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When training to increase endurance do you gradually increase the distance you do in an all-at-once, non-stop ride or do you schedule in mid-ride breaks to maximise time spent in a saddle?
Background...
I've signed up to do this years Etape du Tour. As well as hillier than anything I've done, I've also never done the distance in a days riding before. I'm not aiming for a time, just to complete it. So far my weekend long rides in my training have been non-stop rides. But I'm thinking I have the legs to go further if I let myself take wee breaks. And I'm also thinking this will help with getting used to being in a saddle for many hours at a time, A Good Thing.
Of course now that I've been writing that out maybe the solution is to do both, week about. So one weekend a long non-stop ride, the next a longer long ride with breaks.
What do you folks do/recommend?
I would always recommend taking a break for a wee.
Looking at it another way, you will take breaks at feed stations during the ride so why worry about including them in training?
My first 100 miler involved a lovely jacket potato lunch at a cafe, definitely make the most of an opportunity to get some real food and a coffee.
Both is the answer.
For the run of the mill weekend training ride, you can do 3hrs on 2x750ml bottles. If you are going beyond that then there's no harm stopping for 30 mins for a coffee and cake and asking them to refill your bottles.
It is good to do a sportive every now and again though so you can do a solid 5-6hrs with only 5 min stops at feed stations.
stop when out biking - I have never heard of such heresy..... 😈
anyway back in the real world ride lots learn to glass pedal, this is as good as resting, stop for pee breaks.
try do a sportive without stopping for cake. (that said unless you have a really good other half, you will probably want to nip into the feed station to top off the water bottles) carry all food you will need with you (or get from other half when they hand you waterbottles.
Do some Audax rides [url= http://www.aukweb.net/ ]Audax Website[/url] If you are relatively fit I'd start with a few 200km rides. They usually have cafe stops every 50km or so.
marathon runner i spoke to couldn't comprehend audax. stopping for a cake/ sanwhich etc. thought it sounded easy!
When i first started looking into longer rides one piece of advice was to ride 50 miles, stop for a 2 hour lunch (not too much food) and ride back. Gives you a rest but not recovery and some good fuelling.
The good thing with audax is that you don't have to stop long, you can just pop in get your card stamped and head for the next control and if you are knackered you can stop for a three course lunch!
Thanks for the replies everyone! Much appreciated.
Soulrider, I haven't heard of glass pedalling. I'm guessing this is putting as little pressure through the pedals as possible to maintain speed?
If you want to improve endurance then you need to get a lot of miles in the legs. If you have the time and having a break mid ride helps you get more miles in then do it.
@svladjelli - yes just spinning the legs if you remotely feel it in your thighs you are pedalling too hard.
That said the Etape du Tour .. not much flat to do this on 😳
but at least you can do it on your training rides.
@thomthumb - said marathon runner has never ridden 200km plus then. not sure about others but I find upto 160/180km do able even at an ok pace (30 to 33kph) without too much strain, beyond that the mental reserves have to kick in.
I'm thinking I have the legs to go further if I let myself take wee breaks
I doubt it. If anything any kind of break will have your legs stiffening up- especially if you are sat in a café. Main thing is to keep eating and drinking. You'll need to get comfortable doing this whilst riding so may as well practice when training.
In order to ride Etape distance you don't have to be doing a century every weekend- the overall training load and consistent training is much more important than doing huge rides every weekend. Mind you getting 2-3 UK sportives in beforehand will be useful.
Remember in the etape de tour there will be long sections where you'll be descending with less effort for long periods which allow some recovery without seizing up.
If you can't train in a hilly area maybe long rides with varying intensity.
Do whatever helps you get up to 5-6hrs on the bike in comfort and do some HI work to help with the pace on the day, but in general I think cafe stops cool me down and are a social thing rather than anything needed. I'd rather do 4-6hr steady rides w/o a stop, keeping a constant pace all the way. Training seems to be about the time spend at certain effort levels and for long steady stuff there may be a benefit to getting by w/o more break time than is needed to buy a snack and ride on to eat it on the bike.
I think it was one of the Downing brothers who was asked about breaking up training rides with a café stop, and they replied "Do you want a 6 foot tall girlfriend or two 3 foot tall ones?"
If the event you will be riding will involve some sort of break, it won't hurt to have a similar short break in training rides. Most of our rides - none of which could be considered training - usually involve a café stop after 30 miles.
Unless the actual goal was to ride to a café and then ride home. The café will then be anywhere between 3 and 40 miles away!
2 x 3' duh
I hate extended breaks when riding.
You heart rate drops right down , as does your blood oxygen level. Your body temps drop too and you cool really quickly if you have been sweating. I find my legs stiffen up and I develope little niggly aches. As for eating real food, no chance. Something like a jacket potatoe sits in my stomach and doesnt digest anywhere near quick enough.
I tend to stop for 10 mins max,fill the bottles, stuff some malt loaf in and get going again. Also, you never make up the stationary time. I accept there is often no choice but to stop to take on food and water and for loo breaks, but the time lost means a greater effort to catch up where you would have virtualy got to on the road.
Thinking of entering a 300km audax this year if I can adjust my work / life balance
Take a break and ride further if you want. Or Ride shorter and ride harder. My preference is to stay on the bike and ride harder but then when I do long rides time really is of the essence as I'm trying to cram in as much as possible in daylight. Also don't like stopping as my legs go stiff and I get cold.
You need to eat and when out training there aren't feed stations to make things quick. A nice cafe stop can be a good perk.
One thing I would suggest as a veteran of many a long ride. Try out food and drink options on your training ride. Also kit. You need to make sure you are ok with foods. Don't train on cafe stops and flapjack then switch to energy gels and drinks for the event - you'll definitely need a stop then!
The correct approach to pacing a long ride is to start slower than you think you should be going and speed up at the end if you have the legs. Much better that way than going out too hard and crawling home.