You know you guys and your coaches, it frustrates me sometimes. So many athletes these days miss out on one of the best parts of our sport, the adventure of the long ride you have never done before. You need to tear up that part of your program, get a couple buddies and look at a map. Plot out some big loop, or even out and back and just go ride it. Stop for lunch somewhere and then ride some more.

That is how I found the lake Henshaw loop, 115 miles of pure joy, and Dudley's bakery! Then there was Molina's Sleeping Indian road out to De Luz road, for at least a 7 hour adventure of climbing to the moon..

https://www.google.com/...912035!4d-117.266763

Just go ride, in a group preferably, alone if you have to. Forget about the power meter or the miles, or the feet of climbing, just go ride, ride hard some, ride easy some, but ride for hours and hours. I guarantee it will be much better for you in the long run, and you will race with a lot more confidence..

Tell you coach he gets one for free...(-;

Fwiw I’m only a bike racer. I do 90% stuff 90 min or less.

I did the 11k feet Mt Mitchell fondo recently.

I flatted early and had to work solo for hours in the flatter land.

I REALLY wish I had trained to a bigger TSS training rides for the event. I did fine, mid pack counting the flat and solo riding. But only doing a max of 5 hr training rides really showed. I did NOT have to walk the bike up anything, but I’m also a skinny ass too.

Given your swim and run, I don’t know, but sounds to me like you’re a full 2 hrs short of 112 and 9k feet.

My max ride before was 70mi and 8k feet.

I also didn’t do enough over geared workouts before the climbs. Doh!

Couldn't agree more.
Numbers are great. I use them all the time, but don't be a slave to them and feel free to put them aside and just ride - preferably, but not necessarily with friends. That's where most of the susrainable enjoyment in sport is to be found.

A close friend of mine used to come riding with me regularly. Sometimes up the mountains, sometimes on the flat. Throw in a few sprints if we felt like it. Stop for coffee if we had time.
Now he's after getting himself a coach and everything is prescribed. So no heading out for a longer one because the weathers great or making it shorter but harder if it's nasty. There's no spontaneity. It's ticking boxes....and for what? He's improved but no more than I have without the strict schedules... After 2 years with his coach, I'm still faster ;)

No worries. I had a great time riding Latigo and the rock store and the mulholland climb yesterday. I do a lot of that, and ride weekly with my friends in the hills of palos verdes, just go out for 2 or 3 or 4 hours or what I feel like.

So characterizing my riding as something you think it is based on a 400 word post is -respectfully- pretty dumb.

That said two months to Canada I don’t think it’s unreasonable to start tailoring my training to that race. And seriously the plan is to ride hills for 4 hours and try to keep it under 250 on the climbs. If you had any thoughts other than ignore the coach you pay I’d love to hear them. ;-)

My riding is great. Hope yours is too. It concerns me that how I (someone you never met) ride frustrates you. Maybe a massage or a little mediation?

Both?

I mean, train for the length and stress is the expected event and also be prepared to to put out the efforts at the speeds and inertia dictated by that event.

But more to the point either you trust your coach or you don't. If you trust him do what he says, if you don't find a new way to train.

I trust him and we are discussing this, just curious as to what ST thought

I'm training for IMLP in July(2nd time) and just did NY Gran Fondo yesterday: 100 mi 9k elevation at a steady effort. IMLP used to be around 6.5k, but is now closer to 8k. Currently focusing on hill strength, reducing body weight, and power pacing long hills. You still have to run afterwards...

I do imlp last year for the first time. Did they change the bike course this year?

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David

H & A Racing

I'm in full agreement but would point out that while modern technology can mean we over-analyse things, it also allows us to use things like Strava route planner and heat map to find awesome big loops, and then stick them in our phones or head units so we can actually just enjoy riding the loop without getting lost or checking maps at every junction! I remember as a teenager cycling around with instructions for a 100 mile ride scribbled on my arm in biro, and a hand-drawn map in a freezer bag in my back pocket, got horribly lost a few times and ended up riding major roads just because it was easier to find my way home. It's become way easier to be adventurous in the last 5-6 years (especially with family meaning I now no longer have a license to spend the day happily getting lost and need to actually get home somewhere near the time I said I would...)

perhaps your friend needs a new coach.

It’s not the coach’s fault. It’s the athlete who doesn’t communicate with their coach that they’re taking a day for themselves.

I don't think the specific coach is the problem. Delegating the understanding and planning of you your training to someone else is going to make you less flexible and eliminate spontaneity no matter who they are.

My point is if the athlete is not improving after 2 years with the same coach perhaps try somebody else. But we probably don’t know the full story of this athlete. Maybe they’re focusing on improving the swim or run.

You know, you can both enjoy the ride and also make it productive to where you are hitting a certain TSS/IF by utilizing your tools... they are not mutually exclusive. I planned out a bunch of long rides in new locations this Spring while training for IMTX and enjoyed the adventure while also adhering to my training targets.

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Strava

Your body doesn't know the distance you travel on your bike, it only knows intensity and duration. So you should only care about your final IF and TSS prescribed in your plan, and I would also surmise that you would want your VI to be similar to your race.

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Strava

Thanks

VI, that's a whole 'nother Oprah won't even get into here!

This^

To my understanding, long slow rides are not there for emulating the race, but rather to learn the body burn fat. And that appears to happen at low intensities.

Emulating the race you start maybe two months before. And those are trainings which do not last 5 hours.

In a training schedule there are a lot of different things, also shorter with higher intensity. The coach will know this.

Ah right. He's actually improved quite a bit but so have I (without a coach), so the gap has not gotten any narrower.
That was perhaps not clear from my earlier post.

Yes, they removed out and back to Ausable Forks. Now the out and back is on Hazelton Road.

I had a coach last year for my IM and I improved greatly and it was super motivating. With that being said, prior to that I still improved I just was definitely not as strong an athlete. My coach definitely knew the right buttons to push. My coach definitely peppered in some fun days where I was free to do whatever I wanted.

Not to derail...but someone in the IMLP FB group posted their Garmin tracked ride of new (old) IMLP bike route that they did just a week ago. It calculated to just over 6,000' of climbing. But yes, I saw that the official map says around 4,000' per loop, but seems like it's less than that.

I have IM Norway coming up on 1 July. It will be IM #13 for me, has ~6500 ft gain and I live in Florida. I'm not worried about it either. I'm doing long rides, indoor climbs on Rouvy, short and intense intervals; basically just getting as much work in as I can absorb, keeping the weight down, and looking forward to an amazing venue. I like Monty's advice but 6 hrs is where I usually top out.