Old 07-08-22, 10:56 AM
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Carbonfiberboy 
just another gosling
 
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Everett, WA
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Bikes: CoMo Speedster 2003, Trek 5200, CAAD 9, Fred 2004

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If you have been riding 100 miles/week for a few weeks before a century, you can ride 100 miles in one day. That's a good rule of thumb. So you're already doing that. You'd like to ride faster. A good approach is one day/week you do speed work, intervals of max effort for 30", then 5 minutes riding recovery. Do them until your power starts dropping noticeably. Say 4-8 repeats after you're well warmed up and then finish a 25 mile ride, moderate pace. One day a week, do hill repeats. A good workout is 3' uphill, must be hard enough to make you pant by the end. Coast back down, rest maybe 1 minute, repeat until you aren't making it up the hill as far as you have been. Finish a 25 mile ride, moderate pace.

The speed work can alternatively be done as out of the saddle hill sprints, same 30", 5' riding recovery.

A novice century rider should probably do the long ride about how you're doing it so you get the hang of eating and drinking on the bike, not bonking, not getting dehydrated, etc. To ride a faster century, I like the long ride to be 4-5 hours, ridden hard enough that I can hardly walk at the end. You can of course still do that with your long ride but getting up over 6 hours, you won't be able to go all out on the hills.

Using a heart rate monitor (HRM) is a very good way to pace yourself. Pacing is the trick. On really long rides, doubles and longer, I set an upper HR limit and don't go over it. Get one if you don't already have one and get familiar with what your heart rate does under various conditions. The other use of a HRM is to monitor your stress level. You get up in the morning, pee, and then lie down and take your resting HR for 5 minutes. Say your usual is 55. If it goes up 6-8 beats over your usual, you need to rest and don't ride until it comes back down to close to normal.
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