Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
Hi hobkirk,
Dittoes to the above congratulations, especially in view of your medical hurdles. We are both Metro Bostonians and made acquaintance on a
thread you started this summer. Similarly this summer after years of mileage-based training I decided to emphasize intensity/speed, partly based on intervals, with this premise,
My training program is pretty homespun, using Relative Perceived Exertion as my guage of intensity, and as noted above pretty modest. Basically, on a scale of 0 to 100, with 50% my usual riding pace,
- warmup of 6 miles at RPE=50
- training pace=60%; about 15-20 miles on weekdays, as much as I can find time for; weekend ride of at least 40 miles
- Hills (and beyond) at 70% for at least two minutes.
ADDENDUM: The verbal descriptions of the relative perceived exertion for my 0 to 100% scale:
- resting...10 to 20
- very, very light...20 to 30
- very light...30 to 40
- fairly light...50 (my usual happy-go-lucky pace / exertion)
- somewhat hard...60
- hard...70
- very hard (lactate threshold; breakpoint between hard but steady breathing and labored with gasping)...80 (my max HR)
- very, very hard...90 to 100.
I use these sporadic intervals because I found on my commute the terrain did not conform with a schedule of intervals, e.g. downhills on the intervals, uphills on the rest periods, and interspersed traffic lights. I actually now look forward to the uphills.
An adage I once read on BF is
“My 15 mph (40 mile ride) is to me, as your 23 mph (double century) is to you." Nonetheless I am enjoying the virtually intoxicating “thrill” of increased speed and crave my rides more than ever.
One other point of reference, @
hobkirk. This summer you also
posted to a thread from a Pennsylvania roadie requesting routes around Boston.
I too had replied, and even showed that roadie around, and wrote,
FYA, one ride was from Beacon Hill to Great Blue Hill. You had posted,
I think you were referring to the hill on Brush Hill Road, but we inadvertently turned on Neponset Valley Parkway, and he was not impressed. 
That's spectacular! Way to go, I'm happy for both of you.
I don't know if the hill is called Brush Hill, but it's got a gate so it's only for cyclists and walkers, IIRC.
AFAIK, it is THE road in the Boston area to do repeats if you are prepping for the Mount Washington Road race.
Speed: I've always been a speed freak. I've owned most of the "fastest motorcycle made" from age 19 to 40. I absolutely love the speed of downhill skiing. And I've always driven fast - it was a rare week I didn't top 100 mph during the course of routine driving ("oh darn, I'm late getting back from lunch, I'd better drive fast!"). I've gone cross-country on a motorcycle and in a car, cruising whenever possible around 100. Locally I'd always be about 30-50% above the speed limit with no conscious effort.
IRONY: At age 55 I was diagnosed with rampant ADD, attention deficit. They drugged me with speed. The result was I'd need to take a nap and my driving automatically slowed down without any effort. I simply started noticing I was going slower. The speed stopped controlling the ADD, but my driving has stayed slower.