Message #11893

[LivingProof]

LP:? I went to Google to try and understand what "9 hours at low VO max" meant, and I'm still lost, so translate for me?? ? ?I know you were targeting riding a century around the Finger Lakes??

What is the goal and the strategy?

Hi Jim,
I apologize for not explaining further. Very simply, it means riding at a low heart rate, ie, monitoring my heart rate monitor and not my speedometer. The max I can push my heart-rate to is 154 beats per min. which is consistent for someone my age. When I ride around 115 bpm, that is about 70% my peak heart rate and is just a nice, comfortable pace.
 
I'm trying a cycling training program from Bicycling Mag. The first phase is to build up the miles ridden per week by riding at low heart rates. It's called building base miles and the idea is to be able to ride every day without undue strain on the aerobic or body systems. When I can ride 25 to 30 miles each day on a 2 day on, 1 day off schedule, and, feel stress free, I will start interval training, where, you push the workload for measured periods of time. The overall goal is to ride with more power over sustained periods.

Last year, I didn't have a plan and just rode into exhaustion too much. It's just so easy to ride at high heart rates during windy conditions or when the macho mode kicks in.

@ Lynn
Bonking is no fun!   My wife has responded to more than one "come get me" cell call, bless her. My body tells me that whenever I ride 2 hours or more, I need to plan to hydrate and eat. It's just so easy to bonk especially on hot days. 40 miles is a dangerous distance in that it's do-able but probably not a good idea unless your everyday riding supports it. A problem I encounter with sugar based drinks is that I get the high for a short period, but, crash big time when the buzz wears off. Live and learn! The nice aspect of structured distance rides is they have stops and drink/food available.

@Ron
Did wings\beer last night. Ummmm!