I've been going over some of the posts in the training forums. Many are too advanced for me.
I'd very much appreciate any feedback on my proposed training routine. I'll provide some context, but feel free to skip that if it's too long. 🙂
=====Context=====
My main goal is to complete a century ride without taking any breaks and towards that end I've signed up for fund raising ride scheduled for February. My ultimate goal is to get into racing shape. I'm not hung up on winning and usually view myself as my main competitor.
I've been casually biking for a couple of years and in the last 3 mths I've been doing a more focused training routine. Loosely 5 days a week, one day of hills, one long ride. I'd increase my total ride time by about 5 or 10% each week.
I haven't biked for two weeks (vacation, visitors, etc), but when I stopped two weeks ago my long ride was 50 miles.
=====Proposed Routine====
Right now, I'd like to keep it as simple as is possible while still being effective. From other training I've done, I believe in forming a solid foundation and than adding complexity a little bit at a time.
My naive starting point is:
Monday -- Rest Tuesday -- 12 miles of hills Wednesday -- 18 miles, easy ride Thursday -- Rest Friday -- 14 miles moderate Saturday -- 16 miles moderate Sunday -- 40 miles easy Easy rides are maintaining an HR of about 145 − 155, moderate are 155 − 165. For hills I go out to stretch that has short, steep climb and do couple laps. I might mix that up by taking my trail bike out for a ride instead. Finally, I'd increase the long ride by 5 miles per week and the shorter ones by 1 or 2 till I reach 70 or 80 mile long rides and then just focus on improving. I've also started to keep an eye on cadence. I was cycling at a steady 70, but I'm trying to keep that up above 80 now.