Use power: I have 0.67-.07IF target for the 90min-2 hour rides, with no sustained time above 0.75, and 0.65 with no sustained time above 0.7 for the 4hr.
Someone on here (@GoLongThenGoHome ?) posted the alphabet test: if you can’t say every letter of the alphabet without needing to catch your breath, you’re going too hard. Certainly, you should be able to maintain a pretty normal conversation.
RPE: 3-4/10
Seiler talks about the ‘green zone’; it shouldn’t feel like you’re revving the engine - it should feel easy - it should probably feel ‘too easy’, at least for the first 90 minutes.
What all this adds up to is a slow tiredness which is quite marked by 3-4 hours, but it’s a different kind of tired; sort of drained or washed out (and very hungry), not absolutely blown to bits/can’t do anything for 10 minutes, like you are after a particularly nasty interval session.
Hope all that makes some kind of sense!
Lastly, I really wouldn’t look to cut calories while pushing the volume up; that’s a recipe for disaster, IMHO. If you are doing 15 solid hours a week, any excess weight will come off without you worrying about it.
Assuming a rough FTP of 300 (based on the 20min power you quoted), then 0.7 takes you to 210. Trying to keep constant pressure on the pedals and watts at c.200 (or a smidge lower if going long) would be spot on IMO. BUT this is getting a bit specific; it really might be worth investing in a month’s coaching to set a plan up, and see if the method works for you. If it does, after a month or 2, you may well be able to walk your own way through it.
Yes it was me. I do the alphabet test on my outdoor Z1.
First calibrate it when sitting on the sofa. Recite the alphabet and see how far you get before you need a breath. Don’t take a deep breath before trying to recite. You won’t be doing that during your ride. I can get all the way to Z. But don’t worry if you can’t get all the way , just note which letter you comfortably get to before needing a breath.
Now when outdoors just do the same recital and see how far you get before needing a breath. Don’t worry if you don’t get as far as the letter when resting. But if there’s a big difference in letters, you are working too hard.
As to boring, unless you have poor countryside then not really. The long ride enables you to cover rather a lot of ground even at your easy pace.
As to improvements my easy pace is now 1.5mph faster than a year ago. Because you’re riding to effort you don’t even notice till you load your data up and do the comparisons later.
Yep, I have set quite a number of Strava segment PRs on easy rides in the last month, simply by trying to hold c.190W on some significant descents!
I think route-picking also matters; I try to avoid routes with any prolonged double-digit gradients (because it is practically impossible not to go at least quite far into Z3 without doing something odd like deliberately riding at 60rpm in the granny gear), and technical descents often make trying to keep decent pressure on the pedals a bit dangerous!
Yes I think the steepest I do is 8% on my easy rides.
I do also track HR and have noted the following.
I typically ease off around 70% of max HR. My average HR typically ends up around 67%. My peak HR is typically about 77%.
I suspect I could ride the easy rides harder. But that’s not the point. The stress and subsequent adaption is meant to come from the increasing duration, then recovery. Not from more intensity which will just fatigue me more.
My weekly long ride is now 6 hours non stop. Then I have a 3 hour non stop which I did today. I’ll do another 2-3 hour on Sat. So my long rides have been consolidated into longer duration in fewer days to progress the adaption without needing more hours riding.
The 6 hour rides are currently enough to feel the fatigue in the legs. I take a rest day after those, where I’ll go for an easy walk. The 3 hours ones l am fully good to go the next day.
