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Old 10-04-10 | 01:38 PM
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ericm979
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Joined: May 2007
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From: Santa Cruz Mountains
Originally Posted by gundogblue
I've lost 103 lbs
Awesome!
Originally Posted by gundogblue
I ride 16 miles a day five days a week Mon through Friday, my problem is that every day that I ride I end up raceing myself, trying to beat my time, and average speed from the day before, but Im not sure thats the right thing to do.
It's not, if you want to become a faster cyclist. Or lose more weight for that matter. It gets harder to lose fat when you have less of it.
For fat loss, I suggest more riding. That will have to be at a slower pace so you can finish, but that's ok. You can't do long rides every day, so do them once or twice a week. Long steady distance burns a lot of fat. If you want to be a better (i.e. faster) cyclist there's a lot of different ways to train, depending on what distance and cirsumstances you want to be faster for. None of them involve riding the same distance and intensity for five days in a row.

If you look at pro (or amateur) racers, they don't train by going the same level of effort for ride after ride. If that was the best way to train then they wouldn't be using power meters or coaches.

You might also look into doing some organized rides (centuries). They can be fun, and having a ride coming up as a goal gives one a reason to ride.

You should get rid of that "100% effort" idea, or better, save it for when you do intervals which really do require 100% effort (and you don't know pain until you do a 5 min max effort interval). Even a 12 mph recovery ride where you're getting passed by little girls on tricycles has its place in a good training plan.
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