Before I get into any of this I want to make it clear that everything shared here are plans I created for myself and are not meant to be guidelines for others to follow. While I have no issue with others using the programs for their own training, you should do your own research and make sure it is suitable to the goal you want to achieve. And most importantly always listen to your body, your health is far more important to achieving a goal than sticking exactly to a plan laid out by someone else.
With the disclaimer out of the way, let’s talk a bit about what these next 18 weeks will look like for me! The plan I have laid out for myself focuses on three core concepts: a ride, strength, and mobility program. Hopefully by the time you’re reading this I have all three plans posted on the site but if not please bear with me as I work through the learning curve.
Ride Program
This plan is structured into five block with the fourth week of blocks one through three being a recovery week. The one caveat there is week 16 will not be a recovery as the following week we will begin to taper off in preparation for the Century Ride in week 18. The goal is to ride four days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, with a long ride on Saturday) and if the body is feeling up for it, get out for an easy spin on Sundays – full disclosure I don’t expect to ride on many Sundays and will likely aim for four rides per week.
Over these first few weeks the intention is to find my legs again and build a habit of riding. During this phase, I will also be refining my setup and working on my ride position to make the rides as comfortable as possible. If you find yourself following along, I recommend you do the same here. As the rides get longer any slight irritations or discomfort experienced will only become more nagging and extreme if not corrected early on.
I will plan to post once a week after I have completed my rides and when heading into a new block I’ll make an effort to make an extra post to give a quick recap of the previous block and a preview of what our focus is going into he next four week block. But if you want to look ahead, please check out the program itself, it should be linked at the top of the Century page.
Strength Program
I am a firm believer that consistent weight training is the best injury prevention. The intention here is not make huge strength gains, if that’s what you’re looking for I would recommend the book, “Bigger, Leaner, Stronger” by Michael Matthews. But rather our emphasis is on single leg balance and exploring ranges of motion that we don’t see while in the saddle. This program is built around lifting three days a week with at least one day between each session (Mon, Wed, Fri). This program will be linked alongside the ride program on the Century page.
Day one we are focusing on legs. My thought process here is hitting the legs early in the week and while those midweek rides may suffer a bit, it will hopefully give them the best chance to be fully ready to go for the long ride on Saturday. The big lift here is the Bulgarian Split Squat (maybe my favorite lift) because it emphasizes both single leg balance and power, two aspects that will be crucial for us to ride 100 miles in a day.
Day two is our push & pull day, a chance to get back some of that upper body mobility and improve our posture after some hours stuck in our riding position. This is the one day of the week we can really put some effort into the upper body but being on the same day as a ride it will be important to not overtrain in this session and still prioritize the riding.
Day three emphasizes stability and balance which is clear when you realize all the lifts actively engage the core. This overlaps with the rest day prior to my long ride on Saturday so keeping the body fresh instead of pushing to the limit will be front of mind. Still important but the riding is the priority and weight training is designed to support that.
Mobility Program
This is arguably the single most important in whether we will be able to achieve the goal we are set on. I can hit every ride and every lift, but if the body is not recovering and staying loose, it will all be for nothing as tightness and subsequent injuries start to stack up.
The plan includes a daily stretch routine as well as a post ride routine, the post ride is critical to hit while the muscles are still loose and before sitting down to relax. Naturally, it is all geared towards the posterior chain and hips as this area is going to suffer the most throughout our rides and is the leading factor in lower body injuries. Seriously every knee pain I have experienced has been resolved through working on the posterior chain, most commonly something in the lower back or glutes. While some lifts and the occasional ride might be missed, stretching is going to be a non-negotiable here. Both routines take less than 30 minutes combined and require little further exertion, and let’s be honest, there’s no reason we should spend some time repaying our body every day.
Recap
I’ll reiterate that everything above is purely for my own training purposes and should you wish to use them for yourself, you should do independent research and ensure the objectives suit your goals. I have no formal training in anything I share here but should you find my insights useful I welcome you to safely utilize any of the resources I provide.
One last thing I want to touch on is diet/nutrition. I have intentionally chose not to share what my plan is here, partially because it will ebb and flow throughout but more importantly because all of our bodies are different and react differently to things we feed it. Perhaps if there is a large desire to know more about it or as the Century ride approaches I may choose to share how I am fueling in preparation but until then I will keep it private. My only insight for now is to listen to your body and always emphasize proper hydration.
I look forward to sharing my journey here and seeing where the rides take me. Whether we achieve our goal or not will be determined down the road but until then we’ll just enjoy the new experiences along the way.