emergency HELP!!!

ozzy1000_0

i have a training emergency! I have just signed up for a century on june the 26th. I'm away on a island next week so unable to train (but will try to run abit)..... so that only gives me about 10 weeks to get ready (with the tenth weekend being the actual century).... i have two kids and work full time so time is pretty limited....

my current fitness isn't terrible but its just not bike specific fitness. I swim alot and probably swim 2-4+miles a week. last summer i started riding abit for the first time in about 10years and got to the point that I did a couple of 65ishmile rides, then around autumn i bust my collar bone and didn't touch my bike until a couple of weeks ago. this weekend i did a hilly devon 40miles and it wasn't too bad...

does anyone have any adivce on training with limited time? i bought a copy of the "time crunched cyclist" and was thinking about starting one of his programs which would allegedly be seeing result by 9 weeks or so. does anyone have experience of this interval type programs?? should i splash out and get a turbo as it would allow me to train when the kids are asleep etc....

any advice is welcome!!!

cheers, Owain

GiantMike

You could probably ride 100 miles now, it would just take quite a while to do it. 40 hilly miles isn't a bad place to start training from.

If you can, try to do 1 long ride a week; starting at 60 miles and working up to 100 or so. Unfortunately, the only way to get better at riding longer distances is to ride longer distances. I know you're short of time, but this is the most useful training for the event.

I'd also do a couple of shorter interval type sessions, using more power over a shorter period.

What's the terrain like on the 100 miler? I estimate that each 1000ft of climb feels like another 3-5 miles of distance, so 100 miles with 6000ft of climbing would feel more like 118-130. If you've chosen a hilly 100, better train that way too, adding hills to any workout. For endurance events, try to focus on a smooth efficient cycling style.

The most important issue on the day will be nutrition, so you need to train for this too. Drink plenty and eat well. Energy drinks, bars and gels really do work and will help to stop you running out of energy. If it's a sportive, don't assume there will be anything left at the feed stations, a lot of the time there won't be.

Turbos are a good idea for specific training. I doubt you would get much benefit from training on a turbo because the century will be a 6-7 hour endurance event. I've never managed more than 90 mins of the turbo because it's very very boring, especially if you're planning to do endurance training.

Good luck!!

ut_och_cykla

As Giant Mike has said - practice increasing the distance on one weekly ride and ride harder/faster on two other shorter rides during the week. You could do hill intervalls perhaps if the sportive is hilly - or 2 fastish 20 minute blocks once a week - evening sessions 1-2 hours max - but hard and with a day or two inbetween.
You can proabaly do a century already - its just time you need - good luck!

Slack

You could go out with the Yogi's on a Saturday(from Plymouth) who are building up for the Dartmoor Classic - do this once a week and then also two interval/faster rides during the week. Combination of endurance and speed work is all you can do to adapt your body as best as possible.

rick_chasey

Just get on your bike as often as you can be bothered, and vary the way you ride when you do.

DubaiNeil

Time Crunched Cyclist is very good IME. I followed the "Beginner Century" for 9 weeks prior to a 4 day 550km event, where day 1 was 106 miles (171km) with 2,600m of climbing. We then had to get up and do similar the next day, which you don't!

The plan (once deciphered) is very easy to follow, and I pre-programmed the sessions into my Garmin, then just followed them on the appropriate days.

It will probably be worthwhile to study the section on nutrition for pre-, during and post ride, as this did seem to help me recover& get the most out of the sessions.

I also had to do part of the training on a turbo (as it was too hot to cycle outside!) and I either followed the plan session, or used one of the SufferFest interval sessions which seemed to achieve pretty much the same objectives (and is "allowed" in the plan)

Personally I found that having some structure to my plan, and definite progression towards the event date motivated me to stick with it.

If you would like any more background on the plan I constructed, let me know

Neil

ozzy1000_0

DubaiNeil wrote:

Time Crunched Cyclist is very good IME. I followed the "Beginner Century" for 9 weeks prior to a 4 day 550km event, where day 1 was 106 miles (171km) with 2,600m of climbing. We then had to get up and do similar the next day, which you don't!

The plan (once deciphered) is very easy to follow, and I pre-programmed the sessions into my Garmin, then just followed them on the appropriate days.

It will probably be worthwhile to study the section on nutrition for pre-, during and post ride, as this did seem to help me recover& get the most out of the sessions.

I also had to do part of the training on a turbo (as it was too hot to cycle outside!) and I either followed the plan session, or used one of the SufferFest interval sessions which seemed to achieve pretty much the same objectives (and is "allowed" in the plan)

Personally I found that having some structure to my plan, and definite progression towards the event date motivated me to stick with it.

