I spent a few minutes throwing together my April - not really training with a date in mind but trying to be ready in case things clear out towards the end of May or early June.
Hoping to stay a bit fresher by doing 2:1 work:rest so I can adjust more easily as information comes to light
The advice is sound, except perhaps the first part which I believe was debunked. However, no need for too much intensity anyways since there are no races.
Basically my plan to do more has gone to crap. I still have two kids to look after. Even staying off News and FB I still seem to be overly stressed. My wife has a high pressure job as a GM and is only taking on more during this crisis, her work is essential. On her phone every minute, at night, working during the day. So I feel I’ve taken on more. Knowing my own plan has gone to ruin only makes me more stressed. Can’t win can I. Tomorrow is a new week. Re focus and keep at it.
So both my A & B events have been either cancelled or deferred for 12 months. Given the lack of focus I’ve neglected my TrainerRoad plan and I’ve gone cycling out doors. Today was rather windy and I did one of my favourite 50 mile loops and whilst I’m sat here with the dull ache in my legs, one thing is evident and that’s how my fitness has improved since starting TrainerRoad. Sustainable power, sprint, repeatable efforts and endurance which means I’m conflicted, i want to build on my hard work to date and not regress whilst enjoying the improving weather.
I’ve no budget for a power meter but I recognise unstructured road rides will diminish my overall fitness.
So has anyone been here before, want the best of both worlds and how have you managed to achieve this holy grail?
Thanks in advance
If you nail your intervals on Tuesday and Thursday along with one long (3-4 hrs) outside on the weekend, then you’ll get most of the TR training benefit. The other days you can be outside as you please.
Hi
I’ve been following a training plan (high volume) for 4 months now. My goal was two endurance events in 2020: the Dragon Ride (Wales) in June (300km, 5000m ascent) and L’etape du tour (France) in July (175km, 3600m ascent).
Training was going well but of course now things have changed. The Dragon ride has been cancelled and the L’etape is likely to be. I’m struggling to figure out what I should do. I don’t think I should stick to the training plans (the high volume build and then the specialty) given there’s no event at the end of it.
I am planning to shift my goal to the same events a year later in 2021. I don’t want to lose all the hard-earned fitness I’ve gained over the last 4 months though! Can anyone recommend what plans I should be following at this point? I was wondering about going onto a maintenance plan… or going back to base… or a kind of hybrid plan?
I was also thinking of dropping intensity and frequency as we’re in lockdown with a not-quite reliable food supply – so would be low-medium volume!
I’m in the same position, one aspect I’m conscious of is burn out as our target dates have been deferred. I crystallised my original approach with the view that it was a marathon, Sept 19 to June 20. Now it’s May 21 so I needed to revisit my approach in terms of enjoying my riding outside, building on my gains to date and shed some extra pounds of fat.
So one poster suggested nailing tues and Thursday intervals which would provide a base and then a good four hour ride Sunday and some quick blasts/ recovery dotted around in the week.
What I’ve decided to do is to do low volume sustained build, a relatively low TSS hit but I can dial in more or less around that baseline.
Not only does this approach supply the structure that delivers sustainable goals it provides me a personal anchor knowing my fitness will improve ( diet & recovery aligned) and that I can supplement some outside riding and enjoy the improving weather and kick off the new training regime in the best shape.
I forgOT the simple pleasure of riding with a mate, the wind kissing your sun warmed back, however briefly 
I think it’s wise that everyone really consider their training load and intensity. With a dangerous virus spreading around and no events in sight, now may not be the best time to compromise our immune systems by crushing ourselves for some fitness gains. I know a lot of people now have the time to put in “pro” level training hours, but just because you can doesn’t always mean you should. Keep sight of what’s really important. Sorry if this sounds preachy.
Possibly an odd proposition here, but why not;
Just finished up the HV half distance tri base+build. Obviously race has been postponed, and with no definite date the most logical thing to do would probably be going back to base.
However, i’ve been toying with the idea of trying a climbing specialty plan for a laugh. Only thing is i’m not sure if the tri build would be adequate for that? from the looks of it the tri build plans are quite similar to the sustained build, however I have next to no experience with anaerobic and sprint intervals. Would it be smarter to do SSB-general build beforehand? I’m not looking for optimal performance, just looking at trying something new and hopefully working on some weaknesses in lieu of racing.
At this point it’s really about what gets you excited to get on the bike. With no race in sight, why not? No harm in doing what you want.
Hi
I am currently training for BCBR. I did a ssblv and am in my final week of gblv. The plan was to move into a Specialty phase and then race. Since the race has been delayed to the end of September, I am wondering what I should be doing to fill in that additional training time? Thanks in advance!
Try it and see how it goes…there is nothing to lose. If the prescribed wattage levels are too high for you, you can either dial back to wattage of shift to a SS of other Build program.
But take advantage of the lack of specific targets and try to become a more well-rounded cyclist.
I’m no expert, but if I were in a similar position I would likely go into the TR Plan Builder and reschedule the BCBR (which I plan to do next year, god willing). It will give you a new buildup to the BCBR in September.
