Originally Posted by
2005trek1200
um, the OP is about BASE TRAINING, going as hard as yu can, ie tempo, sub-theshold workouts negate the positive aerobic effects taht base training have, this is the whole point of base traing.
to the origional postet, if thats all the time you have then thats all the trainig you can get in, period. base training should progress at a fixed intensity, increasing legth as you go in three week intervals with the fourth being a reconvery week. do that for as many months as you need, 3,4 ,5 whatever
i dont think you know what you think you know.
while riding > not riding, doing 5 hrs./week in Z2 is not very likely to prepare someone for the demands of recovering from introducing intensity in training, nor will it prepare one for the demands of racing a bicycle. if the OP has just 5 hrs./week, he should be doing them in a structured fashion, focusing on threshold development, not riding along at an all day pace.