Originally Posted by
hhnngg1
I guess you're using 'hammering' in a very specific way, then. I use it any effort that feels pretty dang hard. I think you're using it more like an all out final sprint - I'd rather call those sprints as opposed to hammering, since you can definitely hammer for an hour, whereas you can't sprint for an hour.
Either way, you gotta ride hard and feel the hurt to get better. Even the pros acknowledge that cycling is largely about taking the suffering on the bike, both in practice, and then in the races.
You can do all the technique drills you want in cycling, but you're not going to get any faster unless you work harder, and usually a lot harder.
On the bike, you can hammer at any level - it's just relative. This guy might only be able to hammer a few miles of a measly 10 mile ride, but it'll yield more benefit than riding easy for those 10 miles.
i consider anything in my zone 5 hammering. Where if I did it too long, I'd burn out to no recovery. I've worked really hard to make sure I get my conditioning to where I rarely hit that zone. I started out hitting my zone 5 at least every 3 minutes when i started out this year, now I might hit it once, and its usually on a super super hard climb or on an all out sprint. The hammerfest brought it out a bit more, but these guys are pacing at 25-30 at times and it was burning me out. I stuck with it and the route which i normally finish with a 18-19 avg, I finished with a 22.6 which is a personal best.
this is the ride at the hammerfest...pretty much getting dropped.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/166903658
this is the ride at the hammerfest without getting dropped.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/169228564
they are a week apart. The ride is actually 23 miles but the first bit starts out with a slow 13mph pace with all 3 groups as a warm up which i dont start my garmin until we take off with the A group.
I did 3 solo rides on this same route with 18 avg in the week between with good rest and only spun a 12 miler the day before just to keep loose but not tire myself out.
heres the comparison...
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/c...yId2=166903658
I got pretty much gained 3.1 mph average with the same effort.