I’d appreciate some advice on how to fit structured TR training with other things I want to do. Mine must be a common problem and I’d be interested to know how others have solved it. My long term goal is a 600 km Audax that crosses the Alps in early September. Meanwhile the rowing season has started again. I train 4-6 times a week for that (highly polarised with the majority of time in Z2, so not too tiring) and there will be 3-4 regattas between now and the end of July when the season ends. In terms of cycling, I do a long club ride at the weekend and then I can fit in one (rarely 2) cycling sessions during the week. So - my problem is, I think if I try to train for the Audax now, as well as doing regatta training, it will just be a horrible mess, especially because I need to focus on endurance for the audax but on explosive power for the rowing events. So I can see a few plausible options: 1. ditch the TR plan until end of July and just rely on my rowing fitness until then, but that then leaves only a month of structured training and I can’t really start with ‘base’ at that point; 2. stick with a low volume plan from now, but only do one session from that (maybe alternating VO2 max or threshold) + group ride; 3. same thing, but using a TrainNow workout. [Eeek, even writing this out, I can see what a mess it is]. What should I do?
I would ditch the tr plan and concentrate on your rowing.
Until the rowing is done I would keep adding extra distance to the club ride and if not too fatigued try adding in a single tr workout in the week try to eek out TTE. Check the sweet spot progression thread for ideas on lengthening sweet spot then threshold. See where that takes you.
Thank you! That’s very sensible advice. What would be good for that month after rowing in which I can concentrate exclusively on cycling? What I’m mostly concerned about in the audax events is the long climbs.
Not sure exactly what your rowing schedule is each week, but you could try the “minus” variants of the Sweet Spot Base Low Volume plan (just the 30 or 45 minute versions). This would still hit the relevant energy systems on a regular and consistent basis, but with less training stress.
If you can get through SSB this way, you can then hit Sustained Power Build once you are done with regattas in July.
I’m a long term audaxer, riding events up to 2,000km or so.
Sounds like you’ll be getting all the intensity you need from the rowing. The heart is a dumb muscle and doesn’t care whether it is rowing or cycling. So for the cycling just concentrate on the long ride at an all day endurance pace. When the rowing is out the way you can think about adding in more rides.
This is what I would do too. Use rowing to keep your cardio in check. Do a very long ride on weekends to ensure you don’t suffer from long days in the saddle since you will only do a month of cycling focused training.
That’s also an interesting idea. Thanks! I’ve been quite glued to ‘training plan or nothing’, so I forgot that it’s possible to vary the individual workouts.
Thanks! I’ve never done more than 200 km, and I’ll definitely do a 300 and 400 km to get myself used to long times on the bike.
Just reading up on that long thread. It somehow passed me by, but seems very relevant.
weekly_hours = {week: 168, sleep_wash: 63, work: 40, commute: 10, eat: 14}
By my calculation above, I normally have about 40 hours free a week to do whatever.
My guess is that the problem is not so much that there is a lack of time, more that there is a problem of compatibility between rowing and cycling.
Could you use cycling as a form of recovery between rowing sessions? I used to do this with casual swims on rest days from cycling. Good way of keeping things ticking over but giving the legs a break.