Originally Posted by
luddite_68
I have a goal. There is a charity ride in Feb of 2018 with various distances. I want to do a century to celebrate my 50th birthday. I have been riding seriously 4x per week, one ride being a long ride on Saturday for the last five months. My long ride is between 30-40 mi. I just upgraded my bike to a Fuji Gran Fondo 2.0 and got enough credit back from Performance Bike for a Wahoo Element Bolt bundle with speed, cadence and heart rate monitors.
I am overweight. 290lbs after losing 70 lbs so far. My goals are to lose more weight while training for the century and being able to successfully complete the century in Feb. I think I've got plenty of time. With my work schedule, I would like to have Fri & Sun be "off days" from training. I work full time Mon-Fri. I am looking for advice from the great wealth of knowledge here on training that will fit my schedule, how to train and even tips on nutrition for continuing to lose weight while training.
My schedule so far has been:
Mon-Weds, evening ride 10.5mile fast as possible.
1. That's not far enough
2. That will make you tired and slow, because you can't stress yourself enough for good anaerobic adaptations and are going too hard to train your slow-twitch fibers and oxidative energy system.
All advice is greatly appreciated.
Add 10% total riding time each week, except for an easy week out of every 3.
Do that until you're riding at least 100 miles a week. Most of your time should me spent below your aerobic threshold where breathing becomes rhythmic, conversation doesn't flow, and you start to feel your legs. One day a week you can ride 5-10 minute intervals as hard as possible resting 5 minutes between them.
Try a metric century first so you won't discover you have comfort problems on long rides halfway into your century.
Ride your century at your own pace below your aerobic threshold. Drink when thirsty. Eat small amounts of food (no more than an energy bar per hour). Don't stop longer than you need to relieve yourself and refill your water bottles, especially in cool weather.
Enjoy!