How do I substitute outdoor ride for training rides?

Hello all,

As per the title really - I’d like to continue my long(ish) outdoor rides whilst using TR. I really like TR, I’m now on the mid level of base training and I have seen improvements in my FTP already, I also feel stronger and I can tolerate the burn much better now!

So, I don’t want to mess this up with substituting my longer rides for training but I do like to actually get out on my bike as well.

Yesterday, I had a nice easy TR session, so I got up early and did that, then went to work (about 30km), then out to meet friends and home again (about 80km). This was fine, but I have a couple of harder sessions coming up, 1 this evening (that should be okay, although I feel a little tired from yesterday, and then another (the hardest of the week) tomorrow, a 150 to 200km ride the next day, then another hard(ish) TR session the day after.

Sensible people would just not do the big ride but is there a way to factor this in instead of one or both of the training sessions by having TR estimate the TSS (I don’t have power meters outdoors). Would a long easy ride with the same TSS as a shorter, harder ride yield the same fitness benefits?

Thank you,
Nick.

I do a LV plan inside M-W-F and ride outside T-TH-S. I do have a bike computer and power meter outside so I just do outside TR workouts, but if I didn’t you can choose a workout as “outside” then jot down the RPE equivalent and just do that. You won’t get as much benefit as being inside, but it does help to keep you on track.

Only word of REP caution. Many people ride inside in the winter or in some kind of climate controlled space. Go outside and now everything can “feel” harder. You do need a bit of adjustment to really dial in RPE if you’re temperature situation is drastically different.

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Hi there,

Sorry for the late reply and thanks for your help. OK, that’s helpful, I hadn’t ever looked at the outside workout tabs or the RPE/Power based options, so they’re interesting. Maybe you can help me with something else: what does the number after the workout title mean, i.e. Sweet Spot 4.2.

Thanks,
Nick.