I think that just means you’re in good shape more than anything else. I guess training for a century is a lot like training for a marathon, lots of easy, but long workouts. I doubt you are doing many sprints that really push your HR up?
With the Garmin’s basic training plan, I am doing everything based on HR. One long (for me) easy ride, one hard push, and then kind of mixing it up with other rides. Occasionally throwing in a really rough anaerobic workout.
I take it back about the Seattle are being the most bike unfriendly place I have lived. Florida was worse. Lot’s of busy roads, almost no bike lanes, and lots of rednecks. Then you have the large bugs that aren’t very good at the flying thing (meaning roaches).
You are right, it is like training for a marathon and my training plan involves long steady rides, tempo/interval rides and sprints. But I don’t monitor my heart rate for those, Runkeeper prompts me when to pedal harder or not and so I do that. I don’t have a means to monitor my HR.
I misunderstood your earlier point about HR.
My goal for the Century is to finish by a certain time, but I’m a pretty slow biker relative to some of the folks here and I want to finish strong and avoid injury.
Just got back from a 20 mile ride this morning and I’m feeling a lot better than I did after the first one. Of course, for this one I was wearing padded shorts, and that makes a gigantic difference. I’m supposed to go on another ride on Saturday but I’m wondering if I should take a break from that one. I guess I’m going to see how I feel tomorrow.
So are there padded shorts that don’t make me look like I’m some kind of Team USA wannabe? I don’t want to look like Joe Pro bicyclist. I don’t like the tight-fitting look and the silly striping.
There are single color (often black) padded shorts you can wear. They can also be considered underwear and you can wear a pair of shorts over them so they won’t even be visible.You do not look like some sort of weird human hybrid when wearing them… In my opinion.
They are surprisingly well made for the low price, and they are durable. The pocket in the back is really small and I can’t access it while riding, but that is a quibble. I’m not sure their size chart is accurate, I went with large, a size larger than recommended and they are pretty snug.
Weird, the link renders in the preview but not here. I like the 1st pair more than the second (the elastic around the legs is “gummier” for the 1st pair and as as result the don’t climb up a millimeter when you’re riding). I wear gym shorts over both of em.
I was actually going to get a pair of the NOOYME undershorts because I heard they are very good, and I wanted to try a few brands and see what worked for me.
I dug out all of my shorts from 12 years ago when I was much more hardcore about riding. I have some cheap no-name things and some Pearl Izumis. All of them got a lot of use in the day, but there is a huge difference between the $30-40 shorts and the $100 ones.
First, the expensive ones are in much better condition. The elastic in the legs of the cheap ones have started getting that wavy look to them. The PIs still look almost new. I used to save the cheap ones for my short rides while the PIs were used on my longer 4-5 hour rides. Second, the padding is much thicker and covers more area than the cheap ones. There is a huge gap in quality.
Hopefully, you have some good cycling shirts, tons of pockets in the back of those.
I too worked my way up in the amount I would spend and knowing what I know now won’t hesitate to buy top of the line (Pearl Izumi has about three tiers of pricing). Thing is, though I spent a lot on my bike a few years back, biking seems to mostly be fairly inexpensive each year. I don’t mind paying good money for something with high quality that I know is going to get a lot of use and last for years too.
Plus, sales are your friend though I suspect they are mainly in the off season but it makes the upper end stuff more affordable.
What make’s bib’s worth the extra money? I know that’s what all the pros wear, but I have never really understood why, having never worn them.
After a freezing 2.25 hour ride today, I realized I need more long sleeve stuff. It was 58º when I started, but cloudy the whole ride. So I am poking around Pearl Izumi’s site looking for long sleeve jerseys. Prices really aren’t bad if you aren’t looking at their pro stuff. For people looking for cycling clothes, it’s worth a look.
I wore proper shorts and a jersey for the first time today (I usually wear gym clothes). I felt like a dork. I do not have the physique for those kind of clothes. Luckily none of my neighbors were awake that early to see me.
Anyway, my farthest ride since starting back up again last year. A whole 31 miles, ~1,200’ elevation gain. Feel fine, but I am starving. Can’t stop eating. After a long ride I used to go to Outback for a steak and martini back in the day, but there won’t be any of that.
Partly it is my physique or lack thereof that I don’t wear shorts any longer. I haven’t had a drink in 18 years but my midriff (beer belly) didn’t get the message. I hate cinching up (tying) bike shorts on.
So it’s part comfort, part ease of use, part the ease of tucking Mr Friendly more easily so I’m not riding around on him or my pelotas and a good part of learning that I had to try bibs to appreciate them.
I would say too that the high end bibs last longer than any bike shorts I ever had but you’re spending more. I think this will make the second year running I’m not buying any bibs after picking up another couple nice Pearl Izumi ones in an REI sale 2 years ago. One of those I was wearing when I had my last major wipeout two years ago. Other than marking the hip where I slid along asphalt for a stretch the fabric never tore. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever retired any bibs, even the less expensive ones I started with years ago.
Starva is a real ego buster. You did a PR on this section of road! Then I look at the stats and my time is 87th out of 89 for my age group. Nice reminder of far I have to go.
Do you guys ever take recovery weeks? Strava’a charts are basically telling my I need a break. I usually take at least one rest day, but I am wondering if it’s time for a light week.
Do your roadwork muscles require recovery time just like it’s recommended recovery time after lifting weights? Not that I really know anything about lifting weights other than what I’ve gleamed from walking by someone hoisting something in the gym.
I have been reading a lot of running stuff and giving your muscles time to rest and repair is a constant subject, so I think it is the same as weight training. A lot of the training plans have whole weeks where you only do light workouts as well. I am not really on any sort of plan, so I am wondering if I should just take a light week?
Strava has a Fitness and Freshness chart where it works out your fitness and fatigue. I can’t say I understand how it gets the numbers exactly, but my fatigue line is consistently above my fitness line. I do feel tired. I tried to push on a ride today and I couldn’t do it, I had nothing in me. Although, as much as I love stats, seeing the differences from what Garmin and Strava tell me, I kind of think all of it might be a bit of BS.
For me, when I start working out hard (at least a few times a week) I try and give myself a rest after about a month. I take a week off and let my body fully recover. When I jump back into whatever exercise routine I’m in I find it much easier to start increasing my workout and recovering quicker. No idea if the break actually helps, but I’ve done it often enough over the years that it seems to work.
When I ride these days it’s only once a week really. Doing it only once a week means after about 6 weeks I’ve mostly peaked. I’m not biking enough to really increase my pace or distance, but I’m doing it often enough to feel good when I’m riding and after. If I can get at least 2 rides/week in I can really bump up to get in shape pretty quickly. More than 3/week doesn’t seem to help much though. Of course, I’ve never pushed to try and be much more than a good rec rider who can do a 60 mile ride without keeling over.
I try to ride every other day, doing about a 10 mile round trip. The bike club I’ve hang with does 20 mile trips most weekends, so I figure if I don’t wanna keel over on those I keep working on my own so 10 miles is pretty easy. I’d like to think I’m getting there. There’s no organized bike rides that I can find locally that are less than 20 miles, and most are between 20 and 30 so I think once 20 feels ok, I might push it to the next level. It’s still early for me but I’m still really enjoying it.