Should I ride further than race distance?

[avroncotton]

I'm training for my first half ironman (so the bike leg is 92kms). I have the opportunity for a long ride of 150kms this w/e however with ten weeks of training left, should I be concentrating on riding the race distance at a faster pace?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Tony

[davenoeljones]

It's always a case of different results for different athletes, but I have found the only way to really improve my overall bike ability is a decent amount of time on the bike mixed in with shorter intensity sessions.

I would definitely suggest hitting the 150km ride, try and stay in the saddle as much as possible and don't take your HR over say 80% of max, concentrate on form etc. Then bring in your intensity on a 50km - 60km ride where you are over 90% of your HR at times.

I've been told from a guy who rides at the pointy end of A grade in one of the best clubs here in NZ, he does one important long distance ride each week (120kms +) and the rest of the week is high intensity trainer sessions or shortish club racing (50 - 80kms)

Good luck for the half.

[davenoeljones]

Plus 10 weeks of time is buckets to get more 'miles' in the pins. If it was 4 weeks out I would probably think differently.