Back-to-Back Day Two Endurance Ride, 2 Hours
A two hour Zone 2 ride for the day after a long ride, with a longer warm-up and modest targets that train endurance on tired legs.
- Duration
- 2 h
- Effort
- 77
- Level
- Intermediate
- Focus zone
- Endurance
Your values
Targets relative to your threshold values. Enter your values to see absolute numbers.
| # | Step | Length | Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Warm-upEndurance Long warm-up, let the legs come round | 20 min | 45 → 65% FTP55 → 70% HRmax |
| 2 | IntervalEndurance Modest Zone 2, eat from the start | 45 min | 60-68% FTP65-78% HRmax |
| 3 | IntervalEndurance Steady, keep eating | 45 min | 60-70% FTP65-78% HRmax |
| 4 | Cool-downRecovery Easy spin, let the legs settle | 10 min | 60 → 45% FTP68 → 55% HRmax |
About this workout
Riding long on two consecutive days is a common way to build endurance for multi-day events, gran fondos and long triathlons. The second day trains the body to keep going on partly emptied glycogen stores and tired muscles, without the strain of one very long ride. This is the second-day session.
The warm-up lasts 20 minutes, because tired legs need longer to come around. After that, ride 90 minutes at 60 to 70% of FTP, a little lower than on a fresh day. Watch the heart rate. It may sit lower than usual at the same power on tired legs, which is a reason to keep the targets modest, not to push harder. Eat from the start, 40 to 60 g of carbohydrate per hour.
If the legs feel worse after 30 minutes instead of better, turn it into a recovery ride and go home.
Tips
- Eat a full meal with carbohydrate on the evening between the two rides.
- Treat the first 20 minutes as a test of how the legs respond.
- Keep the power at the lower end of the range if the heart rate refuses to rise.
Good forGran fondoFull-distance triathlonGravel
Season phaseBaseBuild