At my age, I try not to go over 2 high intensity days a week. Should a heavy gym/lower body gym day count as a high intensity day? Doesn’t stress the cardio side of things as much bust does in terms of muscle soreness and muscle fatigue. If I’m trying to keep intensity to twice a week should I keep it to one high intensity day on the bike if I’m doing a heavy gym day? I could just see how it goes, I just don’t want to dig a hole.
You’re going to have to try it and find out. Some folk find doing a hard ride in the morning and lifting in the evening works just fine. Do that on Tues and Fri, say and that’s your Two Hard Days and you can then do Z2 for volume on 3 (or 4) days and have 2 (or 1) off.
If that doesn’t work for you, then if you’re lifting heavy then I’d count gym day as a high intensity day and be prepared to go super-hard on your one remaining hard day on the bike. Once you’re into the rhythm of it, and if it feels sustainable, you can think about gradually adding a bit of intensity to one of the Z2 rides. Listen to your body and give it plenty of good fuel.
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You needn’t think of it as high intensity or low intensity days. Think of it as hard days and easy days. A low intensity ride that’s as long as your longest ride could be considered hard.
If you have three hard sessions you want to do a week, consider doubling up. Thus you do your hard gym day the same day you do one if your high intensity hard days.
i’ve been doing 2 gym per week and only endurance/ tempo for the last 3 months. i’m introducing intensity, beginning 1 per week and 2 per week from next week. i’m going to do high intensity and gym on the same day. i’ll figure it out as i go.
i’m also planning to sprinkle some of the intensity at the end of endurance rides.
I’ve looked into doing gym on the same day as one of my rides but I have a hard time squeezing in 2 workouts a day. Not logistically impossible but I’m too inconsistent with thing popping up.