Training for 100mile TT

KAR

Fairly new here but have enjoyed the replies and advice given to others.

Having had good results 3 to 4 seasons ago (21min 10m, 54 min 25 and 1:54 50m tt's) I have had poor drive and motivation to train and so results for the last 2 seasons haven't been good.

Now as a push for next season I'm looking to ride my first 100mile tt - possibly the National in Yorkshire, but just wondering if anyone had any experience or advice of how to ride them and what specific training over the winter I should do. A normal training week would be Saturday and Sunday rides of 2-3 hours and 3 turbos sessions of an hour each.

Should I be extending one of the weekend rides to 4 or 5 hours? Replacing some of the top end intervals with more base level? Build up to it with more 50m tt's? - Any advice would be most appreciated.

method

Not done one, but if I was going to, I think I'd be doing most of my rides on the TT bike though. Getting your position right for a 100 will make a big difference I'd have thought.

chrisw12

Kar, with those times you are not going to get many responses from people who are actually faster than you so you may need to take replies with a pinch of salt, mine included.

I do think you need a few rides in the 5hr duration this time of year, just to build condfidence and to start getting used to spending time on the bike. other than that, you seem to have a good idea of what is needed.

For me the key to a good 100 is pacing and not loosing it in the last hour, so my top tip is to include rides of say 4 hours where you ride the first three hard then really up it for the last hour.

If your looking for motivation and to ride a 100 then you may as well go the whole hog and do a 12hr as well and get a bar certificate. Aiming for this can be very motivational imo.

Cougar

I don't know how other riders used to train for 100 TT's but I didn't used to increase my mileage over much. It may be useful to have some longer rides under your belt for confidence but if you can ride a 50 mile TT @ 27 mph then you should be able to manage a 100 mile TT @ 25mph

Although it won't do any harm to get those extra rides in before Dec 31st I wouldn't worry too much until the spring. Racing a few longer TT's as a build up is a very good idea. I would ride at least 2 x 50 mile TT's before the 100 mile TT.

I used to regularly do at least 2 x 1.5 / 2 hour tempo training rides a week. Banging out long hard rides will juust wear you down so keep the long rides moderate pace and the shorter rides hard. You want to reserve your best performance for the event itself.

Make sure that you taper right off in the week before the event, just going out for a few very easy miles.

P.S. Just saw ChrisW above. Worth pointing out that of the few 100 mile TT's I entered , I won x 2, 2nd x 2, and 3rd x 1, and the others top 6.

BeaconRuth

KAR wrote:

A normal training week would be Saturday and Sunday rides of 2-3 hours and 3 turbos sessions of an hour each.

Should I be extending one of the weekend rides to 4 or 5 hours?

I would suggest that a rider of your standard would benefit from extending one weekend ride to 4 or 5 hours anyway, regardless of whether you intend to ride a 100. But yes, riding for 4 hours non-stop needs to become a very common ride for you.

Replacing some of the top end intervals with more base level?

I'm not sure what top-end intervals you would be doing in the middle of winter, but generally speaking don't reduce the training intensity unless you're going to increase the training volume. (Riding less hard for the same amount of time is never going to be a good idea!) If taking out some top-end intervals means you'll be able to spend more time training at a slightly easier pace, then yes, go for it. But at this time of year that would be my recommendation whatever distance TTs you were planning to do.

Build up to it with more 50m tt's?

Just my view, but I don't tend to race-myself to fitness for a 100. 50's could be used as useful training for 100's but there are other ways to achieve the same end. In the immediate run up to a 100 I tend to be focusing on building up endurance and it's hard to mix racing with endurance training. I tend to be weary and heavy-legged in the middle of a block of endurance work.

I think that, unlike 10's and 25's, you don't have to be 'race-fit' for a 100 in that you don't have to have any top-end at all. All you need is a reasonable power output and the ability to sustain it for a very long time - so preparatory races take a back-seat in my strategy. Contrast that with riding a good 10, where being 'race-fit' from some recent racing is essential IMO.

Ruth

KAR

Many thanks for the replies, all good for the hoped improvement.

Just to answer some of the comments, I have recently bought new bars and raised position by around 4 inches as it was becoming uncomfortable at any distance and I now do all my turbo work on the tt machine.

Chrisw12 - I think I'm not mentally in tune with a 12 hour yet - maybe 2010 season?!!

Apologies for any confusion but the top-end work I usually do Feb - April time, up until Christmas I will be doing intervals and steady state work but wont be doing anything above 80-85%.

Will certainly be trying to increase at least 1 ride at the weekend to 4 or 5 hours too.

FEEDIING
Also with regards to feeding during a 100m tt I find that during a 50m tt I hit a low spot around 35 miles but a bottle of flat coke usually keeps it at bay. Is it a case of trialling energy gels etc on training runs to see what and how much works best or will it be different under more effort? Only 1 bottle cage on tt bike - should I have someone with a spare half way round?

Many thanks again.

morite

Just ride a 12!

I did my first on this year and had never done anything above a 25 before. Now the pain has faded I'm really looking forward to next years (the national!) and know areas I can improve on. Only managed 205 miles but my goals were to finish andif I did get over 200 miles.

Don't take too much "proper food" I did this but could only eat jelly babies and energy gels.

If you can managed to ride 100 you can do the 12 just don't push it early on, get into a good pace and just keep it going. The last few hours are hard but the fact I wasn't going to put myself through 10 hours of it just to pack kept me going.

I had a cheshire cat grin for a week afterwards

fuzzynavel

KAR wrote:

FEEDIING
Also with regards to feeding during a 100m tt I find that during a 50m tt I hit a low spot around 35 miles but a bottle of flat coke usually keeps it at bay. Is it a case of trialling energy gels etc on training runs to see what and how much works best or will it be different under more effort? Only 1 bottle cage on tt bike - should I have someone with a spare half way round?

