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Need some help training for my first century

Old 07-10-22, 09:15 AM
  #26  
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Originally Posted by rm -rf
On the few event ride 100 mile days that I've done, I stopped at every rest stop, about 15 miles apart. Food at every stop too.

I've noticed that even stopping for 30 seconds at an overlook on a long climb kind of resets my attitude. it's like a boost in energy and mood.
Don't try to keep up with your group riders if the pace is too high. I like riding along with riders I don't know on these event rides. I try to evaluate how erratic the riders are, though, and keep a distance from those people.
It seems that every time I do 100 miles, I ride for a "long time" and then check the distance on my GPS. 22 miles done! 79 to go! What! How discouraging. But once I get to about 50 miles or so, things settle down and the finish seems doable.
My view...
Stopping - a very personal thing, depends on each 'section'... stop when you NEED to stop, keep them reasonably short, take care of 'nature needs'. In the earliest stops, I receommend keeping any solids intake to fresh fruit- stuff you like, Strawberries and such, banana (put one in the back pocket), NO burritos, or other heavy stuff - digestion puts a heavy load on the general body/system. At a mid-ride stop or when you decide to eat a bit more, keep it to easier digestion stuff like Hard-boiled egg, keep the fats on the v-light side.
I really recommend NOT 'chimping' the bike computer for distance for as long as you can. 'Mileage' noted along the way is always a negative, especially in the 1st 2/3 of a 100 (or long ride)..
attention to your surroundings, other riders, a little interaction with others (not constant chatting) lets the miles flow by faster.

Originally Posted by koala logs
Another thing not mentioned so far. If you're getting a good draft from the rider(s) in front of you, spend some time riding as upright as possible, hands on the tops and don't even try leaning forward. Just be upright and as relaxed as possible. It will save your neck and shoulders getting sore later on, especially if you're thinking of completing the century with the least amount of stopping as possible. When doing century myself, I only stop once or twice to pee or to buy cheap fruits and vegetables from road-side makeshift stalls.
Pros during a long race would also sit upright often by taking their hands off their handlebars. Because their handlebars are very low, taking your hands off is the only way they can sit upright.
It's good to 'move around' on the bike at times, but 'longterm 'upright'... not what i would do or recommend... Unless I'm riding with others I know and trust, I would NEVER ride so close that real 'drafting' is happening...
if you wanna relax, don;t 'A-Frame' - don;t straightarm the bars, don;t let the shoulders hunch up around the neck/ears. DON'T let the center/Ulnar nerve channel of the palm/wrist be centered on the bars, grip so that the meaty sides of palm and thumb do any support work.
UNless you're 29 years old and do 20,000+ miles a year, many at race pace - what the PROS do is always best weighed relative to what the purpose and affect might be. They rarely ride no-hands in an event, except when they need both hands to do something important. DO PROS make mistakes? you bet - there's evidence in every race, and the consequences are often severe.
A Century is a joy ride, not a race. If you don;t 'enjoy' the 1st one, you'll likely never try again.
Ride On
Yuri
Really, for most, the hardest single part of 100 is the 'butt' time... When you do stop, don;t 'sit' for any length of time, move around lightly, give the butt some recovery time... lightly moving around helps the entire musculature get circulation and 'recovery'.
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Old 07-10-22, 12:56 PM
  #27  
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Just to re-iterate in a slightly different way, you don't have to be on someone's wheel to get some benefit from being in a group. Even 10 feet behind a cluster of other riders will have you pedaling along with less power required.

Certainly you'll finish sooner if you stay with a group than if you stay solo. Unless you picked the slowest group there! That said, I tagged on to a paceline at one ride that was too fast for me and they wore me out. The last 15 miles solo after they rode me off the back was torture! <grin>

Key words above are "group" and "paceline". While a paceline is a group, a group is not necessarily a paceline.

