How long to "warm up"?

[Ebbtide]

I few of weeks ago I increased my rides and distances. Although not where I want to be, I'm going 20 miles every other day. Lately, I have noticed I am a slug on the bike for the first 10 miles and don't seem to be warmed up much before the 15 mile mark. For the remainder of the ride it feels I can ride forever but that ends around the 22 mile mark.

Does anyone have an experience simular to this, and what did you do to over come it? I find it difficult to "get up" for the ride when only the last 15 minutes are enjoyable.

Thanks,

Ehenz

[FOG]

I think you should try varying the intensity of your workouts, so that you don't get into a flat performance range. Try windsprint type workouts, or hills, some days, and do an easy workout every other day. Then you won't feel like you are trapped during your workout.

[Ebbtide]

FOG,

Yes, good point. I do feel trapped. Along with the increase I stopped doing the big hills near my home and have been driving to my starting point and just focusing on increasing miles and speed.

I think tonight I'll leave from the house and torture myself for a while on the hills, then see how I do on a longer ride on Wednesday.


Thanks, Ehenz

[WoodyUpstate]

I need a 10-20 minute warm up, though it varies by the type of ride. Intervals, sprints, hill work all mandate a more complete warmup.

If I go to hard, too early, I get sick to my stomach.

[FOG]

Ehenz, Please don't overlook the part about easy workouts on alternate days. I find that if I press for sevveral days in a row I get poorer performance and a real bad attitude. If you don't have any gas left on a particular day go for a nice easy ride, pulse abuot 65%, and enjoy the scenery.

[shaharidan]

ive been working with a heart rate monitor and find that after about an hour i have a much easier time keeping my heart rate in the right zone. i can even increase my cadence by 10-15 rpm and still stay in the right zone. an hour seems like an awfully long time to warm up to me also. i'm hoping it is caused by my lack of activity for too long and that after i get 500-600 miles in my legs the warm up time will drop.

[Gargoola]

I usually find that out of a 80km ride it takes about 20kms to really warm up. Although yesterday I did a 40km warm up and then did some really good/long hills. They were a breeze with the extra 10-20kms of flat before I got to them. Have to do that again and see, just to make sure.

Also if I do an "up and back" route, going with the breeze on the way and into the breeze on the way back is really good. Cause I don't bust myself trying to keep up the pace into the wind while I'm warming up. And when I'm coming back into the breeze it's a lot easier cause my legs are warmed up and my cadence is where it should be.

[khuon]

If there's no intensity, it takes me at least five miles to warm up. At ten miles I'm pretty well into the groove. If I'm hitting hills right off the bat, I'm more or less ready to go after about three miles but those first three miles are painful. If starting again after taking a short break of over 15 minutes, it sometimes can take me up to a mile of spinning before I'm comfortable again. More and more now, I prefer to warm up slowly but this does put a cramp on my riding if I've only got an hour to squeeze in a ride.

[Chris L]

It normally takes me about 20km or so to really hit my top form. I'm normally pretty good after about 10km. Before that, forget it.

[Trouble]

Using a HRM I'll go 60% of max for about 5-10 minutes at around 95-100rpm.
Then I'll go to 70% of max for about another 15 minutes or 4-5 miles, by that time I'm in the groove and feelin good. Then it's 75-85% of max depending on the ride, but mostly on the 75-80 side for the rest of the ride, unless I'm doing the fast ride, and then cool down for a bit before I roll into the driveway.
Never the same ride. There are many variations I can do for flats/fast ride, distance ride, recovery ride, hills and climbs. It's the constant switchin up that keeps me motivated.
On my road bike I try not to drive to my start/stop location. Only on the MTB unless I'm doing an urban assault and blasting the alleys.
Warm ups are important. Get a good warm up in, usually about the time you've got a good sweat going and add a cool down followed by 5-10 minutes of stretching and you should feel good.

[Guest]

shaharidan- I would suggest if you're taking an hour to get your heart rate to the zone you're working towards, you may want to have your heart rate parameters checked. What's to say you're not already in the zone you're aiming for? In that case, it would be an explanation on why it takes an hour to get any higher!

Do a check for the 2 X 20 Anaerobic Threshold test, and as soon as possible, do that test with your heart rate monitor. Don't deviate the test at all...

Koffee

[RiPHRaPH]

in an otherwise normal, healthy person, you should warm up a minimum of 10 to 15 minutes. any longer and you need to kick your mental game into gear.