Cycle Century Training - How to Ride Long Distance , Friday, July 17, 2009 at 12:07 AM, in

Long distance bike riding requires a certain type of training. Training for any endurance event places a huge amount of extra strain on your body. As you are pushing your body to its limits, it is so much easier to push yourself too hard. Doing so can have two different types of ill effect. First of all you can dramatically increase your chances of getting injured as you increase the workload you place on the body.
Secondly training for long periods can cause you to work the body so hard that it does not have time to recover leading to what is known as chronic over training. This is when the body slowly gets more and more worn out, leading to decreases in performance. Many riders fail to grasp this concept that riding harder or further may not actually make you fitter or stronger.





As described above it is crucial to get the right balance of training work load and rest. The easiest way to achieve this is to follow a training schedule. A properly constructed training schedule will contain exactly the right balance of work and rest. This is usually achieved by having a carefully constructed mix of different types of ride. Different workouts should be added to improve different aspects of your riding such as climbing, speed, endurance, recovery, cadence and power amongst others.
Riding over long distances also requires a structured approach to your diet and nutrition. Did you know for example that if you want to lose weight you will do so by riding at much slower speeds for longer as opposed to riding very fast for shorter periods?

Follow this link to learn more about my structured long distance cycle training schedules