But how do you not get sick or cranky? 
At least thatās my experience, but then Iām a beginner.
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Knowing this gives you a Nobel Prize in Medicine.
You donāt not get cranky. You are cranky 
(caveat: thatās my experience in college running 100 miles/weekā¦I have never managed more than 12hrs / week cycling, but Iām guessing the experience is more or less the same)
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While I was gifted with absolutely average athletic talent, perhaps my one true gift is that I do seem to have a very robust immune system. I hardly ever get sick (knock on wood).
As far as crabby, that can happen. Just be an adult and manage your emotions, and maybe try to get an extra hour of sleep that night.
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Somewhat trial and errorā¦.you push the edge until you go too far and then step back. The edge is different for each persons so it hard to even give guidelines.
As for cranky, a good support system helpsā¦people who will tell you straight up you are being an asshole.
The challenge for my wife is trying to determine if I am being an asshole because I am not riding enough or riding too much. 
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I would not want to pay the grocery bill in your house! Nice mileage
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When I hired a coach he added Monday and Friday easy rides. 60 mins below 120 HR.
Boy was I fit after months of doing that. I still do them 4 years later.
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Hereās what one of my 15 hour weeks look like.
Mon - Rest day
Tue - 1 hour 7 mins, VO2 Max
Wed - 1 hour 30 mins, Strength Endurance
Thu - 1 hour Z2, 1 hour strength work
Fri - 2 hours 31 mins Threshold
Sat - 5 hours Z2
Sun - 2 hours 40 mins Tempo
Total 14 hours 48 mins
My wife joins me on the Sat long ride. On Friday she sees her personal trainer, and Sunday morning she goes to the gym. I time my sessions to coincide / overlap.
But note itās not fixed hours every week. A couple of weeks after the above week I do 11 hours 30 mins, which includes two 1 hour strength sessions, with 9 hours 30 mins of bike work, and the Saturday Z2 long ride being 3 hours. Then I have other weeks where I make Friday a rest day, and Monday recovery day etc.
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So, is everyone agreeing with Alan or did this turn into something else?
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Lolā¦ off on a right tangent.
There should be a thread on 15 plus hours.
PS. 16.1hr last week.
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Have TR and other āsmart training appsā not chosen to give advice to someone like me because, even if you control for mid 40s males, with a similar background (CTL, intensity distribution, etc), what you find is something pretty boring; as much load as you can handle will make you faster?
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I agree, letās definitely keep the circlejerk going: 16.25h for me.
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I think sryke tried to start one up as well (canāt find it).
What did we learn? The thread died because > 15 hrs is the minority around here, even during the pandemic. But Iād love to lurk so get it going again!
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This is an old comment but I still wanted to follow up w/ a few questions. For under threshold workouts, could you equalize that dose using kjās as a metric?
And if we remove the specificity requirement from the equation, what is the timeframe of a ādose?ā A singular workout? Total sum of a week? Iād venture to guess the athlete who trains 1hr a day and increases their dose week over week w/ more intensity would not be as beneficial as the athlete increasing the duration of 1 or 2 rides to increase their weekly dose. Or maybe Iām wrong and the same things are happening for both.
But then bringing specificity back into the mix, the athlete training w/ longer workouts but similar weekly dose as the 1hr day athlete would be better prepared for the multi hour event.
āDoseā meaning āintensity x duration.ā
Something along the lines ofā¦ āmore is always more.ā
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The key question is what amount of tempo, or Sweet Spot replaces a 5-8h ride?
I say, just by judging at muscular fatigue, and overall fatigue and recovery that thereās no such equivalence.
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another name for 
Kilojoules = (watts x seconds)/1000
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A shorter one which fatigues you similar to that 5-8h ride?
Ok, thats just a fully uneducated bold claim of mine. Who can proof it wrong?
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Donāt have proof but I know for myself that I can do couple months daily Cairnes (Z2/270 at IF 0.55, 138TSS, 2385kJ) but comparable
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I donāt believe this exists. Go do a 6 hour Z2 ride and then do a 60 min workout as absolutely hard as you can possibly do. Then compare the fatigue. I donāt think the fatigue is the same. Both will produce fatigue, but for lack of a better word, itās a different kind of fatigue. At least for me.
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