Best way to improve long ride speed/strength over 2 months?

chamunt

I'm going away with friends on a cycling holiday in 2 months and I want to get as strong as I can for it. I haven't done much over the winter and the rides will be between 70 and 100 miles per day over a five days, with a break in the middle. To give an idea, at the moment I can only manage about 15mph average over a 60 mile ride (approx. 2000 ft elev), reasonably comfortably, but not effort free. I don't have a goal, apart from knowing the stronger I am the more I will enjoy it.

Finding time to ride now isn't too much of an issue. I can't work out whether it's best to just get as many miles in for a few weeks for a base and then mix in some intervals. Or mix in the interval training from the start ... or leave the intensity till the last few weeks.

Any suggestions?
Thanks

imposter2.0

You haven't said how many hours per week you are riding at the moment, or how much more time you might be able to put in - but the key will be to either add more hours, or add more intensity to the hours you already do.

chamunt

Thanks
Just in the last few weeks started doing about 8 hours a week; over winter a few rides here and there and a bit of turbo, but not much. Last summer I was cycling about 15 hours a week - I tend to lose fitness pretty quickly. From next week I'll be able to do around 2-3 hours per day. The problem is as soon as I significantly increase the intensity of a ride I get fatigue for the next few days - probably low fitness. So wondering whether it's better to 2-3 hours most days at lower intensity initially?

Alex_Simmons/RST

Providing anything but general non specific advice is all that people on a forum can ever reasonably do. To do more requires a more detailed understanding of you and your individual circumstances.

So in general simply riding more in a progressive sustainable manner is what will most likely be of benefit, and use natural terrain (e.g. hills) to provide the interval efforts.

For a solid build up, add about 20-30 minutes per week each week to your total training hours. Do a mix of ride types, some easier, some harder, some longer some shorter. Choose variable terrain types, some flatter, some hillier. Sometimes attack the hills harder, other times just get up them as steadily as you can. Eat well and get good sleep.

Whether or not you should include higher intensity intervals as part of your routine is beyond the scope of general advice. Individual response to such training is variable so YMMV.