Is 100 miles a week enough

andrew@snowrace

Hi I'm training for a couple of 120 mile challenges over the summer the first in mid june. Is 100 miles a week going to be enough on the road to get me somewhere close or should I up it to 150 or even 200 thoughts please.

sub55

100 is enough if you do it on one day
if you spread it over 7 days no it`s not

Herbsman

Try and get in 80-100 on one day at the weekend, and two to three 30-40 mile rides on other days of the week.

If you do one long ride on one day per week and naff all for the rest of the week your fitness might not improve much - I think you will be better off riding more frequently even if you can only do one long ride per week.

sub55

If you do one long ride on one day per week and naff all for the rest of the week your fitness might not improve much

didn't say it wood

phreak

andrew@snowrace wrote:

Hi I'm training for a couple of 120 mile challenges over the summer the first in mid june. Is 100 miles a week going to be enough on the road to get me somewhere close or should I up it to 150 or even 200 thoughts please.

It's probably not ideal, but it depends really. Last year I was doing around 150 miles a week, although I'd say most of my top quality training was 1hr threshold sessions on the turbo. Each of those equated to around 50km (including warm up and cool down) so 3 such sessions would be less than 100 miles a week and would give you decent muscular endurance.

Not ideal of course, but it'll give you a reasonable level of fitness and I dare say you could complete 100 miles without difficulty providing it's not hugely hilly.

amaferanga

Herbsman wrote:

Try and get in 80-100 on one day at the weekend, and two to three 30-40 mile rides on other days of the week.

If you do one long ride on one day per week and naff all for the rest of the week your fitness might not improve much - I think you will be better off riding more frequently even if you can only do one long ride per week.

If he's currently doing 100 miles a week and he tries to do 100 miles at the weekend on top of 3 x 40mile rides through the week I can see him getting very tired after about a week.

Andrew - a long ride at the weekend (60 miles plus, gradually increasing to around 100 miles) with a couple of hard/fast rides through the week will give you the endurance you need and should improve your threshold power a bit so you're faster on the long rides. You could be more structured in your training if you want to get quicker/fitter faster, but if all you want is to complete the challenge rides in a reasonable time then this'll be fine.

andrew@snowrace

Thanks for the replys it looks like I'm going to have to pick up the pace a bit will try 100 or soover the weekends and a couple of twentys mid week I'm also going to try some intensive climbing 1 night a week tosee if that helps thanks again Andy

Herbsman

sub55 wrote:

If you do one long ride on one day per week and naff all for the rest of the week your fitness might not improve much

didn't say it wood

I didn't say you said it would

Herbsman

amaferanga wrote:

Herbsman wrote:

Try and get in 80-100 on one day at the weekend, and two to three 30-40 mile rides on other days of the week.

If you do one long ride on one day per week and naff all for the rest of the week your fitness might not improve much - I think you will be better off riding more frequently even if you can only do one long ride per week.

If he's currently doing 100 miles a week and he tries to do 100 miles at the weekend on top of 3 x 40mile rides through the week I can see him getting very tired after about a week.

Yes, that's because you've taken the top end of my suggestion. The bottom end would be 140 miles which is only a bit more than what he's currently doing. He could aim to gradually work up to whatever mileage he has time to do over a few weeks or months, if he increases the number of hours he rides by 10% per week.

andyrr

Couple of points :
1 What is your level of fitness/ability coming into this challenge : how far could you comfortably ride ?
2 These are 'challenges' - sportives ? Charity rides ?, ie is there some time or speed issue and you need to complete them within a certain maximum time ?
If you can ride 50 miles then you can ride 100 but slower but if you need to do them at a certain average speed then that will make your requirements clearer.
Completing a few 70, 80 or so rides beforehand, over similar terrain, will be a help, at least so you know that you have the ability to complete the targetted rides. Also sometimes issues arise with things like bike -fit and muscle soreness, sore back etc, once you've ridden continuously for a longer than normal period and getting these identified and resolved could be important.

racingcondor

If you're riding a little daily then I doubt 100 miles will do it (because none of your rides would be very long). You may well manage it but it will likely be very hard.

I'd aim to do a minimum of 3 20-30 mile days during the week (if you commute then I'd count both ways) and then build yourself up to riding 70 miles one day a week. If you can ride 70 reasonably comfortably, you should be fine but once you're doing that I suspect you'll be riding 150+ miles per week.

Regularly riding 60+ miles will also get you used to pacing yourself and teach you something about eating on the bike. Both key to riding centurys.

ut_och_cykla

I think it depends a bit on how good you want your challenges to be. My rule of thumb is if you're doing it regulalry every week you can do it as a one off ride one weekend - so by this you need to be doing at least 120 miles a week including one long ride of at least half the distance - which breaks down to 60 steady miles, 30 brisk ones and two quite tough speed sessions. That's what I'd aim to be doing anyway - but build up speed & distance slowly. Good luck!

simon_e

Ensure you manage a long ride at the weekend (build up from 40 miles or so if you aren't confident). If your target rides are hilly make sure it's got some climbs some weeks, but to begin with just miles in the saddle turning the pedals is a very effective 'base' to build on. Make sure you eat/drink adequately during and after the ride. Give the legs a day off the next day.

