Century Training Plan | Biking To Live

Century Training Series: Days 26, 27, 28, and 29 (Week 4 Re-Cap)

Posted by Bryan on Aug 3, 2009 in Blog, Century Training Series, Featured | 9 comments

Day 26 – I was traveling out of town so this day is an off day.

Day 27 – A 3 hour endurance pace ride was scheduled for Day 27 but it had to be canceled due to severe thunderstorms. I had no desire to get caught in heavy rains, hail or lightening.

Day 28 – This was supposed to be a 1.5 hour endurance pace ride but I ended up only doing 1 hour. I could have easily done the 1.5 hours but decided to take it easy and only do the 1 hour (more on why below). Here are the numbers:

Total Time (h:m): 1:00
Total Distance: 15.1 miles
Avg Speed: 15.1 mph

Week 4 Re-cap

I have to be honest and say that I was very disappointed in my performance this past week. I struggled on the bike all week and it really showed in my measurements and mileage. Why did I struggle?

I was lethargic. I felt really, really tired all week and even thought I might have been getting sick in the first part of the week. My legs were very heavy on every ride and even though my time/distance/avg speed numbers were there I didn’t feel like I was performing well.
I was uncomfortable in the saddle. I got to the point on my Thursday ride last week that I had to quit after only about 30 minutes in the saddle. I was just too uncomfortable in my nether regions and couldn’t ride more than a few minutes without having to stand on the pedals to take pressure off. I have been riding enough over the last year that I shouldn’t be having problems like that so I was very frustrated. Like an idiot I had stopped using chamois cream a couple of months ago because I didn’t think I needed it for these short rides. Turns out I was wrong and after having that driven home by @331miles and @gtinla I picked up some Paceline Chamois BUTTr this weekend and it made a world of difference on my Sunday evening one-hour ride.
Repeating Weeks 1 and 2 may have been a mistake. If you remember I started the 10-week Century Training Plan two weeks early and did Weeks 1 and 2 twice. This may have been an error because if I had followed the normal 10-week plan I would have had two rest days last week. Because I re-started the plan after two-weeks I missed out on that extra rest day and that could have contributed to me feeling really drained last week.
My diet sucks. I’m trying hard on my diet but it’s not good enough right now. I’m still finding myself opting for a quick take-out meal several times a week because it seems like too much of a pain to fix food after my evening ride. Sometimes I may not get back home until 8:30 PM from my ride and by the time I take a shower and cook dinner it’s already 9:30 or 10. I need a way to make this process simpler and I’m thinking I need to prepare meals ahead of time or at least buy foods that are easy to fix (I’m not talking about prepared foods). One thing I started doing, instead of cooking chicken on the stove, was to buy a roasted chicken and de-bone it. That gives me plenty of pre-cooked chicken that I can eat throughout the week. The problem with that is that I’m eating too much chicken right now. I absolutely love chicken but I need to get some variation such as meats and fish. I’m open to any ideas/suggestions in this area.

Here are the mileage numbers for this week:

Total Duration (h:m): 3:30
Total Miles: 54
Avg Speed: 15.4 mph

My measurements for this week saw little to no change. My neck and chest saw no change with my biceps decreasing by a quarter inch each and my thighs and calves increasing in size. My weight was also up four pounds from the last time I weighed myself. Overall I’m disappointed in my measurements but I’m not surprised after how I felt last week and with the decreased mileage. I can’t let it get me down though and need to continue pushing.

If you haven’t noticed I added new page to the blog called Century Training Tracker. This is where you can see some graphical representation of my mileage and measurements.

Summary

If you can’t tell I’m facing some challenges in my training right now. Namely my diet and a battle against fatigue. I can impact them both though and it just takes a little will power to do so. I used the word ‘training’ just a couple of sentences ago and I probably need to use it more often because that is what I’m doing right now. I’m training for a century ride and that means I need to stick the plan to be able to realize my end goal.

Thanks to all my readers for the great support.

Century Training Series: Days 23, 24 and 25

Posted by Bryan on Jul 30, 2009 in Blog, Century Training Series | 6 comments

Like I said in my last Century Training Series post I’m only going to be posting about my century training on Monday’s and Thursdays. Reading about my training is probably boring enough as it is but asking you to do it everyday would be like me asking you to sit through reruns of Al Trautwig doing Tour de France commentary on Versus. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. Today’s re-cap will cover Days 23, 24 and 25.