Last edited by Iride01; 07-10-22 at 12:59 PM.
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Old 07-10-22, 03:24 PM
  #28  
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so, might as well go thru a few more important things...
well before the event/ prep 'training'...
if you don't already, always 'warm up' on the bike in the early part of every ride. I recommend 10 to 15% warmup time - 30 miler - 4 mi. warmup, 50 miler 6-7 mi warmup, 100 miler 8-10 mile warmup. sometimes a group ride just 'goes' from the start - so I always get my warmup before - ride to the 'ride', if driving, park some distance from the 'start' and roll to start (which allows a 'cooldown' ride back to car). Always do a 'warmup' and cool-down! 1st century ? Use the 15 - 20 min from the start as 'warmup riding'... There will be those who go full blast from the start - suffering is part of the cycling ethic... LOL! but you don;t have to experience that in your 1st 100... If you come to the finish feeling 'done' but not 'out', then you did it right. If you have to get a ride back in the 'Broom Wagon', you will be unhappy.
If you can, do a 'metric' (60-62 mi) 3 or 4 weeks before the full 100... it'll give you a feeling for how to do things and how you handle the ride.
Before the BIG event
the 2 -3 days before - do 'Small Ring' rides - easy pace, comfortable spin, at a pace you at which you can easily 'talk'... 45 min to 1 hr is fine.
morning of race - have your morning meal 2 hrs before the start - gives enough time to digest properly.
Finish of 100 - last 8 miles - steady, no heavy efforts, use the finish as a 'cool-down', your body will appreciate it greatly in the coming hours and days.
Have Fun! you might even make some new acquaintances and friends!
Ride on... some more...
Yuri
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Old 07-10-22, 04:46 PM
  #29  
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Personally I also like to eat a good filling breakfast about 90 minutes before starting a longer distance ride.
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Old 07-10-22, 11:58 PM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by wolfchild
Personally I also like to eat a good filling breakfast about 90 minutes before starting a longer distance ride.
Called "carbo-loading".

Eat lots of carbs the night before the big ride and another huge carbo meal 2 to 3 hours before the ride. Ofc, the time you take the big meal before big ride can be different per individual. For me I take big carbo meal less than an hour before a big ride.

Together with carbo loading, you may also "hyper hydrate" the day before and an hour before the ride - as long as neither thing makes you bloated. It helps extend your supplies or make less stops and generally improves your chances of not bonking the ride. But do pay careful attention to your body. Don't forget to eat and drink and if you run out of food or drink, then make a food and drink stop. It's better to be delayed a bit if you made a much needed food and drink stop than try to make it to the finish line sooner but feel miserable afterwards.
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Old 07-11-22, 12:10 AM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by terrymorse
If you're riding along in a peloton with your hands off the bars, you'll get yelled at.
Yes, it's risky. I only told about it to illustrate the the importance of riding upright from time to time.

Didn't tell him to do it. I only told him to spend some time with his hands on the tops of the dropbar to more upright for some relief and relax the body a bit.
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Old 07-11-22, 08:06 AM
  #32  
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IMO, carb loading is border line BUNK. As is going out for a ride after a big meal. So to is trying to drink more water to hyper hydrate. These are silly things you read about on r e d i t
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Old 07-11-22, 08:32 AM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by Iride01
IMO, carb loading is border line BUNK. As is going out for a ride after a big meal. So to is trying to drink more water to hyper hydrate. These are silly things you read about on r e d i t
+1. The benefits of eating a big meal before an event, especially as a team, are mostly psychological.
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Old 07-11-22, 04:18 PM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by koala logs
Called "carbo-loading".

Eat lots of carbs the night before the big ride and another huge carbo meal 2 to 3 hours before the ride. Ofc, the time you take the big meal before big ride can be different per individual. For me I take big carbo meal less than an hour before a big ride.

Together with carbo loading, you may also "hyper hydrate" the day before and an hour before the ride - as long as neither thing makes you bloated. It helps extend your supplies or make less stops and generally improves your chances of not bonking the ride. But do pay careful attention to your body. Don't forget to eat and drink and if you run out of food or drink, then make a food and drink stop. It's better to be delayed a bit if you made a much needed food and drink stop than try to make it to the finish line sooner but feel miserable afterwards.
I don't carbo-load because there is no need for it....and I definitely don't hyper hydrate.. Hyper hydrating will just make you piss more often and won't improve your performance.
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Old 07-11-22, 05:26 PM
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About Carbo-loading:

There is some evidence that carbo-loading does increase muscle glycogen storage, and therefore endurance ability.

A vast number of studies have been conducted on carbohydrate loading; through this research it has been confirmed that when done properly, carbohydrate loading does work.
Effects of Carbohydrate Loading on High Performance Athletics
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Old 07-11-22, 06:00 PM
  #36  
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I don't consider myself a high performance athlete. Since the OP is doing their first Century, I'm not sure they are ready to call themselves a high performance athelete.

Considering high performance athletes probably burn five to ten times, heck maybe even 20 times the Calories in a week that I do, then I don't think the things they are talking about translate well for us puny wannabe's. (if that's not you then disregard).
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Old 07-11-22, 08:41 PM
  #37  
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Originally Posted by Iride01
IMO, carb loading is border line BUNK. As is going out for a ride after a big meal. So to is trying to drink more water to hyper hydrate. These are silly things you read about on r e d i t
Worked for me. I don't consider myself as high performance athlete but a simple recreational rider. First time I did a century without carbo loading, I bonked mid-ride and forced to take a huge meal in a fast food restaurant.

I started doing carbo-loading on subsequent centuries, a year later, after Covid infection so my fitness did not actually improve since then. But with carbo loading, I was able to complete centuries without stopping.

