I’m going to start 3 months of base training now and wanted to check if I’ll be doing it “right”. Im following a polarized approach with 5 days of Z2 and 2 days of higher intensity (tuesdays vo2 max and fridays threshold).
For my 3 months of “base” I would like to cycle about 5 days a week on Z2, between 2 and 3 hours per day, and keep one day of VO2 Max/Threshold intervals. It would amount to between 10 and 15 hours a week of Z2 plus 1 or 1,5 hour a week of the VO2 Max or Threshold. Would this make sense?
I’ve read elsewhere that there is less periodization when one follows a polarized approach, is it true and should I worry less about it then?
Thanks in advance, I appreciate the fact that this forum exists and I think it’s a big plus to being a part of Trainer Road.
First of, you neither included your training history nor your goals. Hence, we cannot judge whether it is suitable both, in terms of volume and intensity, but also the outcomes you are looking for.
My first instinct, though, is that you are doing too much volume and do not give enough breathing room for your hard days.
From the text, it isn’t quite clear to me whether you are training five or six days per week. (I am assuming you are resting at least one day.) Hence, you double up on at least one of the days you are doing a hard workout. That’s a bad idea.
What kind of VO2max and threshold intervals are you doing. IMHO the base phase should begin with mostly threshold and sweet spot work. I’d schedule VO2max work for the Build Phase. Even in a polarized approach, where you eschew sweet spot, the VO2max work would be very close to threshold intensity (think 105 % FTP).
Three months just doing this does not sound like a good way to invest your time.
Here is what I would think about doing instead:
Plan your entire training plan for a given period (Base, Build & Specialty Phases).
Set yourself specific goals. “Getting faster” is not one, neither is “more durability”, unless you have very specific metrics with which you intend to measure success.
Pick how many rest days you need. I’d default to two, unless you are very young (say, in your 20s) or you have extensive experience with structured training. Even in the latter case, think about whether adding an additional rest day (even when keeping volume constant) may be beneficial.
If you want to do two high-intensity sessions per week, plan the rest of the training plan around those. Your first priority should be to nail those hard workouts.
I’d make one endurance ride progressively longer. Treat this as a hard workout in your considerations, because it is.
Don’t do double days on the bike. You can do double days if you are doing gym work.
Speaking of gym work, I’d use the “extra” time you have by adding work in the gym.
The remaining two days should be filled with workouts that support the hard days. That is, don’t just pile on endurance workouts, they may induce too much fatigue, delay recovery from hard days and negatively impact your other hard workouts. Doing more ≠ being faster. The adage “To get faster, you need to ride more.” always misses the crucial proviso “… if you can recover.”
What is the target date and type of event you are aiming for? Three months takes you to mid September, add 8-10 weeks build and you are mid to late November. Are you targeting a southern hemisphere event?
In terms of Polarised. It has been clarified that the descriptive studies were describing session distribution, not intensity distribution. Thus if doing 5 sessions a week, it would be 4 easy and 1 hard to hit 80 / 20. Intensity distribution of that is nearer 90 / 10. If one of those easy intensity sessions is long duration, then that counts as hard. What is long duration is personal. For some it might be 3 hours, for others 6 hours etc.
As to how many hours a week you should aim at. Well what is your recent consistent training history?
You guys are right I gave 0 context and my question lacks a lot of information, I apologize.
I have some background in ultra endurance when I could cycle up to 7 days in a row with 10-12 hours on the saddle a day, although it was a few years back. The last few years was a world trip by bike and the last 5 months doing structured trainer on Zwift and Trainerroad with 8-12 hours a week. Im at the end of my third polarized; high volume Build block, with 4 days endurance and 2 HIT a week.
My goal is for a couple of Gran Fondo style races in the end of november, and also to hit PR on 2 local climbs, so the plan is to do the Base of 3 months as explained, then a build block and a specialty block focused on climbing. My 2 climbs are: - 9.5kms at 5%, PR now at 34 minutes. -long climb with 1700mts of elevation and quite steep parts (Santiago to Farellones climb in Santiago, Chile).
So far I’ve not felt too fatigued due to my training and my FTP is at 252 (around 3.65 w/kg at 68kg).
My goals are probably pretty vague as you expected hahah, I would like to ilprove my times and do well on my first races ever! Also yes, Im in the southern hemisphere.
If I missed something please lmk, thanks for your time!
I still don’t think you have given us enough information overall. Here are a few things I think I understood from your post:
You seem to have done only Base and Build blocks. Is that correct?
How old are you? Going from the 89 in your user name and assuming you were born in 1989, you’d be in your mid-to-late 30s.
How many days do you intend to train?
Assuming you are in your mid-to-late 30s, I’d reiterate my suggestion from before:
Aim for three hard sessions and at most 5 workouts, 2 high-intensity sessions, 1 long endurance ride.
Include gym work. Sacrifice easy endurance rides for gym work if you must.
Instead of overanalyzing and being super opinionated on following this or that philosophy, focus on consistency. I’ve combined sweat spot and polarized blocks in the past and know quite well how my body responds to both. They both give me different types of fitness, but both are great. If you haven’t seriously trained in a while, don’t sweat it.
Long-term fatigue by overdoing it doesn’t necessarily show in the way you think and doesn’t show in the beginning of a training block. Possible symptoms are:
Difficulty to finish the second or especially third hard workout (including long endurance rides).
Being more susceptible to illness and injury (that’s a big one for me) and being ill for longer.
Loss of drive.
PS One of by best rides ever was in Santiago on a mountain bike with an old pro. Amazing day in the saddle!
We are quite privileged in Chile as far as MTB goes, road not so much though haha.
Thanks a lot for your help, and for now I’ve done only 3 build blocks, because I didn’t really know how to move forward.
Im 37 and for now Ive been riding 6 days a week, but I definitely want to add strength training and it makes sense to cut down on the riding to fit it in.
It’s true that Im just starting this “structured training” adventure, so I appreciate the guidance. I just have around 1 year or a bit more of stability in my life and want to get the most out of it I possibly can cause then I’ll probably travel again and it wont be so easy.
I’ll go a bit easier volume-wise to be on the safe side and avoid burnout and see how it goes.
I started structured training the same age you are, so it is never too late!
If so, I’d really err on the conservative side and ramp it up over time. Start with 3 workouts per week and tell yourself you will do more in time. Build good habits. If you want to do everything all at once, it is much harder. I still try to fold gym work into my schedule, and it is a struggle.
Do not make the mistake and think “I can deal with 10 hours of un- or semi-structured riding, so I can deal with 10 hours of training.”
PS I really miss riding in Chile. I haven’t been back since 2019. With three young kids at home, such a long trip is hard at the moment.
If you’ve pulled all of your recent training history into TR, I’d just use Plan Builder to build an event-based plan that focuses on your A event. We’ll prescribed you a good starting volume based on what you’ve been doing recently, and you can check in on the volume we’d recommend at any point along the way.