Day 23 – 1.5 Hour Overall Endurance with 4×8 Intervals

I’m finally getting the hang of the intervals and actually enjoy doing them. With the 9 mile (or so) loop around White Rock Lake I can get two eight minute intervals in per lap with each followed by an eight minute recovery. I haven’t felt too great over the last few days and it kind of showed in my workout because I wasn’t able to ride the intervals too hard. I probably averaged about 17-17.5 mph on each interval and 13 mph during the recovery. My last interval was pretty good but I had to deal with a big Hummer that was in front of me that couldn’t pass a rider it was following. That caused me to slow down a couple of times but I was able to pick my speed back up soon after. The numbers were:

Total Time (h:m): 1:30
Total Distance: 23.21 miles
Avg Speed: 15.47 mph

My biggest problem on this ride was my new bibs or rather my discomfort in my new bibs. After an hour I was totally uncomfortable with what felt like some rubbing around the edge of the chamois. Even though these new bibs are much lighter than my old ones (and the chamois isn’t as dense) I’m not totally convinced the problem is the bibs. I’m sure they still need to get broken in but I think the real problem is my gargantuan size buttocks (it’s funnier if you say that in your best Forest Gump impersonation). With my super-sized rear, combined with the new bibs, I believe I need to take a close look at my saddle. The saddle I have is a Vetta Lite Gel and is the original that came with my bike 15 years ago. If would probably come as no surprise either that I had half as much rear then as I do now. I’ve put off looking for a new saddle for quite a while but think I may need to give it a shot again. I say again because I attempted to get my sit bones measured at a Trek store in Jacksonville, FL last year and the employee couldn’t figure out how to work the fit board. This is going to have to be a priority for me next week. If you have suggestions I’m all ears.

Day 24 – 1 Hour Endurance

I was really surprised to get this ride in because it was threatening rain all day. It actually turned out quite nice but was humid again. Luckily I remembered my headband today and didn’t have to deal with sweat in my eyes like Day 23. I did a quick 15 minute warm up and then settled into a nice and steady 15-16 mph pace for an hour. This is a very simple ride that should have been pretty easy but, again, I really felt like my legs were heavy. They’ve felt that way for that last several rides. I maintained the pace for an hour but I just think it was harder than it should have been. The numbers were:

Total Time (h:m): 1:00
Total Distance: 15.64 miles
Avg Speed: 15.64 mph

It was Wednesday so there were several large “packs” of riders out at White Rock Lake today. I was passed several times by groups with six or more riders and saw a few guys outfitted in matching kits. I didn’t get a close look so I don’t know if they were part of team or not. Maybe they just enjoyed dressing alike so they could bask in their poserness (is that a word?). Lots of Cevelo TT bike sightings the last two rides too. Kinda weird.

I almost witnessed a pretty bad wreck too. It was only avoided by pure luck of the lady who was cut off…by her son. I was done with the hour long endurance ride and was slowly spinning back to my car. A lady was riding a road bike in front of me with her son (maybe 10?) on a mountain bike on her right. For whatever reason her son decided to move from her right all the way to the left side of the road by cutting in front of her. As the situation unfolded in front of me I was really surprised Mom didn’t end up flat on the pavement. As the son cut across her front wheel she slowed and turned to the right to avoid clipping his rear wheel and barely manged to get her right foot un-clipped and on the ground otherwise it would have been ugly. I slowed and asked if she was OK and she said yes and that they were still learning. I’m just glad she didn’t smack the asphalt and that there weren’t any riders coming in the opposite direction because he went all the way to the left side of the road. Hope he learned a lesson.

Day 25 – 1.5 Hour Overall Endurance with 4×8 Intervals

Today was a terrible day on the bike. Five minutes into the ride I knew it wasn’t right. The last several rides my discomfort in the saddle had been steadily getting worse and today I had had enough. I did one loop of White Rock Lake, even tried one interval, and had to call it quits. I couldn’t ride more than a couple of minutes without having to stand up off the saddle or try and adjust my shorts.

Something just isn’t right with either my shorts or saddle. I’m leaning towards the saddle because I’ve worn a different pair of bibs or shorts each of the last three days with the same discomfort.

Not how I wanted to go into the weekend.

