I hear you.
A couple years ago i got out a few times (other than riding to the gym and back (20 mins each way) and i agree, it was nice. Hands and toes froze however so year, agree on the clothing too.
I guess its something i will need to build up over time.
I bought some winter cycling boots in 2003 for my daily cycle commute. I was trying to justify the cost, but 19 years on I’ve got my moneys worth. As for hands I wear mitts on them for the current sub zero temps. Keeps hands toasty where gloves wouldn’t be warm enough.
Thanks everyone by the way. I really appreciate the help and advice.
I’ll keep on with the z2 and probably do a short vo2 session a week to work on cadence (i used to do cadence work as part of my track cycling and enjoy it). I found Tumbe as a starter which is 50 secs on 2mins off.
I’ll see how i feel after i attempt the Rapha 500
My coach is on the latest FasCat podcast and has a lot of tips on staying warm
Some of the endurance gains you seek only require minimal effort above baseline. Some of the adaptations in the muscle are mostly driven by the number of contractions, independent of force. And similar in the heart. Its why you can get really fast simply by riding 20 hours/week for months and months. On the flip side, some adaptations require high intensity. Ride a lot, mix in some intensity. This is not weightlifting, you can make a lot of progress over months and years just by accumulating a lot of time at relatively low intensity.
My recomendation… take your time increasing volume (not too long though… like a few weeks). for example
M - Weights
T - 1:30 @ 70% FTP
W - 2:00 @ 55-60% FTP
Th - 1:30 @ 70% FTP
F Weights
S - 1:30
S - 2:00
Then add 10-15 minutes to the 90 min rides the next week and see how you feel. Add intensity to the longest rides by 5% and see how you feel.
Once you get to your 2 hour @ 70% goal (10 hours for the week), back off the week and and when you come back give it a go for a few more weeks. If it is sustainable and you have adapted well you can add in an introductory sweet spot or tempo ride once a a week. It goes well, add another.
You build up endurance not so much from intensity but duration and consistency. Once you built up to your 2 hour max the next thing to work on is consistency. How long can you do that for before you plateau is determined by lots of factors. If you are new to endurance it could be years. If you have a big training background less.
Mate, this is sooo helpful too. This is the type of thing i was thinking/trying to understand.
Lookslike what i had in mind is workable. I still need to drill into my mind that i dont need to do more each week, like is more common in weightlifting etc. Although the progression is still neceasary.
The week of 24th-31st is going to be big if i try and do the 500km (on the rollers) for the Rapha 500 so an easy week will certainly be needed after but i like the slow progression up to 4/5 sessions of 120mins up to 70%.
Adding in SS or tempo or even a vo2 once i get accustomed to that much z2 was exactly what i had in mind so again, its good to know i wasnt making up something that didnt have any meritt at all lol,
Off to do Brasstown and watch Netflix now.
Thanks again.
FWIW I would focus more of your progression mindset on the high intensity stuff. After you reach a certain level of fitness on the endurance rides, treat the 2 hour endurance rides as conditioning rides and keep doing them. More conditioning rides will support pushing higher on the high intensity workouts. The highly motivated young guys around here, the ones with time and ability to easily recover, are doing 2-5 hour endurance rides day after day, and adding in some high intensity work.
One dude I ride with turned 40 and during the season he is putting down 20 hour weeks mostly late evenings on Zwift. He has a 350+ watt useable ftp out to 50 minutes. Right now he has dialed back the hours, although last night was typical and he was on Zwift for 2+ hours spinning at average power of 114watts. Even if his ftp has dropped to say 300W, that is only 38% ftp which is way way down in the active recovery zone. But again in season he is out 2 or 3 times a week hammering away at 350W for 40+ minutes. I briefly tried riding that slow, for a couple months, and it made me feel flat. Personally at sixty yrs old and only seven years on the bike, I need to throw in a little bit of intensity on at least 3 rides a week to prevent feeling flat. And putting down mid-to-upper zone2 power for 2+ hours. Consistently putting down 2+ hours in the upper third of zone2 (finishing ride with .69 to .72 IF) has worked better for me, on a budget of 8-11 hours/week. You need to find what works for you.