If you would like any more background on the plan I constructed, let me know

Neil

firstly thanks to everyone for their repsonse!!

Neil, thanks for this also. last night a friend said he was going to dig out a turbo trainer for me, I know its not ideal and that long rides would be best, but the optimal times for me to train are in the evenings when the kids are asleep, so some turbo work is proabably nessercary.... what did you think of the work load of the begineer century program?? I think I need structure I tend to dither if i don't have a plan, its also much better for my marriage if i can show lisa my plan so I don't seem to be randomly nipping off for more rides all the time

cheers, Owain

ded

ozzy1000_0 wrote:

the optimal times for me to train are in the evenings when the kids are asleep, so some turbo work is proabably nessercary

Don't forget the mornings! If you can (child-dependent of course) get up before the urchins and you can get out in the sunshine (ha ha, not where I live...) and bash out some longer distances then. Has worked for me in the past (and hopefully will again or the Marmotte will be paaaaaaiiinnnfffuuulll).

I've also used the TCTP and thought it very good for giving your training structure, even if you, like me, simply manage to prove you are even more time-crunched than Carmichael thinks possible... :shock:

ozzy1000_0

ded wrote:

ozzy1000_0 wrote:

the optimal times for me to train are in the evenings when the kids are asleep, so some turbo work is proabably nessercary

Don't forget the mornings! If you can (child-dependent of course) get up before the urchins and you can get out in the sunshine (ha ha, not where I live...) and bash out some longer distances then. Has worked for me in the past (and hopefully will again or the Marmotte will be paaaaaaiiinnnfffuuulll).

I've also used the TCTP and thought it very good for giving your training structure, even if you, like me, simply manage to prove you are even more time-crunched than Carmichael thinks possible... :shock:

great thanks, so i reckon, I'm going to try and follow the begineer TCTP but with a touch of flexibility. I think my weekend rides will probably end up being as long as i can queeze into one ride (3 hours to begin then working up) rather than the 2 2hr rides prescribed in the TCTP. Also the intervals might be difficult to fit into 1 hour sessions as the only roads any good for intervals are a fair ride away, its very hilly 'round 'ere.... so i reckon i'll do asmany intervals as i can on the turbo, then swapp some of them for 'trying' to achieve the same objectives on the roads around here....

does that sounds ok??

DubaiNeil

I recommend very highly reading the description of the training plan to understand what each session is intended to achieve, and then modify them as you have to based on terrain, time & equipment available to reach the same objective for a session.

The long rides will become more important as you approach the event as this is (fairly obviously!) what you will need to do on the day! I found that my wife allowed me to allocate additional time for the longer rides once she understood that it was part of a plan & that there was an "end date" she could look forward to in may case it was all her fault anyway, as she was the one who entered me into the event

Good luck

Neil

ozzy1000_0

well i did it!!! 5hours 33mins total, moving average of 19mph....about 10 weeks ago i hadn't touched a bike for ages, this was my first century and i super proud of myself, i was up fount with the fast groups and finished in the top 30-40out 600+... thanks for the advice, heres my garmin, check outmy heart rate, that 83%ofmax average for 5 and a half hours.....;

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/94961352

keef66

Bloody well done that man!

MountainMonster

Very well done, sounds like you gave it a good effort and are pleased with the results. When's your next one going to be then?

chiark

Fan-bloody-tastic! Well done that man! Looking at that route, I think I'd have cried at about the 35-40 mile mark: looks utterly evil!

ozzy1000_0

thanks guys, i'm still feeling pretty rough today, but already wondering whats next

ozzy1000_0

hi again all,

How long would expect to need to recover from this?? prior to sunday the furthest I'd ever ridden was 75miles, then sunday I did what felt like a fairly solid and fast 100... I was ruined on monday and just needed to sleep, tuesday, still felt very tired and didnt train, wednesday I felt a bit better and tried to do interval on the turbo in the evening, managed about 20minutes and just shy'd away feeling tired... then last night (thursday) tried again and and the same happened, I was trying to do spint intervals and got about 22minutes in and just felt like I'd run out of steam and stopped and went to bed.....

I've also lost about 3kgs since last week!!! (I need to loose wieght but not at the expense of health)

I know these are all signs of over training, but I thought two solid recovery days would have been enough after a century?... I'm guessing I need more, but if anyone has advice on how to play this It'd be welcome,

all the best, O