****PRE-POST WARNING!!!!**** I AM A ROAD BIKE NOOB!
So next weekend there's a 65 mile classic by where I live, and i decided to go out today to do a bit of training, not knowing when I set off how far I was going to go. I decided to take the first 20 miles hard, and I averaged 17.8 (good for me) during that time.

At this point I had a choice: go for the 65 miles to prove to myself I could do it (next longest ride I've been on was a 50 miler) or just turn around and push hard on the way back.

I chose to go slow and just do the 65 miles, but was left with a feeling of self-loathing for having to go slow.

Now after that long lead up, my question is:

Do you guys who train all the time to be competitive think you get more, less, or the same amount of benefit from 1.pushing yourself extremely hard for a short period of time or 2.just doing more miles at a slower pace than you would if you were sane?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Anyone? Not even a snide remark?

it depends

maybe.

What are your goals,
speed or distance?
I used to be a long-hauler,
but with limited time to ride,
I have to make short rides
at a faster clip. It's all up to you.

Slackerprince

Well, if you push yourself you will get faster/stronger. But if you are relatively new to cycling you will need to experiment a bit on how hard you can go for how long. I prefer to go a bit easy for say the first half of the race/ride and keep enough 'fuel in the tank' for a strong finish. If you want to compete in races on a regular basis and become better at them then you might want to start a more formal training program to include intervals and hill repeats, as well as endurance mileage. Be sure to include rest days in the program. There are some good articles here that may help you.

To really improve, you need to do both. I'm not sure slower than usual will help unless you're trying to build strength by pushing a big gear or doing hill repeats. Or if you just want to ride and take in the scenery.

I'm not competitive but my basic week so far this year looks like this:

Monday - Off
Tuesday - 1 to 1.5 hours including hill repeats
Wednesday - 1 to 1.5 hours big gear/low cadence drills
Thursday - 1.5 hours of "easy riding", meaning avg HR = 70-ish% of max HR
Friday - Off
Saturday - Long Ride Day #1 (currently 35-45 miles)
Sunday - Long Ride Day #2 (currently 45-65 miles)

The weekend rides are done so that cumulative miles/hours is more than 100 miles or 5 hours. This plan, even in the few weeks I have been doing it, has added nearly one mph to my long ride average speed. That's a 5% improvement in about a month.