5 Hour Crazy
Long rides are all about building your aerobic endurance. They are best done in Zone 2 or Zone 3, which should feel like riding at a moderately hard effort for a very long time. There should be limited sustained effort above this, with the focus being long, steady state efforts at Z2/Z3.
Coach Jack’s Long workouts are a bit harder than Z2 workouts which include Z2 only. The Long rides, in contrast, give you more freedom to move up into the higher intensity of Z3
When done correctly, this ride alone will help improve your fitness more than any other ride. In other words, a single long ride is more beneficial than a single HIIT session.
During these Long rides, ride as long as you can that day, but build up slowly. Take it week by week, and don’t try to increase your mileage too much in one week. Try to do some sustained or repeated hill climbs during your Long ride, as this will give you something to focus on in addition to helping increase your overall workload.
Best for Outdoor
Coach Jack does NOT recommend very long indoor rides. It's typically less biomechanically healthy and for most people it is not very fun. This is a perfect free ride that can be enjoyable and even perfect for a group ride with friends. Ideally it should include numerous climbs where you are pushing yourself into sustained Z3/Z4 efforts but generally this should be a Z2/Z3 ride.
- Author: Hanna74
- Sport: bike
- Duration: 300 min
- Dominant zone: Tempo
- Intensity: 0.71
- Created: 2022-12-31T00:06:28.385Z
- Updated: 2026-04-22T10:59:24.437Z
Structure
- 7 min @ 40% (40w)
- 3 min @ 60% (60w)
- 1 min @ 55% (55w)
- 2X
- 10 min @ 75% (75w)
- 5 min @ 70% (70w)
- 10 min @ 78% (78w)
- 5 min @ 70% (70w)
- 1 min @ 55% (55w)
- 5X
- 2 min @ 77% (77w)
- 2 min @ 60% (60w)
- 5 min @ 75% (75w)
- 5 min @ 70% (70w)
- 5 min @ 65% (65w)
- 2 min @ 60% (60w)
- 2X
- 10 min @ 75% (75w)
- 5 min @ 70% (70w)
- 10 min @ 78% (78w)
- 5 min @ 70% (70w)
- 2X
- 2 min @ 77% (77w)
- 2 min @ 60% (60w)
- 2 min @ 77% (77w)
- 30 sec @ 53% (53w)
- 2X
- 2 min @ 60% (60w)
- 2 min @ 77% (77w)
- 2 min @ 60% (60w)
- 5 min @ 75% (75w)
- 5 min @ 70% (70w)
- 5 min @ 65% (65w)
- 30 sec @ 65% (65w)
- 30 sec @ 53% (53w)
- 10 min @ 75% (75w)
- 5 min @ 70% (70w)
- 10 min @ 78% (78w)
- 5 min @ 70% (70w)
- 3X
- 2 min @ 77% (77w)
- 2 min @ 60% (60w)
- 30 sec @ 53% (53w)
- 2X
- 2 min @ 77% (77w)
- 2 min @ 60% (60w)
- 5 min @ 75% (75w)
- 5 min @ 70% (70w)
- 5 min @ 65% (65w)
- 2X
- 10 min @ 75% (75w)
- 5 min @ 70% (70w)
- 10 min @ 78% (78w)
- 5 min @ 70% (70w)
- 4X
- 2 min @ 77% (77w)
- 2 min @ 60% (60w)
- 2 min @ 77% (77w)
- 30 sec @ 53% (53w)
- 2 min @ 60% (60w)
- 5 min @ 75% (75w)
- 5 min @ 70% (70w)
- 5 min @ 65% (65w)
- 2 min @ 60% (60w)
- 1 min @ 55% (55w)
- 2X
- 10 min @ 75% (75w)
- 1:30 min @ 50% (50w)
- 5 min @ 40% (40w)