Century Training Series: Day 8 (Week 1 Re-cap)
Today marks the official start of Week 2 of my Century Training Series where I’m documenting my efforts to train for my first century ride in late September 2009. Because today is a scheduled rest day, I’ll use it to conduct a re-cap of Week 1. Here’s a link to the Century Training Plan I’m following.
Week 1 started off rather easy with a one hour endurance ride scheduled for Tuesday. I actually thought this might be too easy for me but I did it anyway and completed it with no problems. On Wednesday I had to skip an interval workout because of a late afternoon thunderstorm. Thursday, Saturday and Sunday saw me ride per the century training plan. As the week went on I found the rides getting a little tougher as the required time at endurance pace was lengthened with it topping out at two hours on Saturday. In a few weeks I’ll be doing Saturday rides of three to four hours in length which kind of blows my mind right now.
Here’s a recap of my cycling numbers from last week as well as today’s measurements:
Total Riding Time: 7h:24m
Total Miles: 109.3
Neck: 17.25 in
Chest: 46 in
Left Bicep: 14.5 in
Right Bicep: 14.5 in
Waist: 47.5 in
Left Thigh: 29 in
Right Thigh: 27.5 in
Left Calf: 18.75 in
Right Calf: 18.25 in
A look at the numbers
The total mileage of 109.3 miles is the most I’ve ridden in a week since I did a cycling fundraiser from Connecticut to Ohio over 15 years ago. If I hadn’t had to skip Wednesday because of the thunderstorm I would have probably been around 140 for the week. I think that’s pretty impressive for a guy that’s 80+ pounds overweight. My weekly time in the saddle and mileage should only increase from here and peak about three weeks before my century before it tapers down.
My measurements, for the most part, were unchanged. I’ve always carried around extra weight and being in the military it was always a problem for me. I came to dread the ‘rope and choke’ as we called it. They subtract your neck circumference from your waist circumference to get a number (the smaller the number the better). This number is then looked up on a chart and for your corresponding height you get a percentage of body fat. Not the most accurate system in the world but that’s how they do it. I was always right on the border…and sometimes over. The thing with taking the neck and waist measurements is that many people who are trying to lose weight actually get worse before they get better. The reason is because the first place you lose anything is in your neck with your waist the last place. With your neck shrinking, and your waist staying the same, the resulting difference is a higher number therefore a higher percentage body fat. Not until you start losing the belly fat and love handles do you see decreases in body fat by the way the military measure you.
All that said, my numbers this week are reflective of the shrinking neck syndrome. I lost a little in the neck with most everything else staying the same but I did lose some in the calves too. This is only a week of keeping track so I’m not expecting to see huge changes and neither should you if you’re doing something similar. It takes time to see those numbers go down. The biggest thing is to not get frustrated if you don’t see immediate changes.
Some lessons learned
- Hydrate. With the daytime temperatures here in Texas hovering near 100F everyday it’s very important to stay hydrated. This includes drinking water throughout the day, while on the bike and after riding. I’ve got on the bike covered but need to concentrate more on the other two especially post-ride.
- Eat properly. I’m still struggling with this. I’m eating much better than I used to but I’m struggling with variation in my diet (chicken and tuna does get a little old) and timing of eating. Before Saturday’s ride I didn’t eat breakfast and I think it hurt my performance during the ride. You have to make sure you’re fueled to ride and re-fueled post-ride.
- Ride early. With the temps high it’s important for me to ride early on Saturday to avoid late morning high temperatures. I got started late on Saturday and I paid for it with sweltering heat by the time I finished at 11:30.
A look at Week 2
Because I started my century training plan two weeks early I’ll go ahead with Week 2 this week and then fall back to Week 1 to start again. I did it this way to make sure I get into the training plan with no problems and can implement a couple other things into it before actually starting the 10-week plan. Week 2 will see an increase in time in the saddle of about 1.5-2 hours total with Saturday’s ride coming in at three hours of endurance riding. Should be a lot of fun as I’ll be up in Oklahoma where the area I ride is more hills than flat.
Read MoreCentury Training Series: Day 7
Today marks the end of my first week of training for my first century and I’m glad tomorrow is a rest day. I’ve ridden more miles this week than I have in over 15 years (I’ll post my week 1 mileage tomorrow).
Today was a 1.5 hour endurance pace ride and I waited until this evening to do it because tomorrow is a rest day. I arrived at White Rock Lake at about 6 PM but ended up having to fix a flat on my front wheel before I could even start. Very frustrating. The tube was one that I had patched before so I should have expected it. I put in my last new tube which means I need to hit the bike shop tomorrow to pick up a couple. Another good reason it’s a rest day tomorrow.
