what's your plan to build up your endurance this year?

silverharp

Normally I'd be commuting 100-125KM per week, so somewhere after Easter I'd start doing some cycling at the weekend and just up the distance, the only downside was I tended to overextend a little, My ultimate goal is generally a Dublin -Glendalough-Blessington-home ~120KM around July

no commuting this year but I'd been doing a ~35KM cycle once a week to keep things ticking over. I started recording times and aiming to beat it the following week which is a first for me and seems to be working and can see improvements, probably something I was missing in the past was training for more power and just doing mostly Zone 2 stuff apart from hills

so I guess my main question is, is the 35k ride a good one to keep doing into the summer for time while adding longer rides through May and June. I dont want want to time everything I do, it would take some of the fun out of it. once the evenings get longer Ill aim to do something 3 times a week

the other idea I had closer to the time is do a couple of very long but no hills, down the coast to Wexford and one of the canal routes - one way, get train back

tips appreciated or decscribe what you plan to do later in the year?

Seth Brundle

Are you against doing hills as you mention not doing them twice in your post? You then mention a day trip to Glendalough so I'm left wondering.
I'd wonder if you would find a sudden 120km spin along the Wicklow hills tough going if you had just being doing one spin a week?
You could also try a spin to Blessington and back - see how you get on. You don't want to be making a call home half way through because you're knackered.
Anyhow, for me the important thing is to have fun. Ignore speed and distance and just get the time in, if that is a help.

If time permits, could you use the time that you would have previously spent commuting by doing a few km close to home, even just a couple of times during the week.

I'm not sure whereabouts you are but an extra hour out once or twice a week will make a difference - head to the Phoenix Park or out to Howth.

As for the canal route I'd get the train out and cycle back rather than the other way around! Just note the sections of canal that you can cycle along as both canals have sections that are not really cycle-able. Royal canal is good from Maynooth west to Longford or Athlone. I went from Leixlip to Mullingar and back last summer. Absolutely lovely day out (and it was a very scorchio day) but 130km on what is really flat terrain is surprisingly tiring (strava has it at 142m which really is nothing). Sometimes it's nice to let yourself freewheel down a bit of a hill just to catch your breath.

Personally, I have missed most of 2021 due to weather and injury. However, I'm expecting to get back to normal in the next month or six weeks (I rushed my injury and set myself back a few weeks). I'll be looking to do maybe 200+km each week hopefully with more time spent on hills. Between the 2km, 5km and Kildare county lockdowns meant that my choice of hilly spins in 2020 were fairly low. I want to make up for that this year.

silverharp

hills are good , im picturing myself in June now , but I would see myself doing (from Sandymount) say a Tue hellfire climb, Thur Enniskerry or up Johnny Foxes way and then a weekend ~75km (from memory) Lough Tay Military road loop. What I am trying to balance is doing rides for time, so far I like the idea of doing 1 timed ride a week with the aim of beating the previous week but it being one of the shorter rides.

lissard

Being stuck within a 5k radius has made building endurance hard this year - doing the same route over and over is boring. Even more than that, the lack of group spins means I have limited appetite for anything over 2 and a half hours. Here's what I have done if it's of any use. First get out five days a week, no spin less than 20k. I try to do three 1 hours spins and two longer ones. It's allowed me to build from about 100k a week at the start of the year up to about 170k this week. I try to add an extra 10k each week. To keep it fresh combine indoor sessions, road sessions a bit of MTB. The moment group spins come back it will be 90-100k on a Saturday we'll see what the rest of the year brings.