# Training for hilly century.



## Phatz85 (Sep 19, 2011)

Hello I am planning on doing a hilly century ride 6000 feet of climb. I've done a couple of centuries but nothing like this. I just completed a 103 mile ride with 2600 feet of climb. I know riding hills is a must for this type of ride, but what other types training should I be doing. Running? Plyometrics ? Core ? I have about 3 months to train. Thanks.


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## deviousalex (Aug 18, 2010)

Hills? Or do some 30-50 mile rides with more than one big climb in them. That'll get you used to doing multiple climbs in one ride.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

Just ride hills. Nothing special. If you can finish a century with 2500 feet of climbing (that's pretty flat) you can do one with 6000 (that counts as moderately hilly for a century).

With 3 months to go, you have plenty of time to prepare.

How long are the climbs on this century? It it's a lot of short hills, you can train anywhere. If some are long, it would be worth practicing on some climbs as long as the longest one, if you have some nearby, to work on pacing and technique for the longer climb.


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## Kristatos (Jan 10, 2008)

1. Lose weight if you can stand to lose some
2. Do hill intervals once a week, increasing the number of intervals and minimizing recovery time in between intervals
3. Flat time trials of 10 minutes, 2 where you are totally spent at the end of the session, no more than once/week
4. Fast paced group/club rides if there are any in your area.

You don't need hills to do 1, 3 and 4.


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## pigpen (Sep 28, 2005)

Ride more hills. As many as you can.
A few years ago I did 6 gap with my longest ride in 2 years being 75 miles with very few hills and it almost killed me. So did the 4 hour drive back home.


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## cyclist brent (Apr 13, 2011)

i just did the horribly hilly hundreds in Wisconsin this last weekend. 100 miles and 9300ft of elevation gain. All these suggestions are good, but I would add another. Hit the gym! make sure your arms/shoulders/core and back are strong in addition to your legs. As i climb seated, i find myself using my arms/core/back muscles to help stabilze and add more power into my legs. This was especially pronounced when the hills were steep (+/- 10%). Last year i did a lot of standing up the hills so I think that's why i didn't notice it as much. On short hills I'll just stand up the whole thing. On long hills for miles, i stay seated. In preparation for standing going up hill, sometimes I just stand on rides for 5 minutes or more at a time. Do that especially after you are already well into a ride and the quads are tired. That mimics long hills better. Good luck!


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## pulser955 (Apr 18, 2009)

Where are you located? Its easy to get that kind of climbing in here in Colorado. I have been doing 2 century's a month this season with 6k in climbing each time. I haven't trained really for them other then I just ride allot and climb allot.


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