Long Ride Volume

danjohnston

I am in week 12 of my IM prep for Louisville.  Due to several challenges (saddles issues, death in the family, etc) I have been unable to execute some of my long rides.  As a result my long ride volume is not where I want it to be with 9 weeks to go.  I have finally found a saddle that works for me and my schedule is now back to "normal" so I am hoping that from this point on I can nail the workouts.  However, my question is if this week's long ride proves to be too hard for me how should I modify it?  Am I better off not worrying about the inserting the harder/Z4 segments and just making sure I get the 4 hours of riding in?  Or should I definitely include the harder/Z4 segements and just go for as long as I can - even if it turns out to be only say 3 hours?  Thanks for your input!

Joe Matchette

@Dan - check out this wiki article. I think it has the guidance you are looking for:

http://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/Wiki/tabid/108/Default.aspx?topic=WorkOut+Triage

Swanie

Yup...what Joe says. If I miss a workout or several workouts I at least get the time in and drop the intensity. Race day is sub 70% so the time in the saddle is most important.