EBR Friday Focus

by ENDURANCE BIKE AND RUN

"Practical insights for sustainable progress"

Hello ,,

Group Ride Intelligence | Navigating Social Training for Maximum Benefit

Extending long rides and runs grows stronger at this time of year.

These longer sessions build essential endurance, but often create ripple effects through your weekly training rhythm—sometimes sacrificing the quality sessions that drive adaptation.

However, taking the opportunity to build endurance when the weather, opportunity and mood align is often too good to miss. 

Finding the balance between seizing these valuable weekend opportunities and maintaining your weekly rhythm can often be a challenging conundrum.

3 Insights About Moving Beyond Quick Fixes

I.

Perhaps a planned easier day every Monday could create space for recovery and evaluation that sets you up for the week and mitigates risk of unhelpful fatigue.

II.

For harder sessions, it is often only once you start that the real information presents. Give yourself permission to stop or postpone if it isn't happening.

III.

We all know that the magic happens during recovery, and we spend more time not training than training, so better non-training time might be an interesting place to review.

2 Questions For You

I.

Do you always feel tired on certain days of the week? If so, can you adjust your week to make use of this information?

II.

If you are constrained by group training sessions, how can you adjust things to get the most out of them?

1 Real-World Example

Consider this real-world application of the Hudson-Obree method (see Clare's full article for more details):

A 55 year old cyclist training for a 200-mile gravel event completed a particularly challenging weekend block—a 5-hour mixed-terrain ride on Saturday followed by a 3-hour hilly session on Sunday.

Their training plan called for threshold intervals on Tuesday.

Should they take the:

• Force through the Tuesday intervals, likely at compromised power/pace, potentially extending recovery debt further into the week.
• Adapt, based on their Monday assessment that revealed elevated morning heart rate (+7 BPM) and significant quad soreness (7/10).

They implemented:

• • Tuesday: 45-minute technique-focused easy session with 3×30-second accelerations
  • Wednesday: The originally planned threshold session, executed at full intensity
  • Thursday: Slightly reduced volume session compared to original plan

By Thursday, they had completed the same quality work originally planned for the week, but with proper intensities and full adaptation benefits, rather than compromised execution.

The Sustainable Progress Paradox: The counterintuitive wisdom from both Hudson and Obree is that sometimes doing less in the short term allows you to do more in the long term. By respecting recovery windows after big weekend sessions, you protect the quality work that drives fitness adaptations.

As Hudson frequently tells his athletes: "The goal isn't to maximize training; it's to maximize adaptation."

For Clare's complete analysis of the 'Hudson-Obree' method and how to implement these adaptive training principles in your own program, read her full blog article: "Ultra-Endurance Adaptive Training"

If you are curious about developing a weekly rhythm that accommodates those valuable big weekend sessions while still preserving the quality that drives progress we would love to explore how this might work specifically for you and your circumstances.

Just click this link or the button below to arrange a time that is convenient for you.

Book a consultation to explore how we can help you develop sustainable training patterns that work for your life.

Keep moving forward,

John and Clare

The EBR Newsletter delivers evidence-based endurance insights every Friday. If you know someone who might benefit from our systematic approach to endurance challenges, please forward this email to anyone who might find it useful or interesting.