Key sessions
Long rides: It might seem daunting to think that by week 10 of your plan you’ll be riding for four hours without stopping, but by then your fitness should be more than ready to cope. The key is to treat the ride as true training, riding at the right efforts, not taking long breaks halfway through, minimising freewheeling, and eating and drinking sensibly. Negative split rides: You’ll also notice that your long rides get harder at the end. Research suggests that starting conservatively and picking up the pace as you go along is the most effective way to pace a long effort, and these rides will help you to practise that as well as improve your ability to maintain harder efforts. Sweet spot blocks: These tend to have the biggest overall effect on your fitness minute for minute of any riding. How hard you find them will depend on many factors, but you don’t want to start out too hard and then suffer through them. Take the first five minutes of each block to get your heart rate up to the right level, then monitor it carefully so that you stay in zone whatever the terrain. Be careful not to push too hard to get back into zone if you’ve had to stop or freewheel through a corner. This could be measured using very affordable Heart Rate Monitors.
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