Century Training Series: Day 22 (Week 3 Re-cap)

Posted by Bryan on Jul 27, 2009 in Blog, Century Training Series | 4 comments

Yesterday marked the completion of my first three weeks of training for my first century and since Mondays are a rest day it’s weekly re-cap time. For those that are new to this series I’m following the Century Training Plan from the June 2009 issue of Bicycling Magazine to train for my first century ride the last Saturday of September. Along the way I thought I would document the effort to see what changes my body would undergo and to, perhaps, provide a little inspiration to others who might be looking to cycling as a way to lose weight or improve their fitness.

Even though the Century Training Plan in Bicycling Magazine is 10 weeks in duration I decided to modify it to a 12 week plan by performing the first two weeks of the plan twice. This week was a repeat of Week 1. I felt I needed the two extra weeks because, basically, I’m not Lance Armstrong on a bicycle. I’m way overweight and out of shape and wanted those two extra weeks to help prepare. I had been riding before the start of this program so it wasn’t like I just decided on Day 1 that I wanted to start training for a century. I firmly believe that if someone decided to start this program cold turkey on Day 1 that they would end up quitting because it is a lot of riding.

This past week was tougher than I expected it to be especially since it was a repeat of Week 1 of the Century Training Plan. Perhaps I was lured into a false sense of security thinking it was just a repeat of Week 1. It was still 117 miles of riding. Yesterday in particular was a very tough ride where wind, and possibly, fatigue were factors. I don’t think the fatigue is ride related either. I believe it’s due to lack of sleep because I’m the world’s worst person at getting the recommended eight hours of sleep a night. Too many nights I stay up late reading or messing around on the computer and only end up getting six hours in the rack and sometimes less. I’m going to make it a short-term goal this week to get eight hours a night to see how it works out.

Below are the measurements taken this morning. I’m seeing little to no change over last weeks measurements which can be a little frustrating. The thing I need to keep re-enforcing upon myself is that I’m not going to change overnight. If you’re nearly 100 pounds overweight like I was then it’s going to take a while to get down to where you need to be. I may be seeing little change from week-to-week but I’m hoping that when I’m done with my century I’ll see a good steady decline. I won’t be done when my century is complete either. I’ll still have a long ways to go which means my training can’t stop. Here are this weeks measurements:

Measurements:

Neck: 17 in
Chest: 45.5 in
Left Bicep: 14.5 in
Right Bicep: 14.5 in
Waist: 47.5 in
Left Thigh: 27.75 in
Right Thigh: 27.75 in
Left Calf: 18.5 in
Right Calf: 18 in

The riding numbers for this past week look pretty good with me actually averaging above my planned century pace of 15 mph. I will point out that the hours only indicate the amount of time spent riding the specific workout for that day. For instance, if the workout is a two hour endurance ride I reset my bike computer after my warm up so I get an accurate log of just those two hours. Once the two hours are up I pull the computer off and do a cool down. Because of that I’m not logging my warm up or cool down mileage which could probably add another 5 miles or so per day to the total mileage. Here are this weeks riding numbers:

Mileage Numbers:

Riding Time (h:m): 7:30
Total Mileage: 117.1 miles
Avg Speed: 15.72 mph

That’s it for this weeks re-cap. I believe I’m making good progress but I’ve still got 7 weeks to go until my century on September 26, 2009. I’m hoping those 7 weeks will see big changes both in my measurements and my riding.

If there are questions you have about my century training please feel free to ask. I may gloss over some things that a beginner might need to know so don’t be bashful. Ask away.

Also, I’ve decided to slow down my posting frequency of my Century Training Series. Why? Because it’s actually quite hard to come up with stuff to make each post interesting and if they aren’t interesting they’re boring. I don’t want my four readers to be bored. Plus cutting back lets me post other content on days I don’t write about my century training. So, starting this week, I’ll post about my century training on Monday and Thursday leaving the rest of the week for my award-winning pontification that my rabid readers rely on to make it through their day.

Century Training Series: Day 21

Posted by Bryan on Jul 26, 2009 in Blog, Century Training Series | 0 comments

Before I could ride today I had to replace my cut tire. I picked up a new yesterday at a local bike shop. The one I picked it up at wasn’t my first choice but the first one I went to didn’t have a single road tire hanging up so you could browse through them. I wasn’t going to play a 1000 question game with an employee to find what I was looking for. So I left there and headed to a shop where I knew they had tires I could browse through. Putting the new tire on was a snap.

