Long ride this weekend

[Mardi]

Hi Ginny,

Unfortunately as you know I will not be able to attend the IM training camp in 2 weeks. I am totally bummed out about this as I am feeling quite left behind when it comes to training.  I noticed that you will be doing an extra 100 km ride that weekend while at the camp, compared to the training schedule. I also noticed that the ride this weekend is only 60km.  My question is, would it be wise (pending no injury) to do a longer ride this weekend and next weekend instead of the 60 this weekend and 2 long rides next weekend?

Does this make sense?

Thanks!

Mardi

[GinnySellars]

Hi Mardi
We'll miss you at the camp, but don't be worried. You have some great training coming up.

The reason the ride this weekend is 60km, is because it's race pace. I don't want a long race pace ride followed by a long run the next day, as the recovery would be too long.

You can definitely replace the race pace 60km ride with a long one, but the intensity should be lower.

As it turns out, we are going to change the camp ride distances...no one knows yet. We are going to do a 3 hr ride Friday, and 160km on Saturday to get in most of the interesting parts of the course. There is no point physiologically to do such a long ride...you can gain the aerobic benefits in a 3-4 hr ride. The only point is to learn what it feels like to be on a bike that long, learn how to fuel, learn how to get off and do a transition run. It then takes longer to recover than doing a couple moderate distance rides.

Is that a long enough answer for you? The key is that you are recovering after these mega weeks. If work is heavy, if family commitments are heavy, something has to give. Go for less distance, but more frequency. Enjoy the rides!!