Always 2 days a week Vo2max/under over training

I want to do a vo2max training once a week and the rest of the week zone 2 training. There’s however not a single training’s plan which will facilitate this. Or am I missing something?

That’s not a training plan. That’s an exercise schedule. Just drop workouts on your calendar as you see fit. :+1:

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Correct, but I do want a training plan but not with two intense days.

You’re missing that the custom plans will tell you what workouts are best for you. Two vo2 per week is unlikely to be best.

The High Volume Olympic Triathlon Build will give you two vo2 per week and endurance and a few tempo rides.

You don’t want TR to recommend a plan or schedule, so I would simply plan your week as you want to.

Do you know what you’re training toward?

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You can schedule it yourself using the ai workout schedule. Pick the type of VO2max work that you want.

You can also pick a masters plan where it will give you two hard workouts a week.

I don’t think there is a plan with only 1 hard workout, but it’s super easy to manually create it. Go to your calendar, click on the VO2 day, select “AI workout”, and then “Traditional VO2”. Then fill the other days with AI Z1/2 workouts.

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As others are saying this is exactly what the ai workouts are for and honestly I think one of the best parts of the recent updates.

Since early Jan I basically threw on Tues Ss Thurs threshold and a weekend endurance, using the dynamic endurance. I honestly don’t recall specifically requesting the SS vs threshold but that’s what’s its been. Just let ride and auto adjust as I went for the past 2 months. Every 4th week just nix the vo2 if you want a recovery week. Or whatever ratio you like.

There’s no plan that will give you what you’re looking for so that is basically the best you can do.

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Build your own from the workouts. It’s remarkably easy to do.

I’ve done it over the base season the last couple of years.

I’ve just gotta ask…why do you want this?

Joe

I follow this exact approach myself. I’ve come back from not training at all for several years to going from 174W AI FTP 11:th of January to 243W predicted next week. I’m training outdoors with a calculated FTP of between 270-280W. So for me this has been the absolute best way of getting back and building huge base.

I ramped from 150TSS (January) to around 600TSS/weeks now and will continue a little bit further but come race season I’ll add in another VO2Max or Threshold-workout to my weeks. I rode 8hrs indoors and will be around 16-20h/week outdoors.

Because I’m 58 years old and my body doesn’t like two heavy training sessions per week. It’s also not necessary. Once a week is good to maintain my fitness level. I cycle three times in a week. In all the training plans two of them are under/over or vo2max related work out which means the I have only one zone 2 ride in a week. Zone 2 is inportant for me to recover.

I also hike/walk every day and play tennis.

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Probably the latter, rather than you being 58. I am a year older than you and two high intensity a week is fine.

It is also fine with me and my body if cycling was the only thing I did. But it’s not.

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Yeah, what works for one person isn’t always going to work for another. What they can do is pretty irrelevant. I’m the same age as you, I’ve been cycling with structured training for several years, and I totally agree with your premise. I’m in the process of moving to a place where I have tons of daily options for cycling, running, and hiking. I will probably be doing the same as you with one hard cycling workout a week so that I can still do all the other things I love. I’m also toying with dropping my TR FTP way down to something I can hold for 40+ minutes considering most of my cycling will be outdoors and longer than 60-90 minutes.

I was pointing out that blaming age is usually wrong. As you have just confirmed. You are doing other stuff. It is not age holding back the number of intense cycling workouts you do.

Do you want variety or a set type of workout? If you did train now you might get more variety.

Otherwise you can just select the workout type they you want for the AI workout. Schedule it when you want to do it and schedule the other rides you want.

That’s great that that works for you. I think it’s insulting to assume that what works for you works for everyone and say they’re “blaming” something.

It’s not blaming. Age does however make a huge difference in recovery. Ignoring your body doesn’t make you a better athlete!

For your information; in my youth I was a Dutch champion in athletics. I’ve always respected my body and learned how to listen to my body. Rest is a big part of your training!

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Honestly you might be overthinking it a bit. Tons of runners just do one brutal VO2max session a week, something like 4 to 6 hard intervals, then keep the rest easy zone 2 and call it a day. No fancy plan needed. Your body does not care about the spreadsheet, it cares about stress and recovery. Smash one hard day, cruise the rest, repeat. If you feel wrecked all week then yeah you overcooked it, if not you are probably doing it right.

Think you meant to respond to @Pbase who brought up blame.