Obviously, it isn't reason not to bring food and drinks on ride. In fact, bring the same amount of food and drinks as you did before. The extra energy you have will help make the ride feel easier and avoid fatigue or help you to push harder. The extra energy will also help you in recovery after the ride, resulting in less recovery time needed.

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Old 07-11-22, 08:54 PM
  #38  
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Originally Posted by terrymorse
About Carbo-loading:

There is some evidence that carbo-loading does increase muscle glycogen storage, and therefore endurance ability.



Effects of Carbohydrate Loading on High Performance Athletics
Another benefit it brings is feeling less worn out after a big ride. Faster recovery, better feeling overall post-ride, etc so you can resume training a lot sooner.
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Old 07-12-22, 08:48 AM
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I can't see how it's a benefit since I'm not feeling worn out after a ride.

Perhaps you corrected several other things at the time you tried this and are putting too much weight on that one other thing. Might be that since your first long rides your body just got better between those ride at handling them.

Fatigue after any activity for me has always been lack of proper hydration during that activity. I hydrate very well while riding, I don't even lose a ½ pound of weight on long rides, even in the heat. So it's very rare for me to feel tired and fatigued after a ride for much longer than 15 minutes. Then I'm ready to go again.

Working in my yard, I don't hydrate as well as I should.

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Old 07-12-22, 09:24 AM
  #40  
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Originally Posted by terrymorse
About Carbo-loading:

There is some evidence that carbo-loading does increase muscle glycogen storage, and therefore endurance ability.

Effects of Carbohydrate Loading on High Performance Athletics
"Carbo-loading" to me implies that one is using a way to stuff significantly more glycogen into their muscles and other reserves than normal. This is possible when following a depletion-supercompensation cycle, but much of what passes for "carbo-loading" is just eating a bunch before the big event. No surprise that that makes sure everything is topped off and you'll feel strong going into the event.
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Old 07-12-22, 11:45 AM
  #41  
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Originally Posted by Iride01
I can't see how it's a benefit since I'm not feeling worn out after a ride.

Perhaps you corrected several other things at the time you tried this and are putting too much weight on that one other thing. Might be that since your first long rides your body just got better between those ride at handling them.

Fatigue after any activity for me has always been lack of proper hydration during that activity. I hydrate very well while riding, I don't even lose a ½ pound of weight on long rides, even in the heat. So it's very rare for me to feel tired and fatigued after a ride for much longer than 15 minutes. Then I'm ready to go again.

Working in my yard, I don't hydrate as well as I should.
I actually did made several other improvements like finding which fuel works for me best, training myself to pedal at higher cadence, pacing long rides, and structured training plan.

However, I can really feel the difference carbo-loading makes even against 2hr sessions with structured intervals like I'm able to push harder which is great for building strength and hastens recovery as well.
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Old 07-12-22, 12:05 PM
  #42  
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Originally Posted by ThermionicScott
but much of what passes for "carbo-loading" is just eating a bunch before the big event. No surprise that that makes sure everything is topped off and you'll feel strong going into the event.
Also eating a bunch in the days preceding the big event.

Even long distance migratory birds do it.
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Old 07-12-22, 12:43 PM
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Originally Posted by koala logs
Also eating a bunch in the days preceding the big event.

Even long distance migratory birds do it.
And it gives them tasty livers if they don't go anywhere.
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Old 07-18-22, 03:11 PM
  #44  
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I finished my first double century this past Saturday. Instead of having the meal provided by the event at mid point, got to each some good food similar to what I eat everyday and that gave me some good energy for the next 60 to 70 miles and a sweet ice-cream sandwich closed the deal at 20 miles to go. Temperature was on low 70 so it helped a lot. Legs were tired, but much better now and should be good to go by tomorrow.
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Old 08-31-22, 05:48 PM
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Since much valuable advice was given here I thought I owe an update on my first century at "Hotter N Hell 100'. I got it done, yay!! albeit at a slower pace than what I was hoping for.
100.88 miles, 1165 ft elevation gain, 6:43 moving time, 15 mph average, avg heart rate was 151 (my resting HR is in low 60s). It was moderately hot for Texas, it got into low 90's by the end of the ride, but was manageable.
Most of the advice here worked well; I paced my self well through out the ride, kept note of physical comfort by changing positions (saddle, hands, neck and shoulders) and took my shoes off at all breaks. Was able to get good drafting in the first 30 miles (was averaging 19 mph at the mile 30 rest stop) but the rest was mostly solo except for a couple miles here or there, kept an eye on nutrition at rest stops (stuck to bananas and the dates I brought with me, zero gels which I think I will need for the next ride), hydrated well during the ride, specially around the end.

Next century coming up in 4 weeks in Arkansas in a hilly terrain. Training for that starts this weekend.
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