Read MoreCentury Training Series: Days 3 and 4
Day 3
I was all set to ride my first interval day of the century training plan but mother nature decided not to cooperate. As I was getting off the train from work it was just starting to sprinkle and by the time I got home (a 5 minute drive) it was a downpour of biblical proportions. Tons of rain and it was headed straight for White Rock Lake. I decided then that riding was going to be a washout.
Day 4
Today saw better weather but it was hotter. The temp at 6:30 PM was in the high 90s and the heat index was probably over 100F. It was windy too with it blowing 10-20 mph out of the South which gave me a headwind for half of the 25 miles I rode.
Today’s scheduled ride was a 1.5 hour endurance pace ride which, for me, means 1.5 hours while maintaining 15 mph. Because of the 1.5 hour ride I opted to only do a 15 minute warm up which put me in the saddle for 1 hour 45 minutes. I felt OK but the wind was brutal in spots and made it hard to maintain 15 mph with the headwind. There was one uphill spot where I couldn’t maintain 15 mph but made it up on the backside. I ended up in the small chain ring for the most of the ride which didn’t bother me in the least.
Overall I think it was a good ride but not easy. When riding these endurance rides I’ve switched my computer from a speed/distance display to a speed/time display. This lets me keep an eye on my speed so I can maintain the required endurance pace but not be worried about the distance I’ve ridden and instead watch the time.
Here are today’s numbers:
Distance: 25.73 miles
Avg Speed: 14.8 mph (including warm up)
Total Time: 1:44:00
Piles of Dog Crap Run Over: 1 (lovely)
Read MoreA few people have asked about the Century Training Plan I’m following. Here’s the link to the Century Cycling Training Plan on Bicycling.com. It’s basically what was in the June 2009 issue but it doesn’t show what days you do intervals.
Cycling Warm Up: why you need to do one
By now you’ve probably seen a few stages of the Tour de France already and have seen some of shots of the riders warming up on trainers before the start of a stage. Ever wonder why they’re on those trainers before going out and riding for 4-5 hours? It’s not so the paparazzi can get their photos.
They’re on those trainers getting their bodies warmed up and ready to ride before the stage starts. If they don’t do this before the stage starts they won’t be ready for the physical stress of the stage and will likely perform poorly on the stage and risk potential injury.
The same goes for those of us who are just struggling to get our daily mileage in. If we don’t warm up properly we won’t be able to reap the benefits of our training.
Up until a few weeks ago I really didn’t warm up at all. I would hop on the bike and start out at 15-17 mph even though my target speed for my century is 15 mph. Starting out fast like that made me suffer later in the ride because I had not adequately warmed up and expended too much energy early.
Since then I have become religious in doing a 30 minute warm up before actually starting my training ride. That 30 minutes equates to six miles for me and seems to work good. I had no plan for how I would do my warm up other than easy spinning with a gradual increase in my speed over those first 6 miles until I was at 15 mph at mile 6. It seems to work for me and actually follows the stair-step format for the general warm up in the article I talk about below.
The article is a Cyclist Guide to Warm-Up: General to Specific and it has some pretty good info on why you need to do a warm-up and what you should do as a beginner, intermediate or advanced cyclist. A pretty interesting read.
So, do you warm up? If so, how, and if not, why?
Read MoreCentury Training Series: Day 2
Today would see me actually doing my first ride as part of the Century Training Series. It was nothing serious, just an hour at endurance pace. I consulted with @331miles regarding how to work in my warm up and we agreed that I ride my warm up of six miles then do an hour at my projected century pace which is 15 mph.
The weather was pretty nice actually with it not being as hot or humid as it has been the last couple of weeks. It made for a pretty pleasant ride. There was a large number of cyclists around White Rock Lake today too. This was the first day I’ve ridden there since the Tour De France started so I’m thinking some folks have been watching on TV and deciding to hit the road. Call it the TDF effect.
Overall I think this ride went pretty well. Near the hour point I was starting to feel it a little but I think that’s because of my bibs. Here are the numbers for today’s ride:
Total Time: 1:36:11 (1 hour at endurance; 36 minutes warmup/cooldown)
Avg: 14.6 mph
Distance: 23.49 miles
Crunches: 20
Push Ups: 20
I was going to make a copy of the training plan found in Bicycling to post here but won’t be able to. I emailed Bicycling for permission and was told I could request a PDF of the article but prices start at $1900. I like my readers but that won’t be happening.
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