Originally Posted by Mars
I commute to work, about 30 minutes. I ride hard with my heart rate around 150 or so. In the training guides I have been reading, they all recommend hour long or more rides. How as an hour continuous diffferent, in terms of benefits, from 2 hard 30 minute rides?
It depends on what your ultimate goals are. (I assume you are doing a 5 minute or so warm up before the rides?)
If you're working on speed, you could definitely do 2- 30 min training rides and either focus on doing higher intensity intervals or fartlek-type drills.
If you're working on endurance, no. Endurance is longer rides and working consistently at an aerobic or near-aerobic level over a long time period (I would consider and endurance type ride at least 75 min long).
If you're training for power, you would have to really focus more on doing high intensity drills that are more like fartlek- that would leave your legs almost feeling rubbery after a 30 min ride.
If you're just looking to burn fat, I can say that lately, researchers have been finding that as long as you do at least 20 minutes per session, you will get fat burning benefits (provided you're working at a mid to higher intensity during your sessions). For people who are working to burn fat but don't have the time to do a full hour session, you can split it into two thirty minute sessions and still get the benefits of a full hour long workout (also provided that you are eating right too).
Koffee