I want to preface this question with the disclaimer that I know from the go that it’s basically impossible to answer with anything close to certainty. I am really just looking for feedback and opinions from folks who may have been in a similar situation.
To shoot to the crux of my question, I would like to ride the “Tour de Shunk” on September 15. It is a fondo century, but a tough one (105 miles, over 10K feet of climbing). I have done this ride six times previously. But now, nine weeks out from the race, I am not in the shape I was in any of the Julys prior to riding this fondo. My work has been more intense the last year, so I have had the lowest volume of any 12 month period of the last seven or eight years (really, since I started cycling regularly). Worse yet, I had hernia repair surgery on May 22 (it’s easy to remember the date, as this was my and my wife’s 30 anniversary!), so basically, I rode very little between around May 1 and July 12. (When I was back from vacation and had the medical clearance to ride with intensity again.)
Yesterday, I rode a metric century with just under 3K of climbing and was cooked at the end of the ride (it was, to be fair, over 90 degrees out with high humidity). It was humbling, to say the least.
So what do you think? Is nine weeks of focused training, good eating, good sleep, etc. enough time to prepare for this century? [I don’t mind riding it relatively slowly. I have no aspirations of PR’ing the ride. But I also don’t want to get my hopes up, and then go out there and just tank or be utterly miserable.]
Having been at this for decades I can only give my experience which is 8 weeks of focused training (best possible scenario for me) from a relatively untrained state I’m around 90% my best possible self.
Others new to riding or younger or older etc…may have somewhat different results. But, big picture 8 weeks and I’m pretty solid.
Dallas,
Thanks for that encouragement. I don’t need to be 90% of my peak to finish this ride and enjoy it, so if I can get anywhere close to that, I will be ok.
Cheers,
JH
So you are in your 50’s I assume. 9 weeks will put you where you can do the ride. I would go out to have a fun time. Do forget you get stronger during rest days so don’t pile on too much intensity for too long a time.
You’ll probably be able to do it, especially if you know how to pace (ie. Save yourself for the climbs, go easy on the flats) and do a bit of structured training (though I really wouldn’t know which training, my guess would be long (3-4h) easy z2 and longer ( 1x30, 2x20 or 3x15min) threshold intervals
Coming off the couch, 4-6 weeks was always when I started to feel like I was really coming back into cycling form. In 9 weeks, I think you’d be seeing noticeable gains every week leading up to the fondo.
Given you have completed a decent metric century already, you have plenty to build on.
I would aim for maximum consistency and would want to ride every day, but only so hard / long that I could complete tomorrow’s ride properly.
-one long hilly ride per week that built up towards the event distance over the 9 week period.
-one not as long or as hilly ride per week (half that week’s long ride)
-if I was up to it, I would put a decent effort in on some of the climbs in the later weeks
indoor rides would mainly be endurance / tempo of 2h (or built up to 2h if 2h wasn’t achievable out of the gate). I’d look at workouts like Perkins -1 and Perkins
a couple of days of rest, before the event
and then ride the event to enjoy it and the fruits of my 9 weeks of training
I think getting prepared for a century in 9 weeks is totally possible!
It will take some time to get back into shape, for sure, but it sounds like you’re motivated and fully recovered from your surgery.
Staying consistent will be key in getting ready for the Tour de Shunk. I think it would be worth considering following a plan if you’re not already. You could use Plan Builder, or you could manually add a plan to your TR Calendar. Looking into Base Phase plans would be a good idea so you could focus on Tempo and Sweet Spot work to get your aerobic foundation where it needs to be going into your event.
And, as you said, stay focused on good eating, good sleeping, and recovering as well as you can. Staying on top of nutrition on the bike during your workouts and during the century will be important, too.
I think you should be feeling optimistic about getting in shape for the fondo, especially considering you have previous training history! As other athletes have mentioned, you’ll likely find that you’ll gain some of that fitness you lost back pretty quickly.
Hope this helps – feel free to let us know if you have any other questions on getting back after it!