Today called for a 1.5 hour endurance ride. Normally I would have ridden in the morning but I wanted to watch the final stage of the Tour de France live. Plus I wanted to sleep in some because I was tired and had been fighting a head ache since last night. I was pulling for Farrar to get the win but I think Garmin started too early and with Renshaw’s perfect leadout of Cavendish he didn’t stand a chance. Sad it’s over but looking forward to Team Radio Shack next year.

I headed down to White Rock Lake at about 4:30 so I could finish up my ride a little early. Turns out I was smart to go early (raining as I write this) but it was a lot hotter than I thought it would be and the wind was a killer. I checked the weather before going out the door and Weather Channel online said the wind was 2 mph out of the South. As soon as I started riding I noticed the wind. It must have been blowing 10-15 mph straight out of the east which makes for a nasty head wind on two hills. Ouch!

Overall today’s ride was very hard. Not at all what I expected. It could have been the wind but I felt it was more than that. At times I felt like I was struggling when riding into the wind and the first time up on one particular hill absolutely destroyed me. Those who ride White Rock Lake know what hill I’m talking about (or maybe you don’t). It’s the one that’s on Northcliff Drive (appropriately named) at the Bath House Cultural Center. It’s relatively short at a few hundred feet but it pitches up as soon as you turn onto it and pitches up even more about halfway up. That hill always pushes me to the limit when I ride it. I’m not sure why. I’ve thought that perhaps it’s my gearing because I only have a 7-speed cassette and I may not have enough gears to make it easier. Who knows.

Here are today’s numbers:

Total Time (h:m): 1:30
Total Distance: 22.64 miles
Avg Speed: 15.0 mph

You’ll notice that I changed the theme today. I was getting tired of the old one and wanted to have a little more flexibility with my header graphic (which still needs a few changes). Thanks to those who sent emails and tweets to provide feedback.

Century Training Series: Days 19 and 20

Posted by Bryan on Jul 25, 2009 in Blog, Century Training Series | 8 comments

Day 19 – Rest Day

Day 20 – Today the century training plan called for a two hour endurance pace ride. I was anxious to ride so I could try out my new bibs.

I was up and at the trail riding away from my car at about 8:30. While putting my bike together I saw many cyclists riding up and down the trail so it looked like it might be a busy day. Upon setting out I noticed an immediate difference with the new bibs. I picked up the Performance Ultra II at the local performance store and was happy so far. We’ll see how it feels 2 hours from now.

Once the warm up was complete I settled into my 15 mph pace and felt really good. I didn’t ride yesterday so my legs felt fresh and I easily maintained the set pace even on the hills. I again stayed in the small chain ring to keep my cadence high and it felt good. I completed three full loops of White Rock Lake plus a little extra to get my 2 hours in.

The ride wasn’t without a problem though. I was sitting at a stop light getting ready to do the last couple of miles to my car and only needed a few seconds to complete the two hour ride. Once the light turned green I got up to speed, checked my computer and pulled it off when it rolled over to 2 hours and tucked it into my jersey pocket. Not ten seconds later my rear wheel didn’t feel right so I take a look and it’s nearly flat.

I pull over into some shade to change it. I get the tube out, find the hole and check the my tire in the same location and find a small cut. I’m guessing it was cut by a piece of glass at the stop light. Bummer. I pulled out a new tube, used the dollar bill I keep in my seat bag as a boot and pumped up my tire. It wasn’t perfect but it would be good enough to get me to my car.

Guess how many people asked if I was OK? Zero. Earlier in my ride I pulled over to take a picture of a house and I hadn’t been stopped 30 seconds when the first person by me, a girl, asked if I needed help. I was really amazed. This time though, when it was very obvious I had had a flat and was repairing it, I was passed by no less than 20-30 riders and not a one said a word. Did I have everything under control? Sure I did because I’m prepared for this kind of stuff when I ride. What if it was a noob instead who didn’t know what to do and everyone of those riders just simply rode by without so much as a simple inquiry as to if they needed anything.

How were the bibs? Pretty good. I did start to feel a little discomfort after the two hours but nothing like my old bibs. I think I just need to get them broken in and they’ll feel pretty good.

Here are the numbers for today:

Total Time (h:m): 2:00
Total Distance: 30.5 miles
Avg Speed: 15.2 mph