My first century!

derekwatts

Did my first century today! Wait for it - 14 laps of Richmond Park. :shock: Not the most exciting route in the world maybe, but easy to get home if I blew up. Also easy to employ the wife as a feeding zone! It also wasn't the fastest either, 6hrs 15 minutes. I was jetlagged as hell having got back from the West Coast USA yesterday afternoon, but I just wanted to finish it.
A question though;
The last 30 miles or so, I noticed my heart rate dropping a lot, whilst maintaining the same pace (only about 16mph). You would think that would be good but I felt pretty awful, not quite a bonk but was suffering quite a bit and very slightly nauseous. Is that a symptom of being underfuelled maybe? I don't think I ate enough - basically a slice of malt loaf and cereal for breakfast, 2 bananas and an energy bar on the ride, plus 4 bottles of mixed sports drink (Cytomax) What would you eat for a century? I have read a little about 'cardiac drift' that says in the early stages of excercise your heart rate will gradually increase for the same intensity, but not read anything about the reverse effect.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Derek

salsarider79

[/quote]"I was jetlagged as hell having got back from the West Coast USA yesterday afternoon"[/quote]
Sounds like the food was fine, but I would go with the jetlagged thing. At any rate, well done. It's hard doing 100miles, and that is a very good time. Next time, maybe don't do it the day after a flight, maybe have a day or two to rest your body.

biondino

What were you wearing/riding? I'm sure I overtook you or vice versa during my 3 laps

derekwatts

Hi!

Riding a Specialized Allez Comp from 2003, wearing a red lid with Castelli top.

Well for the first 55 miles I was mostly doing the passing (especially up the hills, which is nice considering last year I almost threw up the first time I tackled the hill about halfway round, going clockwise, whatever it's called... :-), but for the last 45 I got dropped by quite a few riders. But I wasn't going to get suckered into following anyone's wheel! I would be interested to know how much climbing there is in a lap of the park (then multiply it by 14!), I suppose it would be classed as 'rolling terrain'?

Thanks for the feedback on the jetlag. Trouble is it's hard for me to allow 2 or 3 days off after a long haul trip cos I work for a longhaul airline and I'm usually going away again after 2/3 days! So I just do the best I can. But we have a few colleagues who do IronMan Tri's.

Cheers

Derek

BeaconRuth

derekwatts wrote:

A question though;
The last 30 miles or so, I noticed my heart rate dropping a lot..................

That's to be expected towards the end of a long ride. It becomes increasingly difficult to raise your HR the more tired you get.

Ruth

GeorgeShaw

BeaconRuth wrote:

derekwatts wrote:

A question though;
The last 30 miles or so, I noticed my heart rate dropping a lot..................

That's to be expected towards the end of a long ride. It becomes increasingly difficult to raise your HR the more tired you get.

Ruth

I've noticed this as well, and wondered if it was not enough food, not enough water, or not enough fitness. So you're saying it's the latter. At the best route forward is ...?

BeaconRuth

Well.........er............ get fitter?

No, seriously, the way you asked that question implied that you think it's a problem if you can't keep your HR up, so you're asking me what to do about it. I'd suggest that it isn't a problem if you can't keep your HR up - that's just what happens when you get tired. It's not some fault that needs to be corrected. Don't focus on what your HR is doing, focus on your cycling performance - ie. are you going fast enough? I couldn't care less if my HR drops towards the end of a 100 mile ride, as long as I'm still riding more strongly than the next person. Don't put the cart before the horse.

Ruth

GeorgeShaw

BeaconRuth wrote:

Well.........er............ get fitter?

No, seriously, the way you asked that question implied that you think it's a problem if you can't keep your HR up, so you're asking me what to do about it. I'd suggest that it isn't a problem if you can't keep your HR up - that's just what happens when you get tired. It's not some fault that needs to be corrected. Don't focus on what your HR is doing, focus on your cycling performance - ie. are you going fast enough? I couldn't care less if my HR drops towards the end of a 100 mile ride, as long as I'm still riding more strongly than the next person. Don't put the cart before the horse.

Ruth

I thought that might be the answer

I only started seriously a couple of years ago (even though I'm now 54), and this year I've added mileage, and also some more concentrated training like hill repeats and the occasional 2x20, and I've seen some benefit. Hopefully I'll knock 30 minutes off last year's time for the Trans-Cambrian sportive next week.

I guess there's no short cuts. Just more of the same, and each year starting from a better base.