[font=Times New Roman]I started cycling around 2 months ago as cross training for skiing but find I really enjoy being on the bike. [/font]
[font=Times New Roman]I work shift work that takes me away from home for 5 days or so when I do little cycling, but then I have around a week off. Initially I began using Chris Carmichael’s 7 week program, which limits the length of the sessions between 30-90 minutes at relatively low intensity. Given that I generally have plenty of spare time when I’m home and would like to cycle for longer, is this something that I should do or is it likely to be detrimental to my long-term performance? I’ve typically been on the bike for double the duration specified in the program.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman]My immediate goals I think are fairly modest; ride 160 km (100 miles) and then get it to around 5.5 hours. Each week I do one “longer” ride and try to add 20 km per week. Does this seem reasonable? I’m tired after the “long” rides.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman]Another question is that I live in a hilly city and find it difficult to keep my HR low going up hills. My average HR is between 133 and 140, more than specified in the CC program but obviously dragged up by the hills. Do I just live with these HR peaks or really make a determined effort to ride very slowly up the hills?[/font]
[font=Times New Roman]Thanks for the advice.[/font]