Century Training Series: Day 18
For some reason I was thinking all day that today was just a one hour endurance ride but upon checking the century training plan in the June 2009 issue of Bicycling, I found out it was 1.5 hours. No big deal.
The weather was near perfect again with cloudy skies, temps in the low 90s and just a touch of sprinkles a few times. It didn’t even sprinkle enough to get the roads wet. I think the threat of rain kept most of the other cyclists at home because there weren’t many down at White Rock Lake today.
As always I started with my 15 minute warm up and reset my computer when I was done with it so I could keep track of my 1.5 hours. My legs felt tired today so I didn’t try to push it and stayed close to my endurance pace of 15 mph. I stayed in the small chain ring the entire time in order to concentrate on my cadence as well. During my warm up I did a quick calculation of my cadence by counting the number of revolutions in 15 seconds and multiplying by four. It turned out to be 92 which is right in the window you want to be in so I was happy with that.
The ride itself was pretty uneventful. I was worried about the rain at one point because I could see some major rain off to the west but it never made it to White Rock Lake. I noticed again today an inordinate number of riders with clip-on aero bars. Not sure what I’m missing with that.
Here are the numbers for today:
Total Time (h:m): 1:30
Total Distance: 23.05 miles
Avg Speed: 15.3 mph
Century Training Series: Day 17
Day 17 brings me to Tuesday’s ride of Week 1 of the Bicycling Century Training Plan which is a 1.5 hour overall endurance ride with 4×8 intervals. The weather was near perfect today with a temperature of 90F, partly cloudy and only a slight wind.
I did a 15 minute warm up and decided I would do this entire ride in the small chain ring to see how it felt vice doing it in the big ring. At the end of the warm up I reset my computer and started on the first eight minute interval.
This first interval was setup so it was on a relatively flat section of the White Rock Lake loop. I was moving along really good at a speed of 18-20 mph with no problems. After eight minutes I backed off the speed and took it easy for eight minutes to recover. The second interval contained some hills and was into a slight headwind that made it a little more difficult but was still able to maintain 17+ mph. The remaining two intervals were done in almost the same spots as the first two which was nice for consistency.
After finishing the second interval I still had almost half an hour to ride at endurance pace so I started another loop of the lake and turned around after 15 minutes and then continued onto my car for a cool down.
Overall I felt pretty good during the entire ride and was able to push it pretty hard during the intervals. I think riding in the smaller chain ring was easier on me and I may need to make that standard right now. There were quite a few riders out today with lots, lots and lots of people riding their time trial and aero setups. There must have been some kind of sale on time trial bikes, aero wheels and profile bars I wasn’t aware of.
Here are the numbers:
Total Time (h:m): 1:30
Distance: 24.17 miles
Avg Speed: 16 mph (interval speed was 17-20 mph with recovery at 13-15 mph)
Century Training Series: Day 16
Ok, now that I’ve gotten the first two weeks under my belt I’m re-starting at week 1 of the 10 week Century Training Plan. Yesterday was a rest day and today called for a one hour endurance pace ride. The pace I’ve set for myself for my century is 15 mph.
I arrived at the tennis center off of Fair Oaks Avenue at about 6:15 and put my bike together. The weather was actually very nice. Not too hot, a few clouds and a little breeze. A great day to ride. After getting everything ready I headed on out to do my 15 minute warm up.
Once the warm up was complete I was cruising along at 15 mph in the big ring and rest my computer so I could get a good, accurate, reading on my one hour endurance ride. After about 10 minutes I noticed that I was cruising along at 16.5 mph with no problem. I backed off some but noticed again a few minutes later that I was back up over 16 mph. At that point I decided not to fight it and just fell into a comfortable rhythm.
There are four hills around the White Rock Lake loop that I ride that vary from long and steady to short and steep. I attacked each one riding as hard as I could and keeping my pace above 15, sometimes 17 mph. The short steep hill I was unable to maintain the high pace but pushed up it as hard as I could. I would continue this pace for just about two full laps of White Rock Lake. Once the hour was up I backed way down on the pace and did some easy spinning on the way back to my car. I pulled my computer off the bike and put in my jersey pocket so as to preserve my one hour data. Here are the numbers:
Total Time (h:m): 1:00
Total Distance: 16.83 miles
Avg Speed: 16.7 mph (yeah!)
When I first started riding the loop down at White Rock Lake several months ago it would take me anywhere from 40-45 minutes to complete a loop. Today I completed my first loop in 33 minutes. Amazing.
Read MoreCentury Training Series: Day 15 (week 2 re-cap)
Ok, today is Monday which brings us to a rest day and Day 15 of my Century Training Plan. Now that I’ve completed two weeks I’m ready to start the 10-week plan as set forth in Bicycling Magazine. If you’ll remember, I started my century training plan two weeks early so I could get used to it before officially starting the 10-week plan. This week I’ll re-start at week 1, day 1, and continue on until my century on September 26.
Overall I think my week of cycling last week was excellent. I had a couple of hard days but for the most part I believe I stayed true to the week 2 plan and rode very well. Looking at my total mileage last week, I was kind of shocked to see I had ridden over 130 miles but at the same time very happy. I didn’t do anything extra to boost my mileage so I think the 130 miles is very close to what you should have if you have a targeted century endurance pace of 15 mph like I do.
