Did you enjoy the ride? If you did, then absolutely! 
I could tell you that Z2 rides are good training, blablabla, but actually, sometimes it is good to take a (mental) break from training. Just like having cheat days in terms of food. One day you are eating sweat potato and a salad, the next (a homemade) burger and fries. Life is short. Enjoy!
Hi, been thinking about something similar. I see allot of rides on strava that is extremely long and sloooooooooow.
What is to slow?
IF under 0.55 with 5-10 hours rides included 1-2 hour total break time.
When i do 3-5 hour rides i think i’m never under 0.65 IF for entire ride.
You (probably) aren’t racing. You (probably) aren’t being paid to ride. Relax and enjoy.
Yes, it is okay to go slow. No, you’re not nuts (judging solely on the information provided).
Not wanting to push hard can be mental fatigue, and you need to recover from it. What bike you’re on has nothing to do with it. If you want to go slow, go slow.
Guy with a disc: sweats nervously
No one can completely avoid rest. If you don’t rest, eventually your body is going to rebel and it isn’t going to be pretty! If you’re in good enough shape that you can rest while still getting exercise, then fabulous! Take an easy ride…your body will still get benefits from using your muscles and working your aerobic system.
Just this week I did the exact same ride two days in a row…once with a friend who is recovering from surgery…45 miles each day. Day #1 was only 55% of FTP and the 2nd day was 82% FTP. I’m sure there were benefits from both rides, even though they served dramatically different roles.
As well he should!! Because a disc is NOT a 311mm deep rim; it is INFINITE! All the speed!
I love using my garmin watch for the easier rides these days for this same reason. I still record the ride so my TSS, etc is accounted for but it’s not right in my face the whole time. I also love wearing just bibs and a tshirt for the same reason. This tells my brain “Hey this is a chill ride so just pedal, look at the trees, smell the flowers, and enjoy the ride”.
please do that on a regular basis!!! it can’t always be an interval session
I always try to get 1-2 easier rides in per week. It’s more fun with friends though, and since they don’t train Indoors like I do, I can do my ride at a fairly moderate pace while they work harder. At the end, I accomplish what I needed, and they get to enjoy a “spicy” ride.
Couple of things to add to this.
First, as others have said, do whatever you want.
Second, for me personally, going slow = endurance (zone 2). So if I go slow, I go for longer rides (3-8 hours typically). And that allows me to enjoy the scenery. Once you built muscular endurance, you can pretty much keep rocking in zone 2 forever and just enjoy your surroundings (and be amazed you can ride so long).
Third, an issue I have personally, is going slow instead of going hard means I lose some of my FTP. As is mentioned with how TR works, you need a strong base and on top of that you build peak power. You gain peak power quickly, but you also lose it quickly. So when I ride a lot in zone 2, I noticed that I lose some whats on my FTP tests. But I also gain it back quickly once I start interval and VO2 sessions again.
Thanks for the comments (and to everyone else as well!!)
Your point about FTP is well taken. Since I’m still pretty new to riding and structured training (got my first real bike a year ago), I get bummed if I lose some watts but the flip side is I’ve done 3 centuries and a year ago I didn’t even know that would be possible.
I guess at the end of the day, time on the bike is better than time on the couch!
Yeah, I am too focused on FTP. And it only reflects hour power, not necessarily your ability to go strong for hours on end (muscular endurance, for instance). At this moment, I cannot ride ridiculously hard, but I can ride slow ridiculously long. And that is what I have trained for, but my FTP does not necessarily reflect that (though I rely on FTP to estimate my power in zone 2 for endurance rides).
You’re not nuts. Maybe I’m odd here but you know why I train? About 50% of my goal is so that when I go on a ride with my friends, almost all of whom are significantly less powerful on a bike, I can go at whatever pace they want and I can enjoy being outside with them. I can talk to them and keep their mood up if they’re working hard. I can coach a little if they want. I can give tips. I can let them do all the drafting and give them a fun chance to go faster than they would achieve on their own.
I can do all that stuff because I train hard. Am I winning crits? Heck no. Can I set PRs when I want to? Yeah.
But I train hard specifically so that my “phone it in” days are still pretty fast and more than enough to do rides with more casual folks and still have lots of fun. So yeah, if you want to have a ride at 15 mph, go have a ride at 15mph and enjoy the fact that for you, that’s an easy day.
You’re a bit late with your advice, he may have already come to a conclusion by now.
amazing to me how fit people are in this community.
the “average” american has to be encouraged to do 3 30 minute cardio sessions a week. (including myself ~10 years ago)
here we are worried about going “slow” to what would amount to a month’s worth of activity.
if it helps you out, in another hobby of mine I would always define my objective for that session.
so it would look something like this: today I am going to make sure I coast minimally downhill. today I am not going to look at my power meter and really try to feel my power. today I care about my stats and I want to spot as many animals as possible. today I am going to ride out of the saddle at least 1 min every uphill. today I am going to internally verbalize my cornering technique and make sure i’m not missing steps.
whatever.
so you can still improve something even if you’re going slow.
or you can just define your session as a free ride off anything / mental break / better than sitting on the couch with potato chips.
