Should I work on longer/slower (easier) rides, or harder effort rides?
I would assume that the long easy ride is better for building endurance, where a shorter harder ride would be better for building strength - is that even close to accurate?
Obviously, my long term goal would be to improve both
- but right now where I really struggle is in the hills - as long as it's flat, I'm pretty good to go at about 18-20mph, cadence 65-80, HR 140-150, but even a little incline sends my HR through the roof, and I just don't have the leg strength to do anything other than granny gear my way along at about 6mph. Before I started, I called my Dr to ask what my HR limits should be - I was told 130 - 170. I set my Polar to alarm at those points. I'm 5'1" or so, about 260lbs, 38 years old. Sure, I'd love to drop about 60 pounds, but I'd really just like to be faster/stronger/better on the bike. I'm not as concerned with the weight number. (I don't feel as big as I know I actually am - make sense?)
I'm also considering weight training - I have a 5 year old brand new
weight bench/dust collector that might come in handy about now huh?