Training & Nutrition - Improving My Endurance

So I have an 18.9 mile route mapped out. I've ridden it only once so far. To improve my endurance should I stick to the same route and judge my improvement by the amount of time it takes me? Until I get computer, I'm wondering if this is generally a good reference point to start with. Thanks everyone! :)

Depending on where you live and the conditions, time can be very inaccurate measurement. Things like traffic, wind, and just how good you feel will change everything.

Make sure you don't push yourself too hard, riding at too high of an intensity results in an anaerobic workout which won't help your endurance much. If you have a heart rate monitor it is easy to watch for this. If you don't, just consciously take your intensity a notch down.

Honestly for my personality, a computer probrobly hurts my training. Simply because I tend to crave more and more speed. When I finally got a heart rate monitor, I now realize I was pushing myself way too hard to develop a good aerobic base and endurance. So yah speed isn't everything! Err or just looking at speed doesn't help you build endurance anyway :P

Read an interesting article about it here: http://www.xtri.com/article.asp?id=448 (Nutshell: instead of going all out in intensity, work your body constantly at a lower intensity, and your body will improve in its ability to do more and more at that lower intensity. You will get better improvement over time this way)

Read an interesting article about it here: http://www.xtri.com/article.asp?id=448 (Nutshell: instead of going all out in intensity, work your body constantly at a lower intensity, and your body will improve in its ability to do more and more at that lower intensity. You will get better improvement over time this way)

I read the article, and it does make some great points regarding buliding an aerobic base. However, when I got to the end, and read how to calculate you aerobic h/r as, "Take 180 subtract your age ... blah, blah ....", I had to dismiss all that I had read. Generic formulas like that mean nothing. Maximum h/r, and all other heart rate numbers (derived from your MHR) are different for everyone. Using a generic formula like that may work - if you're very, very lucky. It's kind of like throwing a dart @ a heart rate target though.

your body knows time, not distance. so go for a 1.5 hour ride. or a 2 hr ride. think in terms of time....i used to do 4 1.5hr training rides a week >>then on the longer weekend rides i was lost > 2 hrs. then i started increasing my time in the saddle and PRESTO. my body recognized the 2 hrs and eventually extended it out to 3-4 hrs...

There are two approaches - a well planned, scientifically backed and measured, or just keep riding the route every day or reqular frequency and you will improve you endurance - don't push yourself so hard you can talk and don't take it so easy you that you don't start breathing harder. You can take 10sec estimates of your heart rate to at intense times, just to gage if its within a decent window.

Keep your cadence (pedaling speed) high so it relatively easy to push the pedals, focus on spinning them smoothly - this will put focus on building aerobic base

Unless you are planning to become a competitve racer or really want to optimize your performance improvements for max gain I'd just do this.

After doing that for a while you will notice without any measurements that you can ride with more ease.

You can time your route - sure traffic, etc. affect the time, but on average if you say put the values in a spreadsheet on a computer, your times will drop. Somedays it wil be higher because you hit every red light and the wind was in your face, somedays you will fly. But overall you still will notice a trend. Not only are you improving your endurance, but also your skill in handing that same route.

At some point you may want to get more scientific, but if this is say an everyday commute or scenic ride, have fun with it and not matter what you do you will improve your endurance.

Al