I think this question is more about which volume cycling plan to pick to best use TR’s AI features while incorporating running.
For a variety of reasons I want to continue to do 4-5 cardio workouts per week. Over the last couple of months that has been four rides and one run. I was following a mid-volume plan and substituting one of the endurance rides with a run, then taking the next day as a rest day.
Starting in January I may drop to three bikes and two runs per week. In this 3 bikes / 2 runs per week schedule, is it better to select a low volume TR plan and add in the runs, or stick with a mod-volume plan and replace endurance workouts? I’m leaning toward the LV TR plan since that more clearly communicates my planed and actual cycling volume to the AI, but am interested in thoughts / perspectives. If I only do one run in a given week and I can easily add an endurance ride, too. Thoughts? And thanks in advance!
When I’ve done similar in the past I have picked the low-volume (or at some points mid-volume) and added runs on top of the plan. for the reasons you mentioned
I read a post a while back where @eddie talked about planning out the full week in TR and then deciding day to day which day was a run and which a ride. So, for example, your plan shows that Friday is the day off, Saturday is the hard day, and Sunday is the long day. Then, on the day, you can decide if you want to ride or run, but you stick to the hard/easy/long plan for that day. With this in mind, I built out a 5 day TR plan and just swapped in 2 runs as I felt worked out. I was successful with this method because if I woke up Tuesday and it was pouring rain, I didn’t end up skipping my planned Tuesday run, I just rode the trainer and then ran on Wednesday instead, but stuck to the Hard Tuesday, Easy Wednesday plan so I didn’t burn out with too much intensity or time. Conversely, if I just couldn’t get motivated to pedal on a given day, I could just go outside and run.
This is what I have been doing, albeit more driven by work requirements (eg need to be at work super early so drive in before traffic to run from there vice riding the trainer in my basement but having to fight traffic, travel, etc).
I’m not sure if there is a significant difference in how TR will handle a mid-volume (eg 5-day) plan where you ‘miss’ 1-2 rides versus a low-volume (eg 3-day plan) with added runs / endurance.
I’m a general outlier when it comes to running and cycling (I do over 20 hours a week combined).
But when possible I try to do my bike workout and short runs on the same day. That way I have a recovery day at minimum between. But my run schedule is also partially dictated by how my girlfriend is feeling, so I will run any day she wants to
I try not to do more than 2 hard days a week, but I might squeeze in more of I’m joining a fast group ride.
my experience in the past was that the LV plans had more intensity, so adding a couple runs to a LV leads to more overall than if you do a MV and replace with runs
This is a topic that I really struggled with last year, but this year I’ve found a balance that seems to be working long term. I was really loathe to cut bike volume to make it all work, but in the end something had to give. I did pretty big volume weeks last year, but after my race season ended cut way back to rebuild with a focus on long term success in both cycling and running.
I do a HV plan, but with a balanced approach. Monday and Friday are hard interval days. I run twice a week with maybe one treadmill run thrown in once in a while. Not a lot of run volume , but enough that I can bang out a HM when called upon without being wrecked.
I run on Tuesday’s followed by an easy ride. I do the run and then immediately get home and jump on the bike. This helps me with leg soreness mitigation. Tuesdays is where I’l also incorporate speed work if I want some for the week. We’ll say anywhere from 35m up to 55m run depending on how tired I am from the ride the day before.
Saturday is a long run early in the AM followed by a ride. Either inside or out depending on weather and how I’m feeling.
It can be a challenge to juggle everything, especially if you do weight training as well. It can feel like you’re always training. My bike weeks are between 8-12 hours, and I lift on my interval days. Try to be flexible, and allow yourself enough recovery. You want to minimize interference.
It’s working for me and I’m seeing consistent improvement across all disciplines. I think adding any extra volume in slowly is important and being consistent is, as always, the key.
Thank you for your entire feedback - it’s helpful. For the runs I have been doing I find that I’m pretty sore the day after. Maybe a super easy recovery ride would help … will need to experiment.
This is what I was looking for! I just built out a MV cycling plan and will substitute runs as needed. I’ll drop it to a Master’s Plan with only two days of intensity if it proves too much.
I went for LV and added in the runs as extra rather than mess about replacing workouts with runs.
I am mindful about the intensity of the workouts though. If you are on a LV plan then you might have 3 hard cycling workouts a week but I wouldn’t want to do more than that.
So if one of my running workouts was hard then I would switch it with one of the 3 hard cycling workouts.
Basically if you are doing 5 workouts a week make sure 2 of them are easy regardless of if they are cycling or running.
There’s no real mention of what these runs are, or what the goal of running is. Is all very deliberately Z2, or are you “just running”, or are you going to a track and working on speed, etc? I feel that this context would make a difference to how the question would be answered.
My n=1 is that I do a masters plan, so 2 hard workouts a week. I do 2 days in the office - so I cycle one of those days and run the other. Weekends 1 run and 1 ride.
Is it too much? I don’t know, can only say I’m not getting sick like I did when I did triathlon 6 or 7 years ago*. However, commutes and runs are totally on feel. I’m building distance on runs but not worrying about doing structured training for it. So far, so niggle free. That plan got me around 20km and 30km trail races last year in reasonable times for my age group.
*My body definitely couldn’t handle structured for bike, run and swim - at least not with work and family to also balance.
