Originally Posted by LapDog
If you want to improve fast, then ride slow. The biggest problem with new riders is developing a good aerobic foundation, accomplished by keeping your heartrate down, is boring. Most developing riders will train in the "no-mans-land". Riding hard enough to get tired, but without the ability to really push the LT, etc. I suggest alternating fun (fast rides) with long slow rides. Pretty soon your slow rides will have a low heart rate.
The stuff that I have read lately disagrees with that. Train slow, ride slow. Also, it is an old wives tale about burning fat in the lower ends of the aerobic scale. I just read an interesting treatise on that. BTW, I started riding just under a year ago, ride my a$$ off with a fast group, do lots of intervals, and I broke the Florida state record for the 5K TT in the senior games last weekend. Probably my competitors used your theory!
Oh, and yes, in the 10K, I was the only rider out of over 100 that broke 16 minutes. Train fast - race fast. Train slow - don't bother to race!
Also, interestingly, I just read a piece today with advice for someone that finds themselves suddenly able to train only twice a week for awhile. The advice was to train hard on those two days, and you can come close to keeping your form. Granted, many of the "experts" have divergent views, but from my coaching experience with runners, those that I coached trained hard and fast, and won! The guys who kept proclaiming that LSD was the way to train never made the podium.