maintaining fittness

ozzy1000_0

nearly 3 weeks ago i rode my first century, it went well and i felt strong and fit on the day.... since then work and stuff has piled up and i haven't really had a chance for a decent legnth ride.. tobe precise i have ridden my bike 8 times since then... riding since then has been either breif (40minutes) interval sessions on the turbo, or hilly sprints on the lanes for the odd hour....

i know my endurance is probably going down the pan, but i swear my quads are growing still and when i do ride i feel stronger.... ?? its a mystery to me... according to my "training load" plug-in on sporttracks, my fittness should be rapidily dropping due to the lack of volume i'm doing, but so far it doesn't feel that way...

am i doing the right things specifically to help maintain my fittnes until i get a chance to ride properly again?? or will i just hit the wall next time i try and ride more than 50miles and realise that i'm not fit anymore

SBezza

Your fitness will drop, but if you are still doing training, it will not plummet. If you can only do the short sessions, then that is all you can do, but no doubt you will be keeping your fitness up by doing it, just perhaps not as high if you got more riding in.

Hitting the wall is more in the head to be honest, even with short sessions, you should still be able to manage 50 miles without too much difficulty, you just might not be as fast, and it might hurt a little more.

TheBullet

The first 4 months of the year I was doing 6-7 hrs a week which was mainly endurance training (60-70 mile rides) and did a couple of 100 mile sportives. Then in May me and the Mrs had a little girl and since then my training has dropped to 2-4 hrs per week consisting of 1hr midweek ride with high-end sprints and short 'all-out' hill reps and then a 2-3hr ride at the weekend with some longer intervals.

Anyway to cut a long story short 2 months on and my fitness seems better than ever and I can only assume it's because I am doing quality not quantity.

SO, in answer to your question, yes, I think you are doing the right things to maintain a good enough level of fitness to ride a 50. Just don't go too hard at the start and you'll be fine. And in the mean time keep up with the shorter but more intense efforts.

ozzy1000_0

sbeezer and the bullet,

thanks for the replies, i'm hoping to squeeze in somelonger ridesover the next week or 2, but i have noticed that as bullet said, the rides i do do i feel pretty good on... i reckon its because i'm so well rested when i go out, and because everyride i have done has had 82%+ av heart rate....

the one thing i have noticed is that miy weight has started creaping up again.. which is potentially an issue as i'm not that light... i wish i worked part time!!!!