Happy new year all! I’m currently following the all-purpose road plan with outdoor en indoor rides. I was wondering if it is okay to combine the two workouts over the weekend into one long activity on sunday. Saturday is a 1h30m endurance ride and usually Sunday some kind of tempo ride. Is it okay to combine the two rides into one big ride on Sunday? Thanks for the advice!
Hi @Tycho. I’ve also been following the same plan and do exactly that, mainly as it fits in better with “life”. I follow the Suf sessions in the week, and generally do 50-70 miles on a Sunday. 2 weeks left with FF on 17th so we’ll see if I made any gains. 
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Alright! Yeah I’ve tried it the past few weekends because it just fits in easier, but this last ride it was really tough so I’m not sure if It’s always the best idea 
! Keep me posted with your progress!
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@YeoYeo Good luck with the test! I had my half Monty yesterday! I gained 6% MAP and 3% FTP!
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@Tycho I was about to post this exact same question when it suggested your post on this topic. I’m thinking about freeing up a day on the weekend by doing this.
How did you get on with it?
I did exactly that and combined both rides into one longer ride! I tried to keep the efforts at the start of the ride and kept the slower endurance stuff for the latter part of the ride for me this worked very well and the “load” on my system was virtually the same, so I’d say go for it!
Bit of a ‘golden spade’ to dig this topic up. But does someone have a view on how this works in terms of training load & effectiveness?
I’m training for an event that will keep me on the road for 8+ hours and figured that stepping up the ride distance would be good practise. So rather than ride 3hrs Saturday and 2hrs Sunday, just ride 5hrs on Saturday
Question is: Is it overkill to combine the two weekend sessions into one ride?
Hard to say without looking at the total volume spent on the bike! Recent research suggests frequency is the most important factor over volume and intensity. So simply looking at the two “shorter” rides vs. 1 long ride I would suggest two shorter ones are better.
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Well, as Sir @Coach.Mac.C would say, it Dependz®
My 2 cents. If your 8 hr event is still several weeks away, then I wouldn’t “rush” into longer rides. But, I would definitely look at gradually increasing volume as there’s a BIG difference between 3 hrs and 8.
I recall reading somewhere that if you can do something like 75-80% of an event distance, you can do 100% on event day. Put another way, you don’t have to run a marathon when you train for a marathon.
All that said, and like @Tycho said too, there are some solid training plans to prep you for an 8 hour event. If you’ve got time, maybe take a look at the 200 mile gravel plan. I’ve used that to prep for events that have taken the better part of a day and the single longest ride in that plan was 5 hours, a couple weeks before the event
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Thanks guys, appreciate it.
The last four Saturday rides were a gradual increase in distance from 58% to 76% of the overall distance (175km) In that respect, I should be fine for the distance. I’m just 3,000m elevation short…
The training plan is the mountainous fondo plan and i’m about three weeks away from the actual event - too late to change plans. I think I’m going to stick to @Tycho’s advice and ride the two shorter ones. I will try to ride those outside - can’t stand riding inside when the weather is nice.
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I probably don’t have to tell you that elevation gain is all about pacing, and having sufficient gearing to maintain the pace that will see you through to the finish line. Have a great time too and don’t forget to give us a post-event report. There’s only one thing we love more than suffering and that’s other people’s suffering 
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