you on the bike about 8 hours a week split among 4 days of riding. The plan caters to folks without power meters or HR as it also uses perceived effort. You will however get a lot more out of any plan investing in at least an HR monitor.

You will get much faster, especially coming from such a current low level of fitness. I had very good results with the Competitor plan getting back into road racing after 10 years off the bike smoking and boozing it up. Some folks need the discipline of looking at a calendar and having it tell you "today we do this...". Coaches serve the same benefit but usually cost a whole lot more than the 10 bucks you'll spend on the book.

Any ******** retort will get the horns this time around /img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif

If 8 hours a week for 12 weeks would get people into shape to ride 100 miles in under 5 hours, I would think a lot more people would be riding 100 miles in under 5 hours. Can you ride 100 miles in under 5 hours alone?

 

[An old Guy]

Originally Posted by jsirabella .

og->Not sure how posting a file that shows these remarkable rides gives us your personal information?

I guess you have bodyguards too cause people stalk you regularly cause of your cycling skills. LOL...I have never heard anything that silly in months.

You are correct that you do not need to provide proof but the difference between you and dhk2 is that his are within reason and do not need it. Your statements on the other hand are not reasonable and can not be taken seriously unless proven.

"Reasonable" seems to be a fluid concept. There is a post above that indicates that a person in "a current low level of fitness." can get in good enough shape in 12 weeks to ride 100 miles in 5 hours. I don't think that is reasonable, but ...

Can you ride 100 miles in 5 hours? Can you get in shape in 12 weeks to ride 100 miles in 5 hours?

While I know some rather casual bicyclists can ride 100 miles in 5 hours, I know I cannot get in shape to do so in 12 weeks. (But then I have no need to ride 100 miles in 5 hours.)

 

[jsirabella]

og->100 miles in 5 hours? I would say overall no.

Even under best circumstances, nice tail wind, flat course, drafting the entire ride and purchased speed I would still say no. Unless I have someone supplying me nutrition while riding and no nature breaks included with priorI I would still say no for myself.

In 12 weeks with most of the above nice tail wind, flat course and drafting I would say 50/50 shot.

-js

BTW, changing the subject of your stats really does not make it go away. But I will not get all SOT proof on you so I drop the subject from here.

 

[danfoz]

Originally Posted by An old Guy .

If 8 hours a week for 12 weeks would get people into shape to ride 100 miles in under 5 hours, I would think a lot more people would be riding 100 miles in under 5 hours. Can you ride 100 miles in under 5 hours alone?

I haven't tried. My races are usually 60 miles and under and the authors Competitor Plan worked well for me, interestingly the particular plan I followed made claims to work well for riders "up to Cat3 who race 60 miles or less". No reason to doubt his Century Plan wouldn't work well for folks planning on riding a fast century, until of course one tries it and it doesn't work. Under 5 hours, who knows, faster most likely. It's a plan, and usually that's the best way to achieve a goal. Unless of course the goal is to annoy, then aparently just showing up is enough.

 

[An old Guy]

I can be helpful. The following is from the internet http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/chris-carmichael/be-specific

Amateur racers generally have fewer hours to work with, so they're better off focusing their training on their goal event. Two of the most frequently cited target events for cyclists are local criteriums and century rides; below are workouts that address the demands of both. For each, plan for 60 to 90 minutes of total riding time, including a 10-to 15-minute warm-up and cooldown.

Centuries
The trick for most century enthusiasts is to train for a 100-mile day with rides that are mostly shorter than 35 miles. Yes, you should incorporate longer endurance rides on some weekends. But for those of you who are mostly limited to rides shorter than 2.5 hours, intervals that increase your sustainable power at lactate threshold are your ticket to greater comfort and higher average speeds during centuries.

THE WORKOUT Do three eight-minute steady-state intervals with six minutes of easy spinning recovery between each. Intensity during the intervals should be 86 to 90 percent of your maximum sustainable power output or 92 to 94 percent of your maximum sustainable heart rate, and the effort should feel like feel like a 7 or 8 on a 1 to 10 scale, where 10 is all-out. Maintain a cadence of 90 to 95 rpm during the intervals. More advanced riders can lengthen each effort to 10 minutes with no change in recovery time.

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It appears the recommendation is upper L3 not L4, but ...

Looks like I do at least eight 5 minute segments above 86% of my max sustainable power every day. If I use heart rate, I would need to work harder. I seem to do the longer endurance rides also. I must be using and recommending Chris Carmichael's plan.

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Training Peaks has a 12 week plan for $99 http://www.peaksware.com/training-and-nutrition-plans/browse-type.aspx?t=century

Cycling Power based Intermediate Century ride using wattage ...

This is a 12 week training plan is for the athlete that wants to complete a century in 5 to 6 hours by training with their power meter. The cyclist may or may not have done a century ride before, but it is generally a solid intermediate cyclist with at least one year of riding in their legs. The goal for this cyclist is to finish the century in under 6 hours, shooting for close to a 5 hour finish time. It's for the cyclist that can ride up to 2.0 hours a day, and up to 5 hours on one day on the weekend. This plan gives you specific details on your daily training, including duration and specific wattage percentages to train in. Based on percentage of threshold wattage, whatever your threshold is, you easily adjust your goals for the workouts(you can select this plan without knowing your threshold wattage, however you will need to take the field test in order to determine your threshold before you start your plan). This plan gradually improves your fitness and endurance over the 12 weeks, so it preps you perfectly for a successful century ride. At the completion of this training plan, you will be able to finish a century ride easily at a solid brisk pace and you will be finishing strong!

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12 weeks or so and we will see how the OP has chosen to train and how his century turned out.