I’m 46yo and I’ve been on HV plans for 3 years (TR user for 5 years). I typically train 10-12 hours during winter and 11-15 hours spring through fall. IMHO following TR plans blindly is a recipe for disaster. I’d give the TR plans a “B” grade at best (up from a “C” grade now with ML). I strongly disagree with TR’s marketing that it’s the right workout every time. It is not!
You are still your own coach and you must alter the plans to fit you. For starters, it’s almost never a good idea to do SS on Sundays as prescribed (exception is usually SSB1 coming from an off season but forced to ride the trainer). I strongly disagree with TR and ML seems to have only made recommendations worse for Sundays. This should always be a long z2 (MV and HV plans).
All z2 rides should be between 60-70% and the ideal spot is usually 65% (moving up/down based on RPE). TR routinely schedules my z2/recovery rides too intense (Wednesday and Fridays). I always have to swap out these z2 rides for an easier version.
Saturday’s workout should be a flex day. Do the workout as prescribed if you’re capable or swap or to a long z2 if fatigue is high. I don’t do this often and when I do it’s usually at the end of the season, but that should always be a viable option.
Lastly, use workout alternates to shorten / lengthen workouts based on available training time and fatigue. Also, if a workout structure looks unappealing or too repetitive based on workouts you’ve recently done.
IMHO people need to be better coaches to themselves. Doing so has brought me from being burnt out using MV plans years ago to now adding volume to HV plans. So I’m able to add volume and fitness improving year over year as I age.
I don’t feel like it’s fair to knock TR plans for this. You’re not new, so you have to know that they’ve said repeatedly that they know SS on Sundays isn’t the best approach, but they are there because it is what’s most consistently followed.
I never tried the POL plans but probably should have. I did tinker with the 5-day, middle vol plans by cutting out a hard session, etc. But then I felt like I was wimping out. Just trying something different now. Mileage!
I’m 44. The only thing I can offer here is I’m trying out this year setting FTP and adjusting workouts by feel. I think I’ve spent far too much time over the last few years letting trainerroad decide how hard I should be working. My guess here is that any plan can be too much or too little depending on where the system puts your ftp or workout levels.
Turned 50 last weekend, have been riding for 20 years, and racing age category level for 15 years. Most races are good, but occasionally things go pear-shaped; it happens.
The years have seen anywhere between 400-450 hours, or 20-24k TSS (if that means anything). That’s all I need to be semi-competitive in that category; ride at the pointy end of the bunch, and finish with the bunch. Get to ride the next week, instead of taking risks and ending up drinking my food through a straw or IV.
To get adaptations, I build, ride the peak, then let the fitness fall. Build again, peak again and let it drop again. Some years I would ride the plateaux just to keep things interesting. Note that build and peak is to let the fitness climb to an A-event, not the mesocycle referred to as build.
Some friends have asked how I can allow my fitness to drop so far, fearing it will be gone. It’s easy… let them beat me through the year and I’ll beat them when it counts.
I’ve polarised my training, done the whole sweet-spot thing, as well as block periodisation and usually end up with similar results.
So TR knows it’s not good for one’s training yet have done nothing to address it in their plans. Sorry, that’s an unacceptable excuse if you have the athletes’ fitness in mind. We know this is bad for you, but since you want it and seem to like it here you go . That’s sounds like their interest is in retention rather than the best training, which is even worse than being ignorant.
That’s not really accurate. It’s currently addressed (as it has been since TR implemented the change to applying the shorter SS workout on Sundays) by listing it in the weekly notes. It lists a mention about dropping intensity for Sunday with a specific Z2 workout suggestion for the rider to use if they wish.
It’s better than nothing, but Nate knows it’s less than ideal. That’s why he’s acknowledged that he’d like to implement some better way to access and/or flag this option so riders can chose appropriate to their preferences and needs.
I think you have a rather negative take on this.
I see it as less about retention of athletes within TR, and more about giving them an option they are more likely to actually do vs one that was widely skipped in the past.
I don’t claim to know what’s “best” here (and we should all admit that it is a loaded word with more than one interpretation given the wide range of athletes this covers), but if doing something is better than nothing, I see this as in improvement to do SS over skipping longer Z2 which is the trend for inside riding from all I have heard.
That all assumes the rider is able to handle that harder but shorter workout within their training life, so if that is NOT the case, something else may be in order. Hence the option I covered above that TR has for now at least (weekly notes).
I’ve never understood why it isn’t done the other way around though. When they talk about it, it sounds to me like they think the better option is the long steady Sunday ride, but since everyone skipped it, they changed it to SS. If that is the case, it seems the LSD ride should be the default and the SS workout should be the alternative listed in the comments.
IMO, the problem is they are CHOOSING when the BEST option is to let the ATHLETE select it. Like many of the other Plan Builder suggestions we have made, setting at least the default SS vs Z2 workout applied to a calendar should be set by the user in the PB process.
As of now, they have to flip a coin and it will be wrong for enough people to be an issue no matter which they choose. So fixing that PB selection option would be my priority vs flipping the switch to the other direction.
. That’s sounds like their interest is in retention rather than the best training, which is even worse than being ignorant.