Base Endurane

willbevan

Hi guys,

I am recently new to cycling, started in october and did my first 1000miles as of last sunday, which was also my longest ride solo (and group in that mater), 80miles

Now i was taking it easy to make sure i got home okay, average HR 145(Aprox 61% of my average) , areage speed 11.6mph so not exactly fast but i did it(yes it took me many hours with only a couple of stops to haveaquick energy bar)

Now my question is, how should i carry on with my base endurane training.As i see it i could do the following:
1. Keep my HR the same , and just let my speed increase over time
2. Up my speed by raising my HR a bit say 70%-75% of my average


I have already decided that i am going to stick at 80miles becuase of the time its taking me(7hrs gulp)

Any opinions would be great,asi understand you need to do base endurace mileage but not really how toincrease speed if thatmakes sense, or do i need to dothat in other sessions and that will just come to these aswell?

Just dont wantto be not pushing myself inthe base endurance sessions becuase im telling myself they are supposed to be easy

Thanks in advance

Will

PS. My details

Age 27
MHR - 203bpm
RHR - 52bpm
Anything else just ask?

Bronzie

You don't say what you are training for. If it's just general cycling and fitness, then you can carry on stacking up the long steady miles, but ultimately you will just train yourself to ride slowly. If you want to get faster, you will need to do some speed training at some point.

It's best to start this with plenty of base miles in the bag in my opinion. To be honest, it's still a bit too soon to get too carried away with high intensity riding (you are only averaging 250 miles/month), but I can't see any harm in throwing in a few shorter faster rides now.

Start with something manageable like 10 miles at a pace that has your breathing hard (but not so much that your legs start to turn to jelly). Use a regular circuit (free of traffic lights and too many hold ups) that you can time yourself over to gauge your progress. Maybe start with 1 or 2 of these a week, but keep the steady miles going as well for now to keep building your endurance.

cervelorider

Add to Bronzies prescription some fast 2hr efforts - at least 1 a week.

willbevan

Cheers for the advice guys


Well i am training for fitness, will be doing some 10TT with the club i joined but i used to run, and wasnt a short distance(5k) runner, liked my 10Mile and Half Marathon runs, my long training runs were about 19mi so 80mi is about right for me(goingonthe 4 for 1 mile of cycling to running)

Did my first 10TT on boxing day with 33:53 or something

Would i be right to think then,to leave my sunday long rides at that level of exerction and let my fitness riseand speed naturally, while doingthe shorter rides to get my speed up?

Thanks

Will

Bronzie

willbevan wrote:

Would i be right to think then,to leave my sunday long rides at that level of exerction and let my fitness riseand speed naturally, while doingthe shorter rides to get my speed up?

Yes.