My three hour long ride today was no cruise in the park.  In fact, it wasn’t even in the park; it was in my basement.

Some of my long bike rides are typical endurance rides. Endurance rides are long rides at a relatively easy effort.  I get gains from endurance rides, simply because they are typically very long.  The pure length of the ride causes fatigue, which in turn creates stronger muscles. 

My long ride today however, included periods of significant effort.  Embedded in my three hour ride on the trainer, were seven intervals. Each of my seven intervals were ten  minutes long and I had four minutes of recovery between them.  The key was that my intervals were quite hard.  They were to be done at Zone 3-4 power.

Zone 3-4 power is about 80-90% of my Functional Threshold Power.  In other words, a pretty intensive effort.  As it happened, I felt quite good today and was able to ride very close to the top end of the range.  The final few intervals were quite tough.  This was because of cumulative fatigue, but I still held the power well.  By the time I finished my ride, my legs were fried.

Given that I also had a short run to do later in the day, I decided to help my legs recover quickly. I decided that I would take a dip in the cold water tub in our yard.  The temperature of the water in the tub was 42’F.  That water was really cold and I only lasted a couple of minutes, before getting out.  I did seem to help my legs though.

The key message today, is that not all long bike rides should be done at easy effort.  Incorporating some periods of hard effort, within a long ride, provides me with a good boost in fitness.