Question on training whilst riding 10 miles to wok

denzilcarr

I have a reasonable commute on quiet roads and want to use it for a bit if training and was wondering if anyone could give me some advice

I believe that riding in "zone 1" of your heart helps condition your body to burn fat as an energy source but does this only work for long rides? If it does work for shorter rides does whether I have eaten before the ride have an influence?

Would I just be better doing high cadence on the way in and then a couple of times a week try and do some intervals on the way home?

Thanks for any help/ input.

Denzil

milese

Z1 is only really a recovery ride and wont be hard enough to burn an optimum amount of calories if weight loss is your goal. Yes the % of calories from fat that you have burnt will be higher, but the absolute number of calories burnt will be less, than if you rode harder.

They say riding at a steady pace (my reading as Z2/3) whilst fasted helped with fat burning, and training your body to use more fat as fuel.

As for how you should ride your 10 miles, that will depend on your training objectives and the other riding you may do at weekends. Variety is the spice of life, so if you've no specific objectives, my advice for general pleasure / fitness would be to alternate between:

Hard but steady z4 (20 minute interval)
Long Intervals z5 (3-8 minutes)
Short intervals z6 (1 minute)
Easy day Z1/2

The terrain of your route might dicate how easy these intervals are to do.....

(assuming you are working to 7 zones)

LegendLust

denzilcarr wrote:

I have a reasonable commute on quiet roads and want to use it for a bit if training and was wondering if anyone could give me some advice

I believe that riding in "zone 1" of your heart helps condition your body to burn fat as an energy source but does this only work for long rides? If it does work for shorter rides does whether I have eaten before the ride have an influence?

Would I just be better doing high cadence on the way in and then a couple of times a week try and do some intervals on the way home?

Thanks for any help/ input.

Denzil

Might help with advice if you give us an idea of what you're training for?

denzilcarr

Thanks for the advice, that's really helpful.

In terms of my goals I want to try and get under an hour for a 25mile Tt and start to take part in some races over a 50-70km distance.

Thanks.

LegendLust

denzilcarr wrote:

Thanks for the advice, that's really helpful.

In terms of my goals I want to try and get under an hour for a 25mile Tt and start to take part in some races over a 50-70km distance.

Thanks.

In that case you need to increase the speed of your commute and use intervals - Z1 is no use to you during the week. A mainstay of my training is an hour and half temp ride before work - if you can get up earlier then try and fit in a couple of these sessions a week. Tempo is equivalent to Z3 nudging Z4.

Once you've got the feel of these then start throwing in a session of 2 x 10mins at high Z4 - warm up for 15 mins and rest for 8 mins to begin with then just potter to work after the intervals. Over the weeks decrease the rest period down to 3mins. Once you've got used to these you can start adding shorter more intense intervals, whilst still doing 2 Tempo sessions a week.

t4tomo

Long way to go for a chinese meal

dgstewart

t4tomo wrote:

Long way to go for a chinese meal

Took me a minute to spot though!