The Dumb Run is an odd one -- calum has just done the Edinburgh to St Andrews as a relative newbie, so he would be a good person to talk to about going from beginner to distance eater -- for me it is so long ago I don't remember.
Generally speaking I reckon that after 40 miles the rest is mental. It's about how long you can sit on your bike without your arse feeling like it's about to burst into some sort of friction fire, and making sure you eat and drink enough. These long-distance events are all very aerobic, with only small sections of anaerobic, and they're not high effort. Later on I'll post my HR trace so you can see what I mean.
the Dumb Run isn't hard because it's long. It's hard because of the weather, and this year it didn't seem all that hard at all. My legs were fine at the end, and I've not ridden more than 35 miles in 2 years. The difference is I know I can do it. Someone who hasn't done that distance before, especially overnight when your bodyclock plays tricks on you, would find it a lot harder and it's got nothing to do with fitness. I had to warn people that between 1am and 3am I get very grumpy and emotional and not to worry about it.
So I suppose if you can do 30 - 40 miles with a few hills (nothing major) in there, then you'd be fine.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2011-06-21 04:45 pm (UTC)Generally speaking I reckon that after 40 miles the rest is mental. It's about how long you can sit on your bike without your arse feeling like it's about to burst into some sort of friction fire, and making sure you eat and drink enough. These long-distance events are all very aerobic, with only small sections of anaerobic, and they're not high effort. Later on I'll post my HR trace so you can see what I mean.
the Dumb Run isn't hard because it's long. It's hard because of the weather, and this year it didn't seem all that hard at all. My legs were fine at the end, and I've not ridden more than 35 miles in 2 years. The difference is I know I can do it. Someone who hasn't done that distance before, especially overnight when your bodyclock plays tricks on you, would find it a lot harder and it's got nothing to do with fitness. I had to warn people that between 1am and 3am I get very grumpy and emotional and not to worry about it.
So I suppose if you can do 30 - 40 miles with a few hills (nothing major) in there, then you'd be fine.