Century 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.
Century 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.
Read MoreTomorrow is the day it starts
Anyone following my blog or tweets knows that I’ve been talking about this for a while. Back on April 1, 2009 I made a post about It’s time to get serious about cycling (my weight loss). Kind of a dubious day to make a post like that but I wasn’t fooling around. In that post I mentioned that I would register for and ride a century. That century will be the Waco Wild West Century in Waco, Texas on September 26, 2009. Tomorrow is the day I officially start training for it.
I won’t technically be starting from ground zero when it comes to my training for this century. I’ve been riding anywhere from 50-70 miles a week for the past two months but it hasn’t followed any specific plan. It was mainly to get me back in the saddle and accustomed to riding more. On July 4th I hit the 12-week point until my century and the point where I told myself I would start training by following a plan. That plan is the 10-week basic training plan found in the June 2009 issue of Bicycling Magazine on page 70. I know it’s a 10-week plan and I have 12 weeks to go. I’ll repeat weeks 1 and 2 twice so I can get used to the plan and make any adjustments I need before the 10-week point. I’m going to follow it as closely as I can so that anyone else thinking about riding a century, and wants to follow my plan, will know what to expect.
My plan is to make a blog post everyday about the ride for that day and what I ate so you can see the nutritional aspect as well. I’m not a nutritionist so I’ll be experimenting and open to any help/suggestions from the seasoned riders who read this blog. Additionally, I’m going to be very transparent on how this training is impacting my body by providing you weekly measurements such as my weight and circumference of my neck, waist, chest, thighs and so on.
I had some pretty big plans as far as fund raising and contests but they are on hold right now. Because I started this blog to improve my health and prevent myself from suffering from heart disease like my father, I wanted to raise funds for the American Heart Association. Unfortunately, my emails to them have gone unanswered up to this point. Without a fund raising avenue I’ve been wary of soliciting companies for swag to giveaway. Before I get tons of questions about why I don’t just fund raise with Livestrong let me re-iterate that heart disease and the American Heart Association are what’s near and dear to me personally. If something changes in the next 10-12 weeks on this front I’ll keep you posted.
I guess that’s about it. I’m looking forward to the next 12 weeks and what it’s going to bring.
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