On the topic of training, and my last post with regards to longer training sessions (not just zone 2 base rides).
What are the collective your thoughts on long sessions? I asked a similar question about how often to train crazy/all out/destruction hard, now I'm wondering the same thing about long sessions.
1) how often are they necessary?
In the off season I try to do one or 2 big rides per weekend, but not necessarily climbing/threshold training. In season I notice I race too much and unless the race is Saturday with nothing on Sunday, I tend to neglect the long stuff. Road racing may be different - no really long sustained high steady power efforts (at least not unless I get in a break).
2) how long is "long"?
My typical training this year is between 2 to 3 hours total with to/from, maybe 0.85 IF. Able to do this a few days in a row - it doesn't wreck my legs/later in the day I might not notice the fatigue. But somehow the jump from 3 to 4 hours and, while I may feel great finishing the ride, the legs remember the rest of the day. Can one possibly build up to such a high mileage in base that that short/long threshold moves out to like 4.5 hours? (Not like I have that kind of time, just thinking that would be a super useful ability in a p12 road race.)
3) are the long sessions tempo/sweet spot/threshold, or do you like to throw in a late-ride anaerobic set to really eff with yourself/prepare for road racing? I like the focus of long climbs on these rides, but a series of surges (like Ridgecrest road on Mount tam) later in a ride is such pain, and may be useful to try and train up mid-build once some non-pathetic level of anaerobic repeatability is reached on shorter rides.
Sorry/not sorry for the long post, this is an interesting topic for the current phase of my bike racing hobby! (And why in the hell does it take 3 years to even start to understand ones own body as it relates to training???)