Originally Posted by
Machka
I might not do a lot during the few days before a century, but tapering for 2 weeks shouldn't be necessary.
Thanks, good to know! I guess I was reading articles meant for more serious athletes competing in races and training daily... I am not trying to overthink it, was just curious what the best strategy was in the week leading up, so as to start as fresh as possible.
Originally Posted by
DrIsotope
It is said that you can ride in a day what you typically ride in a week. I find this to be true. If you're regularly doing 200km weeks, an imperial century will be fine physically. It's tougher mentally, because after around 80 miles there always seems to be a part of the brain that says, "Why are we doing this? We could literally be doing anything else."
I don't "taper" or anything like.
Thanks for the tips! Yeah I should be well-enough prepared I think, doing 180k-200k weeks last week and this week. I think I'll be quite motivated to finish, but I've never done the distance, so we will see.
Originally Posted by
base2
Or you could just go ride 5 twenty mile rides from one rest stop to the next.
I wouldn't think riding a century would need any taper. Especially with a low volume 75 mile week. A rest day or 2 before hand is one thing, but anything 3 days or more is going to start declining fitness.
If you are doing 75 mile weeks already, keep that up. Front load Mon, Tue, Wed wit 3 moderate 25 mile rides. Then rest, stretch, yoga or walking or some other leisure activity on Thursday, Friday, then just go ride it Saturday.
No big deal. YOU CAN DO IT!
Thanks, great suggestions! Yeah I did a 40k ride yesterday, a distance which is very easy for me now, even going full gas. So I just need to do 4 of those, easy peasy. LOL
Good tip, doing some riding early in the week, and doing 2 rest days prior to the event. Interesting that you say 3 rest days+ might start losing fitness. I do commute to work (only 3 miles each way) so I will keep doing that at an easy pace every day in any case.
Originally Posted by
surak
Are you riding a supported century with rest stops? I wouldn't worry about tapering that much, just follow your original training plan. Don't go too hard in the first half of your ride, eat and drink throughout but avoid lingering at a stop too long stuffing yourself, and you'll have a great time.
Yes, it is supported with rest stops. Thanks for the suggestion, I will plan on sticking mostly to my training plan. I am still planning to bring most of my own food (granola bars and bananas typically work for me), because I am not sure what type of food they will have at the rest stops. Don't want to start experimenting with different food at the event in case it upsets my stomach.