Thanks. Plan after Strength plan (I have FasCat plan) is to do either MV and add 1 additional ride of 3-4 hrs or to do HV and replace a weekend ride with a 3-4hr ride.
I have a planned mapped out but no doubt will tweak when get closer to it in Nov/Dec.
Thanks.
Yeah SPB HV was a shock but managed it all. I think to make any further gains I need to take the plunge and step away from Unstructured comfort (long miles Albeit lots of hills) and go at the hard stuff. Iāll certainly be building in the right rest/recovery to ensure I can give it my best shot
if it feels slow and doesnāt start hurting around hour 3 or 4, then yes, youāre going too easy. Stay in the endurance zone, donāt coast more than 10%, and if you donāt start feeling slightly uncomfortable, your FTP might be incorrect.
Base miles are great for aerobic fitness without lots of fatigue, allowing you to layer on the harder workouts.
Hi Anthony
How do you measure LTHR?
Also, after two hours of riding I think you can be certain to have a different LTHR, as you are very possibly running on less āblood volumeā, due to variation in hydration (and sodium) levels, so BPM are likely to go up.
I mention this because I used to worry about HR a bit more than necessary and would set āhardā levels (i.e. threshold is 157) that I realized do not really exist on the day or even from hour to hour. Heart rate is still very important for me, but as a range and in combination with how Iām feeling and performance.
Cheers!
I measure it crudely. I either go by what TrainingPeaks says it is, usually from a race or some hard sustained ~20min FTP effort or I go by the ramp test and/or classic FTP test.
If Iām within a couple BPM I call it good. Iām one to obsess over HR, too much if Iām being honest, but I do know that if my HR is elevated early on in a ride Iām probably not on a good day.
The reverse also applies - if you cannot get HR up to normal levels you are probably tired.
I see this (lower HR) more often at the start of my rides than the other direction but both have happened and know fatigue played a part.
I do know that if my HR is elevated early on in a ride Iām probably not on a good day.
Good point 
The same, little too obsessed by HR but after big set of data from the workouts it usually works good. If my HR is off during warmup I know that it is not my day, the dame during first interval. I know how high my HR should be and I remember only two workouts that despite elevated HR in the beginning the workout was good.
Being old AF now I too obsess over HR. But, because itās low. LTHR and max have dropped 15bpm over the last 15 years or so. Sucks. Whatās strange or cool depending how you look at it is my power numbers look close or better than when I started with power in 2007. What has diminished is during hard races or rides especially climbing (Iām fat) I canāt go deeeep for as long or as many times before I explode.
Iām worrying less about it as I age, the total useful range is shrinking. 120 is easy, 130 getting hard, 140 is hell, and 150 is time to ring in the ambulance. I could change that HR display to 3 lights (donāt need one for 150, couldnāt see it anyway).
Thatās awesome! 
I feel this
If youāre fat, you can improve! Work on losing weight over the year, and the hills will feel easier and your watts/k will increase.
Lots of good info on the podcasts about how to lose weight, and gain power.
I have recently questioned the importance of Endurance rides as part of a program too. Although I wasnāt specifically looking at long slow efforts like the ones mentioned in the thread - mainly just the 60-90m Endurance rides as part of the Build program - I have come to realize that I now categorize them from ājunk milesā into āconsolidation milesā whereby my body gets a chance to rest from the higher IF workouts like the VO2 and AC workouts (which have lately āalmostā broken me physically and mentally!) and to consolidate the gains I have made in other sessions during the week.
I outlined my most recent learnings in this post below:
Trading out scheduled Endurance workouts and trading in Sweet-Spot workouts
I did a 15hr ride yesterday. Explored some new places, ate some nice food (freshly made doughnuts from a van by the beach) and generally had a really great day.
Legs feel nicely used today. Canāt tell me itās not good training because I see the results from these rides. Even things like 1min max efforts get a boost. Fitness is fitness in my book and I donāt see why long rides have to be boring. Just find somewhere you want to visit and cycle there instead of driving.
P.s. nice riding yesterday Lydia. Impressive number of laps. How did you cope mentally?
Iām assuming your time in the saddle wasnāt 15 hours!?
Yes well done Lydia great result. Iāve realised who you are now after seeing you yesterday. You may have spotted me - you came past by the car park whilst I was stretching out a re-occurred impinged neck shoulder on a tree, which really hampered me on that course. Red kit, Black shorts, Scott Spark.
I had to finish 2-3 laps early for 7th, but was eyeing up 5th until the shooting pains were blurring my vision on the choppy DH sections On the back half of the course.
Tough day out!
And aside from that and the ālong rideā benefits I posted earlier, Iāve got to say I felt so much stronger yesterday than I had in prior years, despite losing my head and getting caught in the first two laps bun fight at XCO pace - silly.
Yes, I did see you. Sorry about your neck and shoulder, it was such a hard course ,and you might have got away with it on a " normal" endurance course!
I managed to squeeze in a last lap having to ride a bit faster, and finished with 3 minutes spare!!
I struggled with the eating and drinking, and felt like what i put in just stayed in my stomach, so with 3 hours to go , I only drank 1 bottle and ate nothing. I felt better doing that. I donāt know if its guys, but iām shocked and amused! at the amount of food the trainer road gang seem to get through. Nate particularly is and eating machine
Hi, yes , and wow 15 hours! bikepacking stuff. It was hard mentally and physically. Lots packed or had to stop early/have breaks.
The course was a XC course, not an endurance course. No complaints, Gorrick did a great job putting on the event, in the circumstances.
I felt very unmotivated to start with and then after a couple of laps got into it and enjoyed it until started to get a bit tired with 2.5 hours to go, and had a bit of nausea so stopped food+drink.Didnāt look at the time, just bagged the laps . Then with 2 hours to go planned to do 4 laps to get me inside the 8 hr cut off, which I did with 3 minutes to spare 