IME when my ATL no longer pushes CTL up and it works for whatever upcoming goal I add more % of time doing more intense rides. 90-100 CTL and it gets hard to keep pushing it up given my schedule. With unlimited time I think I might be able to handle about 110-115ish but, I don’t think I’ll ever know. For you it’s going to be something different obviously…
This article about using the kettlebell for conditioning
might help you reconcile the notion it is good idea to put down a strong base of zone2 conditioning rides and avoid the urge to progress once you build up to all the time you have.
Fast talk happened to cover a fairly similar topic the other day. My recollection is that they landed on z2 being broken up into smaller rides is fine and total volume was more important.
I think you can get many months of just z2 if you ride 1.5-2hr on 5days per week coming from limited endurance training. Just don’t read into the percent ftp too much and retest your ftp once every months or so. A HR monitor may be better.
I plan to do more of the higher intensity stuff but i figured a little time and focus on just being able to ride upper z2 for 90-120mins is a decent starting point given i have never done any endurance work in my life.
I do appreciate i cant sit in z2 for ever but i had to start somewhere lol. I was just trying to find out just how much z2 can be done when you only have 2 hrs a day max.
Thanks for the input.
Thats really helpful and a measurable criteria i can use.
What you have said was another though i had. Once i can no longer do more z2, i.e more intensity wont be z2 anymore, and more time is not possible. I can sub in a SS, Threshold, VO2 for a z2 session and carry on.
What you have said gives me a way (im sure there are other ways too) to measure when that point might be.
thank you, i’ll have a read.
The strong z2 base is what i am trying to figure out. And when its enough to progress to higher intensity stuff.
Im actually enjoying the challenge of longer rides
i think i listened to this, or at least they mentioned it on another podcast.
thank you
Thanks. I wonder if AI FTP detection will assume an FTP increase from a whole bunch of Z2 rides. I guess i will find out in 2.5 weeks.
If FTP goes up, that means z2 goes up a little too, and i have a whole new HR/PWR target for those 1.5-2hr rides.
I hadnt initially considered that.
That’s a good amount of z2 work. Because you are building your endurance,( which is low due to your strength background ) it’s probably a good thing you don’t have too much spare time, as you could end up overdoing it and getting burnout or injury.
As you get fitter your numbers will change upwards. Easier to see this progression on the indoor trainer. Meaning that 70% still feels as hard ,but you are riding faster!
As for building endurance over longer ,say 3-4 hours, would you be able to put 2 of those 5 2hr sessions together into 1 session of 4 hours? Even if it means sacrificing a days training?
Whereabouts in the UK Phil, which county?
Personally I don’t think the risk of an accident on ice is worth the risk. I can get a very good workout in the garage and be warm and safe.
I have just completed 10 weeks of base, with another two to go.
Lost any top end and struggle to get to threshold now but I have lots of stamina and my CTL has risen by about 15 points.
The plan is to continue until January then do some climbing indoors using Rouvy or FulGaz and then try at least an Everest base camp, if not the full thing.
Away most of Feb but then start threshold build up.
That makes a massive difference IME back in Scotland the roads are treated well and I’ve been out in minus temperatures but down here in East England I barely go out if its even close to zero, the roads just aren’t treated well. I’ve been caught out going out in the rain assuming it would be OK but the rain was falling on an untreated surface and instantly freezing, it was like marbles. One consolation down here components not exposed to as much road salt last far longer.
When RPE drops too low? Or a more psychological marker could be trending up of EF.
When that happens there’s no harm in doing some Tempo or something more intense once or twice a week.
In Base, I’ve been progressing Tempo w bursts out to 1x90 and SST to 1x120. When I had time for a big week (17.5 hours) I just did 1 intense ride.
Would be great if you could get in a 3+ hour ride on the weekend…