Long hours on the bike tend to be a rollercoaster of emotions for me. Starting out with: "oh god i've got a super long ride today and my legs are knackered already." To: "wow it's such a banger of a day, i'm so grateful to spend my weekdays riding my bike." To: "WHAT?! i've only done 90mins, that can't be right my garmin is definitely lying". Then: "yay more snacks, keep eating food amy you need lots and lots of energy …always". Then: "Okay I'm halfway now, second half always goes quickest right?". Finally: "last push home, tailwind…woooo! Wow proud of me I actually got round 4hrs today and I felt terrible this morning". I used to DESPISE doing long hours, like I can't emphasise how much I hated it, so I never really did it and in return my aerobic condition has been pretty sh*t for the past 5 years. Therefore, like the start of most years, I have been solely focused on base conditioning and improving my aerobic engine but this year I really have knuckled down and got it done. And, slowly but surely, I have somehow begun to improve and enjoy these long hours. I put it down to a change of mindset. As Einstein once said " No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it". I don't mean to get all deep and meaningful but he's right, for the past few years i've attacked every base training phase thinking "man i'm really bad at long hours, they take up time, they're boring and I'd just rather do a fast intense session instead", so this year I went with the mindset of "let's go out for a social ride with mates, explore new areas and not treat this as training, this is for fun". As long as I sit at a steady z2 power (not super super chill or at the other end feeling like i'm really out of breath) all is good, i don't actually tend to look at power though, I mostly go by feel. Don't get me wrong, nothing is smooth sailing, there are still many days when I'm riding alone, with a phat headwind and really regretting going out for a "chill 3hr spin". However, In general, I'm not scared of seeing a 4hr ride in my TrainingPeaks any more. I've actually started to realize that for all the past few years I may have just hated z2 long rides for three main reasons: I was doing them too hard and dying halfway. I wasn't fuelling properly (ah the classic!). And finally I told myself I hated it, so I did. What actually is BASE training though? Base training is completed during the start of a new season, built up of workouts designed to improve and strengthen the aerobic energy system ,which sets a nice foundation for intense training further down the line. Base training for cyclists is all about increasing the amount of workload your muscles can achieve using oxygen without a contribution from the anaerobic energy system. Ok enough science, there's a reason I stopped that at A-level! Essentially, you are training your body to go harder for longer, with less effort. So for instance, at the moment I have been slowly building the hours of riding to 18-20hrs a week. This is built up of 80% endurance rides and 20% intensity, where I have been substituting effort sessions for short intense training races (aka. racing with the cat 3 men). As well as two gym sessions a week, building strength and explosivity. Obviously that's a very rough layout but it's what I'm aiming for, and have been always tweaking over the last few months. Like I said in my previous blog post - it's quite tricky to balance work and training recently due to the sheer amount of time on the bike, but I'm making compromises along the way. Anyhow, speaking of long rides… This weekend, a last minute plan has me heading out to my local 'Area of outstanding beauty' the SouthDowns way with some mates. We will spend the weekend riding off-road from Winchester to Eastbourne along the 160km long South Downs way trail, stopping half way to bivvy overnight. I know my end of the trail pretty well off the back of my hand but I'm excited to ride the second half. I know it's no major feat of endurance and could easily be done in one day in the right conditions, but I quite fancied a mix up for this weekend's endurance rides!
Keep an eye out on my instagram to see our SDW adventures :) Thanks for reading Amy :) x
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