You might be right, I’m just making my decision based on thought experiments, not actual data.
I would say that a constant 2hr z2 ride on the trainer is much more difficult than a 2hr z2 outdoors where I have to coast into a stop sign every 15mins. Maybe that’s more related to boredom on trainer though. Also a 10 min break in the middle of a long ride makes a ride easier, and an easier ride likely means less stimulus (with several caveats).
Either way, I agree it certainly might be small enough to not be measurable.
I really don’t understand why people are so adamantly asserting over and over that taking a break in the middle of an effort has absolutely zero impact and is just as hard as continuing the effort with no break. It seems so obvious to me, but I’m sure the “take a break, it has zero impact” people feel the same.
A million caveats - we are talking endurance rides, we are talking one reasonably short break for rides that are truly 3+ hours, you still have to pedal for 3 full hours, etc. etc. But my experience just tells me that if this has any impact it is so small as to not be measurable.
Yes, in theory, more without a break is more. But taking that face value principle to the extreme to prove a point, every ride should be 100% effort until you can’t, because more is more. We have learned through testing that more isn’t always more. Training plans are not designed this way. My point is that this is not the super minor marginal gain anyone should be chasing. I have ridden with pros and everyone has their preference, but no one is worried about a short break. Advising people that a short break is going to hurt their performance just isn’t reasonable (or proven that I know of). Happy to be corrected if so.
I agree there’s some impact but as others have said it’s probably hard to measure.
I’ll add that this can speak to how different people view their training and how far down the marginal gains rabbit hole they’re willing to go.
Personally, 2 hours or less I rarely stop. Over that I stop but it’s usually a quick foot down or maybe filling bottles on longer rides. It may be a training ride but I also want to enjoy myself and not starting a stopwatch every time I stop.
You can take the thought experiment further. You have 10 hours you need to divide across a week. Are you better off doing a single 10 hour ride? Are you better off doing 2 hours rides, 5 days of the week with two rest days? Are you better off doing a 5 hour, 3 hour, and two 1 hour rides over 4 days with 3 rest days? Everything except the single 10 hour ride is introducing long rest periods. Which of the above provides the greater stimulus and aerobic improvements over time?
While I 100% agree with you, in the game called TrainerRoad AIFTP, it makes a difference. And as 50% of the threads are about AIFTP it’s important to some. 50% may be an exaggeration
