I have done almost every training plan offered at mid volume at 4:30 to 5 am and most times are with zero fuel before. If you want it bad enough get it done.
The way I see it, following any plan or principle is better than none. Or, in your case, better than stopping and changing all the time. Nearly all plans or principles will work and help you improve. There might be one that is optimal, but youâre not far from wrong if youâre improving.
The other thing is that training takes time, at least a few months, so you have to stick with it to test it. The only reasons for me to drop a plan early is if itâs making you ill, injured, youâre piling on weight (when you donât want to), or it kills your motivation. Then itâs time to change it.
I do get the impatientience. We only have one life, and experiments that last a year at a time seem wasteful. But, if youâre still having fun, have you really wasted anything?
1 Like
Group of us (*) were chatting about this general idea a few weeks ago. Iâll throw it out here with the caveat that YMMV, FWIW and hey, Internet Forum.
We have data for close to a decade from race a yearly series with JRA training, versus coaching, versus self constructed structured plans. A very general consensus was just riding, meaning 8-12 hours for 4-6 days a week, with some group hammer fests, but not doing a structured plan would get about 85-90% of fitness that a structured plan would achieve. Consistent with the idea that a structured plan is a benefit.
Working with a structured plan definitely shows improvements over just riding. Call it 10% plus minus but we canât call it more finely than that and year to year, person to person will vary anyway.
Adding a very good coach vs following a solid plan can definitely show some small additional improvements. Maybe 5% Could be important if you are looking for a very specific peak or need help with motivation, etc.
To break plateaus (typically 4.0 - 4.4 w/kg) the only thing weâve seen work is moving the training load from 8-12 hours to 18-22 (or more). Not gonna happen for most weekend warriors with jobs and/or family.
(*) The number of guys in this sample set is slightly larger than the folks in my MLSS thread. But same general attributes of 45-70 years old. Serious cyclists, been training and racing bikes for a long time.
Overall, while we know roughly how different training approaches yield results, and that structured plans like TR SSBI + SSBII + Build work pretty darn well, what we do not know is what percentage of each persons absolute potential we are achieving.
TL;DR For most riders a simple structured plan followed well will yield pretty good and pretty consistent results season on season. Breaking through that plateau after a few years requires a big stimulus.
As to conflicting research - much of it in this area is flawed IMO. It is just too hard to control all the variables and do longitudinal studies. Most of us are in this for years not 4-6 weeks. My guess is over time that the âbig dataâ from platforms like WKO, TP, TR will be more informative than the academic studies in helping weekend warriors. Could be wrong 
Have fun
4 Likes