Subject: RE: How long & how far I have a couple of friends at various stages in their IM career - some have done a dozen, others have done one or two and some are preparing for their first.
We've all approached it differently (some with coaches, some with training plans from clubs, others with online based plans and some just winging it )....
We were talking about this exact topic the other day (ie, hard ride? long? how hard? easy sessions etc )
The consensus was that your long rides should be LONG and EASY - the purpose is to build endurance and stamina...
Then you should have some shorter harder sessions with some key efforts/intervals. these will build your speed and strength.
If you go too hard on your long rides, you run the risk of not getting the full benefit from the shorter/harder sessions (because you will have smashed you legs on the long ride ) and, more importantly, if you do a series of hard long rides over a period of weeks you run the risk of getting fatigued towards the end of your training plan .... rather than building your endurance you could be damaging it.
So the simple rules should be - long sessions done at a slow, easy pace
Shorter sessions done harder with intervals
plenty of recovery in between.
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