that first 100 miler

j.higson

hey guys,

im currently in training for my first 100 mile ride, the Manchester 100 to be exact, and wanted to know your training regimes to compare to mine.

at the moment i do 25 miles a day monday to thursday, 10 miles on friday and then I'm going to start doing a 30-35 mile ride on a sunday morning. would it be wise to increase the sunday ride each month or would it be fine to just keep plodding on with this routine?

what kind of diet plans are advisable for this amount of training or do diet plans come into it nearer to the time?

im a complete novice so any help would be brilliant. thanks

rookieroadie

I would look to increase your Sunday ride maybe to around 75 miles as its a big step to do 100 miles if your longest ride is 35 miles.If you can increase your weekly rides a bit as well then that would also help.
I did my 1st 100 mile last year at the Cheshire Cat sportive and my longest ride before that was about 70.
I found the amount of time in the saddle the issue,not the extra distance, as your back gets stiff and your arse gets a bit numb but stretching on the bike and altering your hand position on your bars helps.Stretch at the feed stops and sit down if possible.
Also important to eat and drink regularly during your ride even if you feel ok.
As for your diet recovery is the main issue as you should look to have a recovery shake and a good carb/protein meal within 20mins of your ride ending.
If your riding as often as you say then you should be able to eat sensibly without putting on weight or even lose weight if thats what your goal is also.

Im no expert myself but thats what i did and have gone on to do a couple more 100 milers since.

Good luck with it.

j.higson

thanks for the reply man!

i cant really up my daily ride as its my commute to university and back. however im going to up my weekend ride every other week by a few miles (ten at a time) till i start hitting 70 to 80 miles or so and then build it a little slower to the full 100. i want to have at least a few 100 milers.
thanks for the advice pal!

poynedexter

IF your commute has been regular for a while, you have a start made.

30-35 miles will require no extra diet requirements if you are eating sensibly. thats 2 hrs ish in the saddle so dont waste money on protein drinks etc. drink water!

personally i would aim for 50 miles as a starting point on a sunday. (based on your 25 mile daily etc....)

j.higson

hey man,

yeh i have got a ride planned via the map my run website that is just a little over 50 miles.. atherton to chorally then down through wigan, down to manchester and back to home. that should give me around 3 hours of riding time.

i successfully did my first 33 miles this sunday gone that put me just over the 2 hour mark.

really enjoyed the ride, even thou i was knackered by the time i was done. but i will get stronger as time goes on.

i have 7 months to train anyway so im glad ive started earlier!

Cleat Eastwood

It is quite a way off, you'll have plenty of time to up the miles. Why not have a go at the manchester blackpool in july I think, 60 miles. The manchester 100 is flat apart from one pimple at the end. What I would say is try and do a ride or two where you spend 4+ hours n the saddle, on longer rides the small niggles can become real show stopping aches and pains.

When I did it there were loads of riders of different abilities - groups would stop at pubs and cafes to re fuel, so dont you think you have to do it all in one go. Liek I say its a fair distance off and over the summer the odd 40, 50 miler, plus one or two longer should see you ok. It really is a great atmosphere on that ride - you'll enjoy it.

j.higson

thanks man! i am really really looking forward to it. i would like to do it all in one ride thou as a personal challenge but i accept that that might not be a possibility.

i did a 2 and half hour ride at the weekend and my left dodgy knee did start playing up a little but i am going to be doing some longer rides just to make sure. gonna see if i have the courage to jump to a 50 miler this weekend ha