If you can vary your weekday mileage e.g. longer commute home a couple of nights then try that. If you're doing hill reps or intervals on a weeknight you might want to go particularly easy or rest the following day. Bear in mind that appropriate rest is as important as the effort itself. As the weeks go and your body adapts you won't need to rest as much.

As you can see from another thread in this forum called Pre-ride meal, opinions vary on whether or what to eat before a ride. After reading some of this fellow's stuff I have gone out riding for 2-2.5 hours first thing with only water some days and felt good.

Edit: just seen your other thread about using the MTB (might have been easier to use 1 thread for both Qs). I'd say the more riding you do the better. Make sure there's plenty of work done. To train for long rides the best things is to do long rides, you don't have to batter yourself in the process.

whojanicanackerov

phreak wrote:

andrew@snowrace wrote:

Hi I'm training for a couple of 120 mile challenges over the summer the first in mid june. Is 100 miles a week going to be enough on the road to get me somewhere close or should I up it to 150 or even 200 thoughts please.

It's probably not ideal, but it depends really. Last year I was doing around 150 miles a week, although I'd say most of my top quality training was 1hr threshold sessions on the turbo. Each of those equated to around 50km (including warm up and cool down) so 3 such sessions would be less than 100 miles a week and would give you decent muscular endurance.
That would be 31 miles pre hour would it not????

kamil1891

whojanicanackerov wrote:

phreak wrote:

andrew@snowrace wrote:

Hi I'm training for a couple of 120 mile challenges over the summer the first in mid june. Is 100 miles a week going to be enough on the road to get me somewhere close or should I up it to 150 or even 200 thoughts please.

It's probably not ideal, but it depends really. Last year I was doing around 150 miles a week, although I'd say most of my top quality training was 1hr threshold sessions on the turbo. Each of those equated to around 50km (including warm up and cool down) so 3 such sessions would be less than 100 miles a week and would give you decent muscular endurance.
That would be 31 miles pre hour would it not????

Yes, but it's on the turbo...

whojanicanackerov

My turbo is just as if not harder than the road?? (Jet fluid PRO) Am i missing something?.

simon_e

whojanicanackerov wrote:

My turbo is just as if not harder than the road?? (Jet fluid PRO) Am i missing something?.

It's not the same. No hills, no wind, no traffic, no crap surface, drain covers or potholes...

The only way to test how quick you are on the road is to ride on the road.

sub55

whojanicanackerov wrote:

My turbo is just as if not harder than the road?? (Jet fluid PRO) Am i missing something?.

yes

phreak

whojanicanackerov wrote:

phreak wrote:

andrew@snowrace wrote:

Hi I'm training for a couple of 120 mile challenges over the summer the first in mid june. Is 100 miles a week going to be enough on the road to get me somewhere close or should I up it to 150 or even 200 thoughts please.

It's probably not ideal, but it depends really. Last year I was doing around 150 miles a week, although I'd say most of my top quality training was 1hr threshold sessions on the turbo. Each of those equated to around 50km (including warm up and cool down) so 3 such sessions would be less than 100 miles a week and would give you decent muscular endurance.
That would be 31 miles pre hour would it not????

I did say that it includes warm up and cool down The actual hour of proper riding does around 37km.

whojanicanackerov

22 mph is quite a bit different to 31mph Still no slouch though well done 8)

kamil1891

As long as right zones are kept power/HR then the rest doesn't matter really (not to say that is good to see the speed and cadence too just for reference). It also depends on the turbo/rollers and its resistance how fast you can go. Most of the times I do my turbo training on the bike that doesn't have the speed sensor and then I only look at the zones I'm in.

wallace_and_gromit

One long ride (at leat 5 hours) a week plus a couple of hard hour long turbo sessions should be fine for an imperial century. If the century is hilly then the long rides would need to be as well.

This worked for me last year. I tried a couple of weekends of "double long rides" and I just couldn't take it. I was still tired by the next weekend! The key to long rides is learning about pacing, eating and drinking. I found that for a typical "Weekend Warrior" hilly 100k effort over 4 hours, with the previous day's eating, breakfast and a couple of bottles of High 5, I had enough energy supplies to get round. My first 5 hour ride was horrible, as I ran out of gas towards the end. It took a while to get used to eating a lot in the first half of the ride when I wasn't hungry to see me through the second half.

My best discovery was that a cheese sandwich and peanuts after 6 hours livened me up no end. My non-riding mate in the Marmotte supplied me with some cheese croissants mid ride, and the effect was like a dose of EPO. (I'm speculating here, obviously, but they were very welcome at the time.)