Out of all the riders i know (admittedly a small sample of 48 year olds) - there are 2 of us at over 4W/Kg. The same 2 that use TR. The others don’t.
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But once again, it doesn’t mean these 2 will be the ones winning the races.
FTP is only a measure in the end to assist in your training.
And to go back to the OP, whatever works for him.
If the alternative to his cycling regime is to not ride, then by all means he should continue.
I think TR attracts people who are looking for a tool to take away the “training thinking” for them; but not only. We tend to forget it, because, well, there’s a lot of us who seek that consistency and structure.
And it doesn’t mean it’s the only way to skin the “winning races” cat. It’s a pretty efficient way, however from what people are reporting 
Hang on there…
@anon20047708 you know that there’s more to training than just intervals right? Technique, bike handling and so on is crucial. So it’s not just about watts. Defining faster is important to get the big picture. Continuity and being on the bike is by far the most important parts of getting faster. We’re all different.
I firmly believe TR is great for building endurance when working at high percentages of threshold. However building a strong base of aerobic endurance would make me question the whole thing more. It’s probably a lot individual but riding 10hrs+ outdoor and doing hard intervals indoor has made me a lot stronger than 3x SSBMV did during winter. That just made me sick and mentally fatigued.
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This is a good question. The answer really depends on whether your are enjoying your cycling.
I can definitely identify with the idea of not following the TR plans ‘properly’. I signed up on my brother’s recommendation. He adheres to the plans with religious zeal, partly because he is just the obsessive type. I am much more fluid in my adherence, mainly because I love riding outside and competing with my mates when I get the chance. I will almost always take up the opportunity to get out over getting on the trainer. I am one of the types the guys refer to as ‘cherry pickers’ on the podcast.
But I am still getting faster, due to consistency of getting on the bike (indoors or outdoors) over several years, going hard when I am out, and ensuring the principle of working the different energy systems is applied.
My FTP has gone from 200 to 317 (4.4 W/kg) in 4 years without ever properly completing a training block. I usually sign up for a mid volume plan and end up swapping lots of rides for ones I’ve done on the road. And I love TR. (I hope @chad doesn’t read this 
)
So that can’t be doing TR wrong.
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I guess I misinterpreted your post then. I’m not arguing that building fitness is best done unstructured. Far from it. Personally I never ride my bike without a purpose. I guess that I’m comparing my experience from doing SSBMV + extra rides indoor with riding outdoors for twice the amount of time.
My joy for bike riding totally died with just riding indoors. I guess some people manage it better than me so good for them. I can totally relate to OP’s question though.
In Sweden we have a word “lagom”. Roughly translated it’s the “golden middleground”. I’ve found mine. Doing hard workouts indoors and adding volume/technique outdoors.
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As per the sentiment posted by others - structured training > not training. So you should still see benefit.
But I would say that its going to be suboptimal if youre not using a fan and going to ignore your FTP.
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I think I will remain a hard working cherry picker then. At least until next winter anyway
I don’t ignore my FTP, I just use the first one I tested at. I could improve this if my son shouted at me for last few minutes for sure! There is an art to optimal testing too I think
I don’t regret either buying the trainer or subscription. I do the work when I use it and I commit when I do get on it. If there is an alternative I will take it. After November trainer will be the more likely option. My goal is to maintain a high base and some degree of race ready intensity
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One thing that puzzles me however: why not get a fan and test your ftp?
If you are going to use TR, making it 1/ more accurate 2/ easier on yourself surely has some benefit?
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I was only reusing your own phrase, and if you test and dont use a result because its lower, I think its the right turn of phrase.
A few watts here and there wont matter; but a larger drop will mean you are training too hard for your current fitness if you ignore it.
As before, its only suboptimal, not the end of the world.
Yes, I have intention behind my outdoor riding (10 to 14 hrs a week depending if I go really long At some point In the week) most of the time with some rides purposely easy wandering about. Possibly not enough of these I find backing off is the hardest thing when riding solo outside.
Sorry, but this is BS except you just noodle around for 20hours.
I bumped up volume from, 3.5 hours to 7 hours (still about 3 hours structured, the rest social rides (well at the moment it’s 2 of us … thank you damn virus) or stupid kom hunting) and got a significant bump from 4.1 w/kg to 4.4
Some of the people I ride with don’t do structure at all (well they do actual polarized but don’t realize it 
) but ride 14+ hours. As I said … they don’t do structure on purpose but got some 20 years experience in learning what their body needs … I often times try to hang on for dear life with an ftp of almost 300watt and as said above 4.4 w/kg
Sorry for my rage, but you really can’t fall for this marketing BS … if you want to get fast, you have to put the hours in. simple as that. 3-4 hours can only get you so far unless you are genetically gifted.
Structure is good, wisely spent volume is better.
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I will get a fan in the future. I was genuinely unaware of the benefits and then weather improved so it can wait till winter comes back
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That’s probably where I see TR in my overall plans
This has off course not much to do with TR specifically, just with training indoors. I didn’t have a fan at first either, but thinking about these two things convinced me:
- 3/4 of your power gets turned into heat. At some point you can’t get rid of it fast enough anymore, and your body will put a limit in the power production to stop you from overheating
- sweat. It’s much nicer when you don’t get saoking wet. And your bike will thank you too when you don’t cover it in corrosive salt solution all the time
Agreed and similar experience this year by following a pyramidal base plan with more zone2 work. Some people benefit from more aerobic development. I bought into the “99% should do SSB” for two years (2018 and 2019), and while it delivered some gains the lack of aerobic base really impacted my ability to do hard vo2 intervals compared to the structured outdoor work I did in 2017 and 2020.
That said TR does offer alternatives to the threshold heavy SSB base - Traditional Base and Full Distance Triathlon - and those have a stronger focus on building an aerobic base. I’d love to see TR rebalance the Full Distance Triathlon Base plan for cycling only.
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