5 consecutive days on, 2 off...anyone tried this?

Training
23

I have been riding with a coach for almost 2 years now, started with 4 days a week, then went up to 5-6, and now we have landed in 5 days, since we realised that it works best for me.

But the key has been finding out how much of a difference 2 consecutive days makes for me in terms of recovery. I also really like the mental break from riding and training. Usually eager to get on the bike at the end of the second day :slight_smile:

So I ride Saturday to Wednesday, recovery Thursday and Friday. Its nice to have Friday off and get ready for the weekend!

This is my current week:

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So rest today and tomorrow, then group ride/hard session on Saturday when most fresh, then usually something more low intensity, but this weekend there is a long gravel ride so ill do that one.

Key here is to have enough in the tank for Mondays (moved to Tuesday this week) mid intensity intervals, then Tuesday and Wednesday is just normal z2 riding or commuting. (monday and wednesday this week).

Looking at your schedule, what I would do is do LV Plan, and then add two 90min endurance rides that are around IF 0.55-0.6. That will leave you fresh for the hard days, while still providing mitochondrial adaptations and whatnot.

So I would go:
Monday - Intervals
Tuesday - Intervals
Wednesday - 0.55 IF endurance ride or recovery ride.
Thursday - Intervals
Friday - 0.6 IF endurance ride

Still, this is a lot of intensity. I would not be able to handle 3 hard sessions a week, so in my case, I would do:
Monday - Hard intervals
Tuesday - 0.55 IF endurance ride
Wednesday - Mid intensity intervals
Thursday - 0.6 IF endurance ride
Friday - 0.6 IF endurance ride

Hard intervals = V02 Max, threshold and that stuff
Mid intervals = SS, tempo ish

2 Likes
24

Just put together this sample schedule :slight_smile:

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Doing something like this will probably get you going pretty well!

Start off with really hard workout first day with Markleeville, with some solid z2 riding after the intervals. The watts in the endurance part after the intervals here were pretty high so you could probably lower it 5% or so for the last endurance bit if you’re tired.

Then Brasstown -1, one of my favourites. Plain and simple.

McGregor -2, doable sweet spot! Especially with the fatigue from monday.

Boarstone -2, plain old z2 again, if the legs are tired, lower it a little bit, thats fine.

And Friday, we end with some z2 with 2 sprints to tire out the fast twitch fibres a bit and let the slow twitch work :slight_smile:

The most important thing with a schedule like this is the food.

  • So Sunday, lots of carbs before Mondays intervals
  • After Mondays intervals you can eat normal, focus on proteins since Tuesday is low intensity.
  • Tuesday evening, load up on carbs before wednesday.
  • Then back to normal for the rest of the week, focusing on protein rest of the week, until Sunday, when you need to carb up again.

Tuesday and Friday you can ride with just water if you want, but the rest of the days aim for 60g-80g carbs per hour. Most important here is still pre ride nutrition.

1 Like
25

This is super helpful!!! Thanks!

1 Like
26

Of course! :slight_smile: consistency is more important than adding one more hard session and slowly running yourself into the ground. Hence I feel that 2 hard sessions per week is enough.