barrykai

52 year old male here and have built up to a 51 miler last weekend. It wasn't pretty but got it done. I've built up to this primarily by doing one ride per week and one weightlifting session per week. Reason for only riding once per week is due to my work schedule. My ultimate goal is to do a century but my concern is that there is a limit to extending endurance while training one day a week. I am off Fri, Sat and Sundays and could train all 3 days if necessary. Would I be better off doing 3 moderate length rides for 3 days? Long ride on Friday with moderate rides on Saturday and Sunday? Possibly I can continue what I'm doing but it taking longer to get there? Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks.

Barry

Dudelsack 

Depends.

You can do a century riding twice a week if there's not a lot of climbing involved.

I'd ride fartleks on Friday, or a demanding group ride.

I'd take it easy on Saturday.

I'd go for an LSD ride (long steady distance) on Sunday, gradually increasing the distance and/or difficulty.

You won't set speed records. To do that you'll have to ride more often.

big john

I ride 6-8 hours on Saturday and 2 on Sunday and usually 1 hour on Wednesday and I can do a hilly century any weekend. I'm a little fat and at 59 I'm not getting faster so I think you can do it.
Don't forget to rest before the century.

Hermes

You have year over year over year endurance and a lot of climbing in your legs. Year over year cycling counts a lot, IMHO.

big john

Very true, many miles in the bank. I was just trying to encourage the youngster.

NOS88

Would you be better off doing 3 days? Yes, I think so.

barrykai

How many miles are you doing during that 6-8 hours?

How long after a workout does it take before the body starts to decondition?

baron von trail 

I suggest looking into a trainer. Set it up in a room where you can spend some time comfortably. Ride it for an hour a day. This will help you develop cycling stamina.


https://budgetbicyclectr.com/budgetbi...icycle-trainer

big john

Saturday rides are at least 65 miles , usually closer to 80 and once in a while 100ish.

By 'decondition' do you mean to lose fitness? If I have a super easy weekend with not much climbing then the next weekend climbing will be harder than it should. Years ago I could slack off more and just a 50 mile ride on a Wednesday and I would be ready for a century on Saturday. These days I have to keep the miles and hills up every weekend or it's tough to do a lot of climbing or chasing of younger, fitter riders.

Another thing that happened after I turned 55 or so is recovery is harder, both during the ride after a hard effort and the next couple days after a long ride.

I got a new boss last winter and it got harder to sneak out early on Wednesday for my mid-week ride and I couldn't ride Wednesdays until the clocks changed and the days got longer. I have a trainer but it takes more desire than I can muster to get on it most of the time. Next winter I will probably get some good lights for weekday after work rides.

Oh, if I'm doing a hard ride on Saturday, I never ride Thursday or Friday.

Bikey Mikey

3 days, IMHO, is the minimum to be able to ride a century comfortably. 4 days would be better. How about getting up extra early and riding before work. During the school year when I do subbing, I'm up at 4AM and out the door no later than 0445(usually 0430) and ride. Why so early? Some schools start the day much earlier than others and in order to have enough time for at least 23 miles, shower, dressing, making lunch, and travel for the earliest of days, I get up at that ghastly hour. During the Summer, I'm up by 0500~0600(mainly so that it's cooler and that it's easier to get back in the 0400 groove.

TromboneAl

Friday: Long steady distance ride, work up to 70 miles.
Saturday: Weight Lifting, but go easy on the legs
Sunday: 15 mile ride with 4-6 high intensity intervals.

Try to get in some walking during the week.

When you finish a 70 miler, and think "Hey, that wasn't so bad!" then you are ready for the century.

Lacumo

If you're into books that may be of help, check out "The Time Crunched Cyclist." I think it's worth the price. Best of luck with your efforts, too!

Steve Sawyer

If it means anything, I had plans to do my first century this summer. However, my work schedule too got in the way big-time so that I've only been able to get out on weekends consistently. I've been able to make anywhere from an easy 30-miler to a hilly metric, but I've scratched the century off the "to-do" list for this year. This weekend will be the busiest I've had in a month because I'm off tomorrow and will be getting in a 40-miler and another 30-miler on Saturday morning.

I'm 63 and if I was getting out at least twice a week for at least 20 miles and once for 30-50 that I'd have gone for that century.

Thanks for that suggestion - I'm going to check that out...

barrykai

What I could work in during the week is rowing. I've got a Concept 2 Rower that provides an excellent workout but not sure how much it would help my biking.

CbadRider

I just did a century ride last weekend. I work full time and only have time to cycle on the road on weekends. I do teach a 60 minute spin class twice a week and that is enough to keep my fitness level up. Is there any way you can incorporate some type of cycling during the week?

billydonn

Oh yeah, of course. I don't think there's a magic formula for how to do the three days. I think I'd go easy medium long, or medium easy long. Maybe I'd mix it up but never the long day first.

BluesDawg

Ride as much as you can. Don't get too freaked out about riding a century. It's just riding a bike for a long time.

Slowhead

A good workout Tue or Wed on the Concept 2 would help. Those are really nice, well designed machines. If you can hold your own on a Concept 2, getting 'cycle fit' is not too far behind.

NVanHiker

A few people here have alluded to short but intense workouts in preparation for long rides, and I have found this to be true. My last tour included three 100-mile days and the rest a minimum 85, and yet the extent of my training was a 12k ride each way to work 2-3 times a week that has three short hills. I take lots of recovery time and don't ride the two days before a trip. The main secret to riding a century is toughening your butt enough to be able to stay in the saddle all day!

Bikey Mikey

One word, which has been already mentioned I believe, TRAINER.

Wogster

I'm wondering if it might be better to do easy, long, medium, or medium, long, easy using the last one as a recovery ride....

Personally I think most practical is:

Monday,Wednesday,Friday: OFF
Tuesday, Thursday: Time Limited - 1hr (Distance varies)
Saturday, long
Sunday, medium

For example in the Winter, I usually shoot for 15km on Tuesday and Thursday, 40km on Saturday, and 25km on Sunday.... This has been a bad year, so I need to work back up to that......

CommuteCommando

I'll be doing my first C in October, and so far my longest ride has been 70 miles with 4200 ft climbing. I ride six days a week. My commute is five miles in the morning, and five to thirty miles in the afternoon.

My point is that we have to work with what we have. I view my ability to commute by bike as a plus, even though it isn't optimum training wise. We aren't trying to hammer a stage of the Tour de California.

barrykai

Thanks guys. Lots of good ideas here. I think a trainer would be the best way to train but don't want to spend the money so I'm going to give the rower a go at it. At the very least it should give me a good cardiovascular engine to draw from when on the bike.

TromboneAl

I've been persuaded that cross-training doesn't work that well. That is, the rowing will make you a better rower, but won't help much for cycling.

There's an anecdote in the book Body by Science that illustrates that our concept of "cardiovascular fitness" may be flawed. That is, it suggests that running may make you a better runner (or spinning may make you a better spinner), but it doesn't improve your CV fitness in a general sense. I know I've seen that running doesn't improve my cycling much and vice versa, which suggest they aren't improving my CV fitness in general.

Anyway, the anecdote is that a company has an annual fitness test involving riding a stationary bike. There's a group of runners in the company who run together every day. There's also an out-of-shape couch potato. The potato is worried about the test, and for the month preceding it, he essentially duplicates the test on the stationary bike.

The couch potato passes the test, and the runners fail it.