Originally Posted by
rsbob
Cross post,, but thought it was worth sharing with the wise:
55 miles (88K <-which sounds more impressive) with 2,300’ (701 meters <-doesn’t sound that impressive) and 3 PRs on an ideal day temperature wise - low 60s.
I usually try to hammer this kind of distance and try for 17 to 18 MPH average and feel wrecked when I finish and for the rest of the night and the next day. But, after several rides of Zone 2, which is super easy, I thought, why not keep a more moderate pace and see how I feel during the big climbs and at the end. The answer is, the climbs went really well and at the end I felt fine and could have easily done 20 more. Nothing wrong with taking it to the max to improve VO2 once or twice a week, but not feeling wasted at the end of a 50 mile ride is fantastic.
Congrats on the PRs.
I go out of my way not to feel wrecked after a ride and the next day. Why? I have a lot of training activities to do during the week that require a somewhat recovered next day.
I do not get your last sentence. It sounds like you mix VO2 training into 50 mile rides. I do not do that. If I have a VO2 workout, I do a warmup and then do the VO2 workout with rest intervals and then some type of warm down / recovery. The entire workout may take some time but not 50 miles of actual riding, In fact, my VO2 and anaerobic training mileage is short but the total time devoted to the workout may be long.
A gym workout is predominantly uses the phosphate creatine system for ATP. My goal is to keep the gym work focused on the PC system and not fatigue the other systems. Having said that, the PC system takes the longest to recharge so rest periods are important.
If I am going to do an endurance ride, I stick to endurance.
I think I will bump the San Millan thread in T&N since he is still affiliated with UAE and
Tadej Pogačar is killing the Giro.