On the other hand, if you’re reading this blog and expect to jump straight into week 1 and haven’t ridden for a while I think you may be in for a rude awakening. I had been riding anywhere from 50-75 miles per week for a couple of months before starting my plan which means I had at least a small base fitness. If I had tried to start my plan from cold turkey I’m not sure I could do it. I’ll go back and check the article but I don’t believe it mentions whether or not this plan is for a beginner or not. Honestly, I think a beginner would have a hard (if not impossible) time riding 109 miles in week 1 and 138 in week 2 like I did. I’m not say that because I’m an accomplished cyclist but because I think it may be the truth.
Here are my measurements for this week:
Weight: 267 pounds (down 4 pounds from three weeks ago)
Neck: 17.25 in (no change from last week)
Chest: 45.5 in (down .5 in from last week)
Left Bicep: 15 in (up .5 in from last week)
Right Bicep: 15 in (up .5 in from last week)
Waist: 47 in (down .5 in from last week))
Left Thigh: 28 in (down 1 in from last week)
Right Thigh: 27.5 in (no change from last week)
Left Calf: 18.5 in (down .25 in from last week)
Right Calf: 18 in (down .25 in from last week)
Overall I’m happy with those numbers. I had more drops than ups or no changes but I thought my weight would have been a little lower. I’ll take it though. With the loss of 4 pounds I’m falling right into recommended range of losing 1-2 pounds per week. My weight, chest and waist are the big three in my opinion and they were all down from last week. I can’t not be happy with that.
Here’s the mileage numbers from last week with total since the start of the plan in parenthesis:
Riding Time (h:m): 9:12 (16:56)
Mileage: 138.1 (247.2)
Avg Speed: 14.95 mph
I really find it hard to believe I rode 138 miles last week. If you follow the plan though you’ll have no choice to put up numbers like that and they’ll only increase as you get deeper into the plan. The Saturday ride is where a lot of it comes from (45 miles) but that means I still put in over 90 miles during the week. If I were at home with my family it would probably be very hard to put in that many miles during the week. Could I find time? Sure, but it would be harder. The average speed is close to my target of 15 mph but is skewed a little because it does contain some warm up time that is lower than my endurance pace. To fix that I’ve started resetting my computer after my warm up so I can get an accurate mileage and average speed for my endurance rides. My warm up time/mileage is now just banked time/mileage that I know I did but doesn’t show up anywhere.
With two weeks under my belt I think I’ve gotten off to a good start. My body has responded well to the mileage but my quads do feel a little sore this morning. That’s probably due to the long ride on Saturday followed by the windy ride last night. I still need to work on my diet some to make sure I’m eating at the correct times. Another thing Saturday’s ride told me is that I do need to invest in new bibs (I already knew this). I could tell after 3 hours in the saddle though that I’m going to need some that will provide a little more comfort for the longer rides. As soon as can I’ll be getting some of the Performance Elite IIs that come so highly recommended.
Thanks for all the encouragement and support so far.
Read MoreCentury Training Series: Day 11
Yesterday was Day 11 of my Century Training Plan and consisted of the same workout as Day 10 which was 1.5 hours overall endurance with 4×8 intervals stuck in there. I was looking forward to trying the intervals again since Day 10s intervals were interrupted with road side assistance. I was thrilled to find no flat when I opened my trunk. I did patch the tube I took from Fernando after I helped him so I would have a spare. I still need to pick up some more CO2 when I get a chance.
Since I wasn’t starting until 6:30 PM I shortened my warm up to 15 minutes and then rolled right into the first eight minute interval. I started it on what I consider one of the toughest portions of the White Rock Lake loop which probably wasn’t a smart idea and probably should have waited a few minutes until I was passed it. Why this one section is tough on me I’m not sure. It is slightly uphill but I think it may be steeper/longer than it looks. I pushed through it and finished the first interval but a little slower than I wanted.
Eight minutes of spinning at a lower speed followed with another eight minute interval on its heals. I repeated this cycle until I had completed four eight minute (4×8) intervals. For the third and fourth intervals I actually picked my speed up quite a bit because I felt like I could. I didn’t have any problems maintaining 18-19.5 mph on those intervals. It wasn’t easy though. By the fourth interval I was really feeling it in my legs and felt it all over this morning. I’m guessing that means I’ve pushed myself a little further than normal which is a good thing.
Here are the numbers (these are very close estimates since I dropped my computer and dislodged the battery thus wiping out all my data…bummer):
Total Distance: 27 miles
Total Time: 1h:50m (15 minute warm up and 5 minute cool down)
Avg MPH: 14.7 Total (13.7 for 15 minute warm up and 15.7 for 1.5 hour intervals/endurance/cool down)
Overall I’d say that’s a good ride for me.
I won’t be able to ride the 30 minute recovery ride scheduled for today due to traveling out of town but I do have a 3 hour endurance ride scheduled for Saturday and a 1.5 hour ride on Sunday. My next post will probably be on Sunday since I’ll be without Internet access.
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