Cutting Excess Miles and Time in Structured Training – looking for your opinion:



swingline65

New Member
Mar 7, 2005
1
0
0
Great Forum, this is my first post.

I am posting to gather training opinions on excess miles outside of focused intervals.

For example, on Tuesday I rode for 2 hours. Tuesday is an interval day, I did 4 separate 10 min. Lactic Threshold intervals with 8 minute rest periods between each interval. Before the intervals I had a 15 minute warm-up I also had a 10 minute cool-down. If I add up the time spent doing my interval training – 15 minute warm-up + 40 minutes of total interval time + 24 minutes of total rest time between intervals + 10 min cool down, I am 1 hr 29 minutes into my ride. Since I was scheduled to ride for 2 hrs, I spun for another 30 minutes at a much lower heart rate to complete the full 2 hours.

My question is as follows. Since I already have a large base built, is the 30 minutes of riding after my intervals and cool down beneficial to my riding? In theory I would assume this time would be for recovery, but if I have 2 hours to ride, maybe I should be spending the time doing more intervals of the same or different type. When I do sprint intervals I have even more time left over…how I should spend this extra time? I am shooting for a 13 to 15 hour training week so I try for 2 hours a day during the week; I would like your opinion.
 
swingline65 said:
Great Forum, this is my first post.

I am posting to gather training opinions on excess miles outside of focused intervals.

For example, on Tuesday I rode for 2 hours. Tuesday is an interval day, I did 4 separate 10 min. Lactic Threshold intervals with 8 minute rest periods between each interval. Before the intervals I had a 15 minute warm-up I also had a 10 minute cool-down. If I add up the time spent doing my interval training – 15 minute warm-up + 40 minutes of total interval time + 24 minutes of total rest time between intervals + 10 min cool down, I am 1 hr 29 minutes into my ride. Since I was scheduled to ride for 2 hrs, I spun for another 30 minutes at a much lower heart rate to complete the full 2 hours.

My question is as follows. Since I already have a large base built, is the 30 minutes of riding after my intervals and cool down beneficial to my riding? In theory I would assume this time would be for recovery, but if I have 2 hours to ride, maybe I should be spending the time doing more intervals of the same or different type. When I do sprint intervals I have even more time left over…how I should spend this extra time? I am shooting for a 13 to 15 hour training week so I try for 2 hours a day during the week; I would like your opinion.
cut your LT/spin ratio down to 3, then down to 4
 
As long as the extra time is a minimum intensity of L2, then it'll be of value but 30 extra min of REC/L1 is a waste of time.
 
The only caveat I'd make is that time spinning at L1 may be psychologically beneficial. I've been cutting out wasted time on the bike too but I still allow a little time to just spin around and enjoy the scenery, etc. I consider it one of the rewards of all the training. Just my personal preference, YMMV.