Probably better approaches out there, but that’s where I’d start… good luck!
Proceed to Build phase or start SSB again?
As the title says. My next event is October having seen 2x Centuries and the Maratona cancelled this summer.
I’m just about to complete SSBII MV - i switched up from low volume when lockdown started. I live in spain and outdoor cycling is not permitted.
So i’ve read here that SSB cannot not be over-emphasised and multiple iterations of the SSB program are recommended. Should i now switch to Build phase or repeat SSB, probably mid volume.
i’m due a ramp test finishing SSBII though i tend not to do ramp tests as i feel i know when i need to move the FTP up in relation to how i’m completing the workouts. Having done Lamarck yesterday i think ~5W bump on FTP might be in order.
With regards to moving back to the beginning of SSBI, the TSS starts week 2 relatively low -363 vs 457 for the Sustained power build. More TSS and Build or lower TSS and SSB1?
cheers
I am trying something similar - starting late last summer, did SSB2, then back to SSB1/2 progression over winter, followed by sustained power build. I figured I’d do more of the same with century specialty - but then Covid hit - no big fondo goals now, but can still do some TT practice.
The months of SS/threshold work has helped me hit all time long-term power PRs from ~30-120 mins, I am still near same FTP plateau with no improvement in 20 min and below power - although I got to that plateau earlier this year. So I thought why not try something different to see if it can help be break through this FTP limit.
I also had a couple incomplete workouts on sustained power build with the 3 min intervals at 120%, so now I’m thinking this is perhaps a relative weakness to go after. The climbing RR specialty has what I thought was a good modest increase in VO2 work while keeping plenty of longer SS work too.
Also, and probably most important, the variety in the VO2 max workouts is totally different and new to me on TR - hopefully a new source of motivation. So far, I got absolutely destroyed by Huxley +1 yesterday but did fine on the 10x3 min repeats in Mt Deborah +1.
The other thing I’ve noticed is since all the base work, it’s really hard to get my HR over 180 - whereas I used to easily hit 190-192 max on any hard effort. I know that reflects better fitness, in that my HR ramps slower, recovers faster - my legs just seem to give up sooner than heart when I go over threshold now, because I’ve not been doing any group rides since last fall, nor attacking strava segments for fun as I used to do in prior years on commutes.
Biggest downside risk I see is immunity disruption - so I’m not doing the hard workouts on a day I may go grocery shopping and taking in lots of food including fruit both during and after rides. Other than that, I’m in total quarantine in a rural area where I don’t see a person or touch a thing on my road rides, so it’s a risk I’m OK with for now.
With hindsight, I might have also done general build if I knew that sustained power build would not lift FTP beyond annual plateau, but for now, I’ll see how this goes and it’ll be an interesting new challenge to see how far I can make it into the VO2 max workouts in the CRR specialty.
After this - I’m guessing the standard recommendation would be go back to SSB2 to keep the VO2 max piece sharp, but take the overall load down for a few weeks?
I’m looking fwd to the opportunity to try diff plans and be more rounded.
Stopped sustained build after the 4th week cycle, then moved back to SSB1 as my base phase was short. Doing custom 4 wk 3+1, 8 hrs 4x per week 1.5, 1.5, 2, 3hrs. Currently on week 4 rest week now. Big improvement in perceived effort for SS efforts and did a HR 1hr @68% w/ 2 BPM inc so I think base is now ok.
Will do 3+1 Wk SSB2 with extending MV workouts to +1 workouts or more Z2 then 3hr weekend custom 8 hrs 459-500 TSS
Since my best increases are SSB2 and get VO2 practice again I’m hoping this will help my FTP and transition to build
Then rather than sustained build and century which is my default I’m now going General and Rolling Road
I’m excited to try the variety and see what my power profile could be. 
Hi there, as a triathlete, i was building towards the duatlon European Championship on 19th april and Challenge Geraardsbergen 70.3 distance triathlon in the beginning of June. Of course both races have been canceled, and it’s impossible to hold a peak from now up until september/october/november. So it’s time to reschedule the annual training plan. in biking i was kind of getting inpsired this year by the Half Triathlon training plan on the trainerroad app. 2 weeks ago I was on the point of going from the build phase to the speciality phase. But since corona changed the season completely, I’m kind of considering to recapture the build phase from the beginning, trying to amplify my potential power output. Would be interesting to share some thoughts on this with other athletes trying to cope with these issues. Stay healthy and train well, Christophe
Hi, interesting to hear what you choose to do, I was in a somewhat similar situation.
Was doing a May half IM race off the HV tri plan, was just moving into specialty when all called off. Did a high volume z2 week then backed off and had 2 easy weeks pondering options. I use Trainingpeaks and am hovering around CTL 100, now dont want to lose fitness that was hard to earn, might follow your route and redo build to see if I can grow the engine a bit before targeting a new race?
Tulsa tough is cancelled. I’m going back to base after I finish the second half of my build and aiming for a peak at ruts n’guts and Pan-American games during cx season. I’m not holding out hope though. I don’t think there will be any organized racing until after 2020.
