[quote=“CaptainThunderpants, post:62, topic:85968”]
This is what I’ve been doing recently. I use the MV plan as a building block and do 1 threshold and 1 VO2 during the week, then Sat/Sun long endurance rides as much as my schedule allows. Monday is an off day.[/quote]
Is it possible to modify the plan so that you get the high intensity in the week and the endurance at weekends? I can probably manage 1 high intensity & 1 low intensity 1.5 hour in the week and then probably 1 high intensity and 1x3hr in the weekends.
Rumor has it… adjusting the workout duration for specific days is a feature they plan to release in the next major update (“WLv2” or something like that).
You can move the days around in the calendar. I put the 2 long endurance on the weekends because that’s when I can do them. I don’t have a ton of time during the week, but can usually knock out an hour workout, so I put my intensity mid-week.
So far, it’s been good. I don’t feel overwhelmed at all. My outdoor endurance rides have been 3-4 hours so I’m right at 9-10 hours for the week. The hardest part sometimes is having to do back to back days of intensity due to my schedule. Like I did Wed/Thurs a few weeks ago. It was tough but I got through the workouts. Friday was just an easy spin before two long rides Sat/Sun. Ideally I try to give myself a day in between. Tues/Thurs has worked well for intensity, east spin Friday or nothing depending on work, Sat/Sun endurance, Monday rest. Wednesday is usually and easy Z2 as well.
With that said, I might do something different over the winter. Sweetspot has worked really well for me in the past for base. I like the VO2/Threshold right now because I’m still racing and I feel like it keeps me sharp. But when CX is over I probably will go back to long sweetspot working my way up to 120min TiZ again. Best fitness I’ve had came off a winter with lots of sweet spot. 2-3 days of intensity per week with a couple Z2 rides. But I can’t do 3+ hours of Z2 on the trainer without going a little Jack Torrence. Sweetspot at least keeps me a little more engaged.
I’m doing Join LSRF right now just for kicks with no events in my calendar. I’m thinking about mixing things up this year and doing SSLV base and build in the fall/winter. Will likely add some z2 rides and swap an occasional longer group ride for one of the workouts. Then I plan to switch to traditional base mid volume all three phases leading up to Unbound. My thinking is build the FTP in the fall/winter and if I’m a little overtrained during build it’s ok. Then switch to traditional base to build the endurance and time in saddle but not get over tired.
Might work, might not. But will be an interesting experiment to reverse periodize.
Not really helpful to anyone else probably, but my answer is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, coincidentally enough:
I might just not do much training. I live in Seattle and have a fairly rainy, cool fall and spring. I’ve come to realize that I really really really don’t like long term indoor training. I have never cared about absolute performance as much as I’ve cared about enjoying my time on a bike. For me, on the fall and winter and spring, that’s mountain biking. I think I’m accepting that I just love cycling, and I don’t find competition to be the source of my joy. And in that vein, I just need to be fit enough to have fun. How far I go in that given afternoon is becoming less meaningful to me. Probably not a popular opinion on a site “dedicated to making you a faster cyclist,” but that’s where I’m at.
Biggest thing for me this winter is to stay on the bike, in whatever form.
In 2021 I took 2 complete months (and used that time to renovate our top floor) off and FTP dropped to 200W.
In 2022 I switched to running for 4 months and FTP dropped to 223W, considerably less than the year before.
This winter I plan on taking 2 weeks completely off and then just hanging in there on the trainer with maybe some mountainbike rides thrown in until spring comes around. Main goal is to take enough of a rest so I can progress beyond my current peak next year but not so much that I’ll have to train for 3 months before being at this year level’s again.
I’ll re-sub to trainer road in November most likely, but the UK’s mild winter means that 2 club rides still go ahead 99% of the time, even the mid week evening ride in the dark.
That takes care of a long endurance ride and a 1.5 hour smash / vo2 workout.
I also commute 5 miles each way 3ish days a week, so that plus a low volume TR plan works out perfectly.
I actually have a 300km audax in November and intend to complete the festive 500 this year, so it’s just about keeping my mileage up and maintaining - I don’t intend to stop outside riding at all.
As I’m thinking about my winter training, I have a question, or maybe just a thought. And I’ll preface that I’ve been a TR user since 2018 and love what they’ve done. But I’m wondering if there are better values out there. Especially for somebody doing their Polarized plans. I’m trying to see what TR offers over something like Zwift. The Polarized plans are fairly simple right; two days of intensity with lots of long Z2. What are PLs really going to tell me that I couldn’t figure out with logic? Extend time in zone of Sweetspot and/or Threshold work. For VO2 work, shoot for 18-22ish min at intensity. I think I could figure out that 5x4 VO2 is a higher PL than 5x3. Or that 3x20 is harder than 2x20. Yes, that’s obviously an exaggerated example, but the core of the training philosophy isn’t rocket science. So what’s the draw of TR when I can just do that in Zwift? Plus Zwift gives me more engagement and races if I feel like it. And Zwift is cheaper. Waiting for what, 2 years now for TR to grade outside rides has felt like an eternity. But even then, moving into winter I’ll be exclusively indoors. Just curious what you guys think and what TR has to offer over Zwift, maybe I’m missing something.
@CaptainThunderpants not sure it has been two years but it’s definitely been a long time.
@Jonathan any chance TR can release the portion of WLv2 that assesses the training value (and presumably PLs) of outdoor rides to Early Access, even if it isn’t used right now to influence future adaptations, so we can see what y’all keep talking about on the podcast? I think this would be a huge step while the final kinks are worked out. Thanks for considering!
If you are riding only for fitness, then yes, training can be that easy
Just try to keep load in optimal range and intensities mixed, so you don’t get overtrained or detrained, etc.
But if you race and/or want to peak for specific date/event, it is little bit more complicated:
The very first mention of scoring “unstructured rides” and the like comes from Nate in the Announcing Adaptive Training mega cast, within the questions section about 2/3 through the cast (Precise section from Q&A)… which debuted on February 25, 2021.
So it’s definitely been over 2 years (almost 2.5 years in fact).
I plan to start base training for my 2024 “season” in October. My last race this season is on the second weekend in September so I am planning to take a break off the bike afterwards through October (might be hard since I just got a new bike and I will want to ride it ).
I used plan builder to build a high volume polarized plan with two generic A events placeholders to peak in June and August. I did traditional base last fall which gave me wonderful results so I am tempted to do that again. Unfortunately plan builder doesn’t let you select Traditional as an option for the base blocks.
I’m just easing myself back into cycling after a very long break, hitting 50 jolted me into action! I’ve been doing sprodic training for a month or two. Reading this thread has made me sign up for a base plan (polarised). I don’t have any aim other than to slowly get fit. At the end of the base plan, I might well see what my ftp is at and repeat. I’m doing a couple of sportives (mtb) over the next few months but I’m so unfit I need base not build or speciality
I’m taking another shot at a 12 Hr mtb race in May 2024 so I’m thinking a proper base season after maybe a week off. Try to relieve some of the summer stress on the body! Also strength training a little more consistently. Even at 10 hrs a week I find it hard to push any decent weight.
I’ve decided to run a marathon in December. Trying to keep 3 workouts per week (TH/SS, and 2 endurance) along with 2 strength sessions per week. So far so good. I’m sure my bike fitness will plummet, but with a goal of my first full IM in 2024 I really want to focus on building up my running fitness this year. Come January it will be back to base, probably try the polarized plan again until I start “training” in March.
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