Saturday, May 19, 2007

Biking Bits

So, I found a century training schedule here: http://www.kanbike.org/pages/training.php

.....easy pace brsk.......pace .pc..pc
Week Mon Tues Wed Thurs Friday Sat ...Sun Total
1 .......6....... 10 ....12 .....off.....10 ....30 ......9 ......77
2 ......10...... 13 ....15 .....off.....13 ....44 ....17......112
3 ......10...... 15 ....17 .....off.....16 ....53 ....20......123
4 ......11...... 16 ....19 .....off.....16 ....53 ....20 .....135
5 ......12...... 18 ....20 .....off.....18 ....59 ....22 .....149
6 ......13...... 19 ....23 .....off.....19 ....64 ....24 .....162
7 ......14...... 20 ....25 .....off.....20 ....71 ....27 .....177
8 ......16...... 20 ....27 .....off.....20 ....75 ....29 .....187
9 ......17...... 20 ....30 .....off.....20 ....75 ....32 .....194
10.....19...... 20 ....30 .....off.....10 ......5 Century .184


I've really never done anything seriously athletic, but I think I'm going to give this a try.

I have a question for anyone who's done training for a long ride or other long thing: Should I cut back my riding from the usual 15-20 for the rides that are marked shorter here? Or should I really focus on hills for those days? (Except it says "easy" on the schedule, so maybe that's a give your legs a break day?)

I usually ride on a bike trail that's mostly really flat, being one of those rails to trails things. It's GREAT, really, but I will need to practice riding on hills at some point. There are smallish hills around, but I haven't ridden very much on them because I'm a lazy bum.

I'm also not sure what the difference between "pace" and "brisk" is.

Any athletic types out there with advice?

I've started looking for a century in mid-August or so. If you have exciting ideas, let me know, please! I'm thinking upper midwest so I don't have to travel too far for too long.

In other biking news, I finally feel totally vindicated! Sometime last summer, I saw a guy stopped on the road with a flat, and offered to share my spare tire and such. But he had wheels you need a wrench to get off, and since my wheels are those new-fangled (well, in the 80s when I got my bike, they were!) easy release wheels, I didn't have a wrench. So I couldn't actually help him. So I got a little monkey wrench and put it in my pack, just in case. And today, it actually came in handy! YAY!

Still no new bike. And lots of grading. Grr!


ps. Sorry about the periods in the graph thing; I know there are ways to add spaces, but I'm a lazy bum about remembering html!

pps. Thanks to Artemis, I smell like I just had my diaper changed. But no saddle sores!

4 comments:

  1. Good luck on your goal. Great site, thanks for the link.

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  2. That's great -- I'm glad you are doing a century! And that's quite a training schedule -- I never manage to ride 6 days a week; usually I aim for 5 and often end up doing 4. I've never had a methodical training method for a century, but what I've done is to make sure I do one long ride a week and increase it up to 75 or 80 miles before the century. That looks like the plan you've got there, but I do fewer rides during the week.

    I'd guess "pace" means moderate -- a speed you can maintain for the duration of the ride that leaves you tired but not beat. And that "brisk" means you're really pushing yourself. For me, that might mean 15-16 mph for pace, and 17-18 for brisk, or something like that.

    If it were me, I'd definitely make the easy days very easy -- or take them off :) -- and work on hills one of the other days. When you decide what century you want to do maybe you can find out how hilly it is, and plan your hill training accordingly.

    One other thing (advice you didn't ask for -- sorry!): the hardest part of a century for me hasn't been leg muscle fatigue, but sore shoulders, neck, and upper back. Maybe if you don't already, add in some weights to build up strength in those areas? This is something I rarely do, actually, but totally should ...

    Have fun training!

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  3. Christine, thank you! /hugs

    Dorothy W. THANKS! I'm such a whuss! But maybe at least I should add in some core exercises and such? I really appreciate your advice, and would be grateful for whatever advice you're willing to share.

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