Train for speed when doing distance

Endurance is relative. Anyone can ride a long distance if they go slowly, take breaks and consume enough food and liquids.

But many of us want to ride long at a strong pace. There's a huge difference between covering 100 miles in 8 hours or doing it in 6 hours.

So, endurance isn't only about how long you can ride. It's how fast you can ride, too. How many cyclists have you heard bemoan their century time and chalk it up to poor endurance when the actual problem was their speed?

Want to go the distance faster this season? Try these two training tricks starting with your next long ride:

1. Vary your training speed. The primary mistake most riders make is training at the same effort level within each ride and for ride after ride. They lock into a pace that's neither too hard nor too easy.

As a result, they never go fast enough to promote improvement or slowly enough to allow recovery. Their training palette is a monotone gray rather than red-hot bursts of effort followed by cool-blue spinning.

2. Do several sprints every hour. Studies show that fast accelerations of just 10-30 seconds can raise your average cruising speed by giving you more power.

You don't need to sprint all-out. Simply stand and accelerate until you spin out the gear, then sit down and spin up to 10 rpm faster. Hold this speed for several more seconds, then back down gradually. Repeat 3 or 4 times per hour, separated by 10-15 minutes of riding at your normal cruising pace.

A good time to sprint this way is on short climbs or the flat road following descents when your speed is already up. Sprint in a big gear to keep your descending momentum for 10-15 seconds.