Originally Posted by
LoriRose
That was a lot to digest. I'm not sure I really follow. By what you're suggesting I shouldn't go fast during my rides too often?
Yes. One day out of 5-6 is probably ideal. Two won't hurt if you're fit enough. You won't be fresh enough for more so you won't actually ride hard and will be worse off than if you did not try.
The naive approach of "just riding hard" doesn't work - at best you end up tired and merely not slow because you end up riding hard enough to stress your body, too hard to improve your aerobic system, but not hard enough to improve your anaerobic performance. I tried that when I didn't know better although I'd been riding road bikes for decades.
There's actually a paper showing that triathletes training time between the two extremes correlated with a slower bike leg, while more time below their aerobic threshold made it faster.
I should just mostly take it easy?
No problem speaking. 5-6 out of 10 unless you need a rest day and would rather do it on the bike at a walking effort. Easy is relative.
My 4-hour endurance pace is a little over 17 MPH (27km/h) average in "flat" terrain. Out of shape I couldn't do 15 MPH (24km/h) for one hour.
RR3's aerobic threshold is over 20 MPH (32km/h) and he's trying for 22 MPH (35 km/hour) for 24 hours straight.
You increase that pace by training below your aerobic threshold.
That doesn't sound like much fun. Maybe I misunderstood.
I broke my collarbone cornering at 21 MPH (34 km/h) on a flat and easy endurance ride which otherwise wouldn't have been dull.
"Riding five days a week, one hard interval session is enough where the sweet spot is as hard as you can ride for 7-10 minutes. "
one hard session per week?
One per Week. Harder than you think you can ride. Have a snack so you're not starving 1-2 hours before that so don't loose your lunch.