Is there a preferred way to build up cycling fitness endurance?

silverharp

lets say you are aiming for 250KM over a week, Last year for me that would have been Mon-Fri commuting 125KM and then a 100KM plus with hills at the weekend.
Given that this summer might be a bit more flexible , is there an ideal way of cycling that over a week which combines building up fitness but causing the least stress for your body? I was picturing something like 3X50 and 1X100 and being generally mindful to keep the heart rate spiking as little as possible.
Or should the week be framed by a 100 and a 75 mid week, I guess I could sum it up, does you body prefer not to be "surprised" with big cycles or just having a couple of rest days the more important thing?

magicbastarder

defined 'preferred' - i.e. most effective, or most enjoyable?

nilhg

silverharp wrote: »

lets say you are aiming for 250KM over a week, Last year for me that would have been Mon-Fri commuting 125KM and then a 100KM plus with hills at the weekend.
Given that this summer might be a bit more flexible , is there an ideal way of cycling that over a week which combines building up fitness but causing the least stress for your body? I was picturing something like 3X50 and 1X100 and being generally mindful to keep the heart rate spiking as little as possible.
Or should the week be framed by a 100 and a 75 mid week, I guess I could sum it up, does you body prefer not to be "surprised" with big cycles or just having a couple of rest days the more important thing?

I think by definition building up fitness means causing stress to the body, the cycle is stress, recover, stress, recover and so on. How you manage that is up to the person involved and their goals, if you want to do something like the WW200 for example then 4x50km spins a week isn't going to be the best prep, you'd be looking to get some long spins in as well. On the other hand if the goal is just general aerobic fitness for your health, then spacing things out over the week equally will probably work as well as anything.

silverharp

magicbastarder wrote: »

defined 'preferred' - i.e. most effective, or most enjoyable?

Effective is good . In something like weight training the general principal is not to test your max weight every session, maybe once every 2 or 3 weeks. Is there a cycling equivalent of this? when building up is pushing your weekly max once a week the general way to go, you simply make one cycle a week 10K longer for example?

I think by definition building up fitness means causing stress to the body, the cycle is stress, recover, stress, recover and so on. How you manage that is up to the person involved and their goals, if you want to do something like the WW200 for example then 4x50km spins a week isn't going to be the best prep, you'd be looking to get some long spins in as well. On the other hand if the goal is just general aerobic fitness for your health, then spacing things out over the week equally will probably work as well as anything.

My max goal this year when all these lockdowns are over is about 125K in wicklow with around 1300mtrs of climbing or a 150-175 Royal Canal spin.

Large bottle small glass

silverharp wrote: »

Effective is good . In something like weight training the general principal is not to test your max weight every session, maybe once every 2 or 3 weeks. Is there a cycling equivalent of this? when building up is pushing your weekly max once a week the general way to go, you simply make one cycle a week 10K longer for example?




My max goal this year when all these lockdowns are over is about 125K in wicklow with around 1300mtrs of climbing or a 150-175 Royal Canal spin.

The primary requirement to ride long distance is to make your mind up that you are doing it.

In or about 2010-2013 I was riding a of 160km sportive relatively fast; trained for by a long 100km spin and two hard short midweek spins (mix of mtb and road).

I was probably less fit (certainly couldn't ride 100km as fast) when very regularly riding 200-450km rides between 2014-2017. The primary difference was I had made a decision to do it, which imo is the most important thing.

Ignoring covid, I don't know what would motivate me to ride over 100km now even though I'm fit enough to do it

Stretching out the distance(once riding steady and smart) isn't challenge to your cardio system, but it will challenge you in other ways depending on your makeup.

smacl

Large bottle small glass wrote: »

Stretching out the distance(once riding steady and smart) isn't challenge to your cardio system, but it will challenge you in other ways depending on your makeup.

Also depending your saddle and chamois pad :pac:

I haven't done any long spins in a couple of years but used to do regular enough spins of 150km -200km and would like to get back to it. Nothing to do with fitness, I just enjoy a long chilled out day on the bike in the Irish countryside.

neris

Are you taking about starting from zero to 250km with in a week? That I would say is very difficulty physically & mentally. 250km is a very long day in the saddle. You'd be better off building up over a few weeks and also figuring out your fueling strategy and what your stomach can take

ED E

neris wrote: »

Are you taking about starting from zero to 250km with in a week? That I would say is very difficulty physically & mentally. 250km is a very long day in the saddle. You'd be better off building up over a few weeks and also figuring out your fueling strategy and what your stomach can take

He's talking 250km target per week, not audax messing.


No pain no gain is apt here. Picking things up and putting them down is a lot different to cycling.

silverharp

I think what I will do this summer for june into july (when he 20K comes in) is stick to 2 ish and 3 ish hour cycles , I have a 38K route via Johnny Foxes and Rathfarnham and a 53K route via Powerscourt Waterfall that comes out behind Glencree, If I do the shorter one x3 and the longer one once a week that gets me near 170K and 2k of elevation per week
Last year I was more focused on distance, but it might be a bit smarter work on times a bit and not rush it

jive

The more you ride, the more the diminishing the return I find. Blasting out hill repeats for half an hour, a couple of 50km rides and a longer ride (>100km) every week will get you as far as you want to go (physically!). That would take the bones of 9 hours every week but you'd comfortably tackle any sportive in the country, no need to over complicate the training.

Longer rides are beneficial for finding out what works for fueling yourself and the inevitable mental degradation which will arrive at some point but from a fitness point of view are not an efficient use of time.