Base Mileage

garetjax

It sounds like most if not all coaches and training programmes recommend building up a good mileage base before doing harder efforts. Many cyclists are doing longish rides of maybe 3-5hrs especially at this time of year.

Problem is, I sometimes get knee pain on rides longer than 50 miles, consequently I am cautious about doing rides longer than around 3 hours. However, I am always fine doing 2.5 hour rides, which i currently do at least twice a week, in addition to tempo efforts of 1-2 hours and lactate tolerance efforts of 10-30 min on my turbo.

My question is : considering I am targeting club10s and the odd 25 this year, is it necessary to include longer rides of 3-5 hours in my riding?

SteveR_100Milers

only if it takes you longer to complete a 10 or a 25..... I'm sure Alex and others have commented elsewhere that for shorter distance TT's then you might be better off doing more 60-90 minute rides at >85% max effort than 5+hr LSD's . This doesnt mean that a long ride won't help you, but you might spend those 5 hours more productively, and avoid knee pain. Best way to be fast at riding 10 mile TT's is to ride them.

mclarent

I wouldn't do anything that hurt physically. And by that I don't mean hard work, I mean where it would appear that I'm injuring myself. I'm not a doctor, so if the pain was bad (i.e. not just fatigue) then I would get professional advice. It may be something in your bike setup that's causing the pain, or maybe not enough float in your pedals, worth checking that out as well.

For your question specifically, I think really "it depends" on your performance goals, and I would ask someone more experienced than me to help you with that.

stevewj

I do mainly tens with the occasional 25 or 30 mile TT and never go over three and a quarter hours. Can't see any point, any extra time would be better spent targetting another area like recovery, intervals to raise threshold, power etc etc.

Alex_Simmons/RST

I always get concerned when someone says they are getting injuries from riding.
So either:
- something is already injured and needs to be fixed (which may need intervention or rest), and/or
- your bike set up needs adjusting, and/or
- you have ramped up training load too quickly.

As for preparing for 10s, well longer rides have their place but 2.5-3hrs is sufficient for a longer ride if used wisely.

ColinJ

I think that the question you should be addressing first is "Why do my knees hurt?". Something must be wrong and it needs to be sorted out. I can get sore knees within an hour if my cleat positions are out by a few degrees or a few mm. If they are right, I can ride for 14 hours without any knee problems.

I'd suggest getting someone who knows what they are doing to double-check your position on your bike and how your cleats are set up. Three hour rides really aren't very long and shouldn't be stressing your joints. I was doing those comfortably within a few months of starting cycling.

garetjax

Thanks for replies.

The knee issue has been going on for years off and on and i have never really sorted it.
I have patellofemoral syndrome which seems to come and go.
Sometimes i manage to get my rides up to 70miles+. I even did two 100km Meridas last year.
But when it's giving me gip then yes, just 3 hrs can cause problems, so i am staying below the 3hr mark currently. Seems worse in the Winter, just when many programmes recommend bumping up the mileage.

chill123

knee pain. try either:

- adjusting your bike set up
and/or
- pushing smaller gears on long rides, increase your cadence