Saturday Long Rides - hours vs mileage

richmiani

idly wondering about this...our EN Saturday long rides are specified in hours. Makes sense since people live and ride on wildly differing terrain, are different levels of fit etc etc. But... do folks tweak the time in favor of getting mo' miles in during the build to IM   ? For me, I do the same route all the time and 4 hours gets me somewhere around 70-75 with 4k of climbing. I just have this nagging feeling that its not "enough" and should be doing more miles. So far, I've resisted, not wanting to add "junk miles".  Otoh there is 112 coming soon :-) Plus there's the Sunday ABP  ride to consider as well. Dunno - what do others in the house do ?

 

Al Truscott

Stick with the plan as written. Better to do the time, and be able to sustain daily workouts, than to over achieve and burn up, missing Sunday's ride or the next week's interval sessions. You'll get practice at riding long in the Race Rehearsals. With the RR's, and the taper, along with your hard work in the OS and hard intervals during the IM plan, along with smart pacing on race day, you'll be well prepared, believe me.

Besides, to paraphrase Coach R, who wants to spend 5-6+ hours on a bike at a time any more than he has to? My personal tolerance limit is about 4:15-4:20 (no matter the distance), except for RRs, IMs.

Joe Matchette

Three words:

Follow

The

Plan


Three more words:

The

Plan

Works

Coach Rich

There are many reasons why we have you riding a pretty challenging 4-4.5hrs followed by an ABP 3-3.5hrs vs a 5-6hr/100mi ride. The Coaches, and many, many experienced athletes have done that and we've learned that shorter and harder is better. 

The difference between 4.5 and 6hrs is largely the fatigue you feel from sitting on the bike longer. Which is to say, if you've got the endurance for a challenging 4.5hr ride, you have the endurance, and then some, for a 6hr ride. The details are just pacing (lower intensity), nutrition, and paying attention to the application of ass-cream, I suppose .

That said, if you feel 100 or 112 miles is a confidence thing, go for it. Or go really big and knock out a 120-130 mile ride, maybe taking the next day off or going very light. You'll be fine and will learn a lot, mostly that there is nothing especially magical about lonnnnngggg rides.

bc4ua

I basically rolled out of the Outseason into their bike camp where I rode about ~17 hours in 3 days. It works

richmiani

thanks everyone!

rmiller

Obviously this question has been answered, but just to chime in from the perspective of someone who built up to an IM on my own last year and has been with EN now for about a year - I like the plans in EN much better. Last year I did the typical volume thing - and that meant a lot of rides of 70 miles or more, typically around 15-16 mph - so 5+ hours in length. That was brutal, and I was totally burnt out from riding for several days after those rides. Now, in a 4-4.5 hr ride on Saturday, I get in 70-75 miles (thanks OS and bike focus block!), and still have mojo for Sunday's ABP ride. In the end, I get more time cycling over the course of the weekend - and while I'm pretty much DONE with the bike on Sunday night for a few days, it's not a big deal to pick it up again on Wednesdays for the FTP session, and by the next weekend I'm ready to go again. Net result? More time in the saddle, at more focused intensity, and better results. I feel as though the RR and the extra distance to 6 hours or 100 miles, whichever comes first, is merely a formality and a check to make sure all systems are truly ready to go.

Peter Greagg

The year before the current season, I was worried about the full IM bike because it was a fair bit longer than any rides I had done, including the two RR.

This season I did a BBW before my IM build.

Now the full IM bike is just another long ride at lower intensity than all the other rides in the IM plan.