Endurance or sprint for getting fit again?

[XmisterIS]

Over the winter I have been pottering around on the shopping bike, wrapped up like the abominable snowman in duffel coat, woolly hat, gloves, thick jeans, boots, etc.

Now that the weather is getting a little warmer, I took the road bike out for the first time this year.

I've just done 10 miles really pushing hard - took me 25 mins, so average speed was just over 20mph.

Which approach is best for getting fitness back up quickly:

1) "slow burn" approach - i.e. a longer distance at a slower pace, or 2) the "short sharp" approach - a short distance but hooning along like a lunatic, trying to go as fast as possible?

 

[HLaB]

I've always thought getting the miles in (which I haven't been doing lately) is better and speed will come in its own good time.

 

[Dayvo]

I'd say a combination of both.

As long as you get to about 80%-85% max heart beat, you will get the cardio exercise needed.

So flat out for short periods on the flat, and hard up the hills. And take it easy in the baker's shop afterwards!

 

[JonnyBlade]

Got to go with Dayvo. It should be a combination. With any sport you have to mix it up

 

[screenman]

I would say if you have just done a full 10 in 25 minutes then you are already reasonably fit and knows what works. You average speed would have been 24 mph for that ride, was it a tail wind or back and out?

 

[montage]

short sharp intervals

 

[JonnyBlade]

Bloody quick for 25 minutes

 

[GrasB]

...I've just done 10 miles really pushing hard - took me 25 mins, so average speed was just over 20mph.

Hum... are you sure those numbers are right given a normal road bike on the hoods at almost 24mph is circa 340w for 25min... erm that's approaching pro level climbing! If we say drops then you're looking at 270w which is around my climbing ability & I blew away cat 2 riders in the alps... If you road bike was an all out TT bike then it's about 220w which isn't great but good for a rider just out of winter & wasn't been doing any high power riding on a turbo.

1) "slow burn" approach - i.e. a longer distance at a slower pace, or 2) the "short sharp" approach - a short distance but hooning along like a lunatic, trying to go as fast as possible?

Just mix it up, you need the high intensity rides to build up power & from there you have latitude to build up you high power endurance.

 

[dodgy]

took me 25 mins, so average speed was just over 20mph.

Just over 20mph? In the same way that 100mph is just over 70mph

 

[Dan B]

Hum... are you sure those numbers are right given a normal road bike on the hoods at almost 24mph is circa 340w for 25min... erm that's approaching pro level climbing!

Sorry, I think I missed a trick here: where does he say he was climbing? On the flat that's respectable (actually, very respectable) but not outwith the potential of a club rider. Look at 10TT times

 

[GrasB]

Sorry, I think I missed a trick here: where does he say he was climbing? On the flat that's respectable (actually, very respectable) but not outwith the potential of a club rider. Look at 10TT times

Read my entire post then start again. Especially the last sentence after the first quote.

Also as I've said many times "the only difference between producing 400w @ 100rpm on the flat & 400w @100rpm up a hill is the speed you achieve"

 

[Dan B]

OK, clearly that was the trick I missed: when you said "24mph is circa 340w ... pro level climbing" I assumed the power figure you were quoting was itself for climbing.

My observation is that if the "25 minutes" is rounded to the nearest 5 minutes (so, could have been anything up to 27) and the "10 miles" is also the nearest round number (let's pretend it was really around or just over 9 miles), that gives a flat 20mph average. I can't tell you what power that would involve (though I'm sure you can tell me) but I'm guessing we're in the territory where it scales non-linearly and the effort involved is far less.

 

[GrasB]

Sorry for that last post it has turned out to be rather flippant. I used the reference for climbing as while power can be used for anything typically you use your highest power levels when climbing & nearing 350w for getting on for 30 min is a lot of power for a long time. If one is on the aero bars of a TT bike (or even just on aerobars on a road bike) you'll get a significant speed increase for the same power (for a 5-10w power increase I saw a 5mph speed increase going from a low handlebar boardman hybrid to a TT bike!), this is one reason you can't compare a 10 mile club TT time with a hard 10 miles on a road bike.

 

[Crackle]

If you're achieving that speed without training, I'm keeping schtum but I would like to know what you've not been doing to get that speed. Sure it wasn't on the 650?