Many thanks again.

KAR,

you can get bottle holders that clip on under your saddle to provide extra hydration.

idaviesmoore

fuzzynavel wrote:

KAR wrote:

FEEDIING
Also with regards to feeding during a 100m tt I find that during a 50m tt I hit a low spot around 35 miles but a bottle of flat coke usually keeps it at bay. Is it a case of trialling energy gels etc on training runs to see what and how much works best or will it be different under more effort? Only 1 bottle cage on tt bike - should I have someone with a spare half way round?

Many thanks again.

KAR,

you can get bottle holders that clip on under your saddle to provide extra hydration.

Profile do a front drink bracket that will fit between your TT bars. It comes complete with an 'aero' bottle. Useful actually

chrisw12

KAR wrote:

Many thanks for the replies, all good for the hoped improvement.

Just to answer some of the comments, I have recently bought new bars and raised position by around 4 inches as it was becoming uncomfortable at any distance and I now do all my turbo work on the tt machine.

Chrisw12 - I think I'm not mentally in tune with a 12 hour yet - maybe 2010 season?!!

Apologies for any confusion but the top-end work I usually do Feb - April time, up until Christmas I will be doing intervals and steady state work but wont be doing anything above 80-85%.

Will certainly be trying to increase at least 1 ride at the weekend to 4 or 5 hours too.

FEEDIING
Also with regards to feeding during a 100m tt I find that during a 50m tt I hit a low spot around 35 miles but a bottle of flat coke usually keeps it at bay. Is it a case of trialling energy gels etc on training runs to see what and how much works best or will it be different under more effort? Only 1 bottle cage on tt bike - should I have someone with a spare half way round?

Many thanks again.

My hydration stratergy for 100 (which I think is one of the only things I've got completely right FOR ME) is

I use a 1.5l CAMELBACK with water/squash/whatever I've been using during the summer. Also 1 750ml bottle of flat coke.

I take a gel on every hour and take a final one at 3:45ish. I'll drink the camelback fluid for the first 3 hours then switch to coke for the last hour.

A couple of practicalities.

During a trainning ride I'll eat quite a bit and feel hungry for most of the ride. During a race the opposite happens, I get very reluctant to eat and do not feel hungry. So for me there's no way I could 'practice eating' during training. There's no substitute here for actual race experience.

I've tried the carry bottles on the bike and I've tried the pro route of having bottles handed up to me. FOR ME the camelback is the best solution as I can drink much easier and I don't have to stress about my helpers not being in the right place or not handing me the bottles up. With a camelback YOU are in control of when you drink and how much you drink.

Hope that helps, this works for me, like everything you'll need tp find your own system.

fuzzynavel

Chris,

The only thing wrong with the camebak is that when its full it adds over 1.5 kg to your back....Do you not find that it gets very warm and sweaty?

chrisw12

fuzzynavel wrote:

Chris,

The only thing wrong with the camebak is that when its full it adds over 1.5 kg to your back....Do you not find that it gets very warm and sweaty?

A very logical question but

1.5kg of 80+kg=not really that much.

h2o=h2o whatever the temperature.

Sweaty? No the opposite, stick it in the freezer the night before, you've then got a thermoregulator for the first two hours which reduces hr and overall enegry use.


I made the last bit up. but when was a race lost in the heat of this wonderfull island because '.... my back was too hot...'


but in the end you really have to make up your OWN mind on this one

fuzzynavel

chrisw12 wrote:

fuzzynavel wrote:

Chris,

The only thing wrong with the camebak is that when its full it adds over 1.5 kg to your back....Do you not find that it gets very warm and sweaty?

A very logical question but

1.5kg of 80+kg=not really that much.

h2o=h2o whatever the temperature.

Sweaty? No the opposite, stick it in the freezer the night before, you've then got a thermoregulator for the first two hours which reduces hr and overall enegry use.


I made the last bit up. but when was a race lost in the heat of this wonderfull island because '.... my back was too hot...'


but in the end you really have to make up your OWN mind on this one

You'd maybe be surprised how much difference a couple of kilos makes....up a 1km 7% gradient...cycling analytics says that a 97kg rider (me) would gain 2 seconds by losing 1kg in weight and by keeping the power the same....Just imagine the difference if I lose the 9.5kg that I plan to in the next 6 months!!

chrisw12

fuzzynavel wrote:

chrisw12 wrote:

fuzzynavel wrote:

Chris,

The only thing wrong with the camebak is that when its full it adds over 1.5 kg to your back....Do you not find that it gets very warm and sweaty?

A very logical question but

1.5kg of 80+kg=not really that much.

h2o=h2o whatever the temperature.

Sweaty? No the opposite, stick it in the freezer the night before, you've then got a thermoregulator for the first two hours which reduces hr and overall enegry use.


I made the last bit up. but when was a race lost in the heat of this wonderfull island because '.... my back was too hot...'


but in the end you really have to make up your OWN mind on this one

You'd maybe be surprised how much difference a couple of kilos makes....up a 1km 7% gradient...cycling analytics says that a 97kg rider (me) would gain 2 seconds by losing 1kg in weight and by keeping the power the same....Just imagine the difference if I lose the 9.5kg that I plan to in the next 6 months!!

I think you're missing the point slightly, you aint going to loose a 100m tt by 2 seconds and you rarely get big climbs in tt's

Anyway trust me, you'll loose more than two seconds swearing at the wife because she's just dropped the bottle on the side of the road.

Good luck with the weight loss though, that's definitely the right way to think about things.