How many hours do you put in per week?

I am currently 3.3w/kg only and doing mid volume now.

I wonder is it sufficient.

Two questions :

1: For weekday , is 1 hour on trainer sufficient? Do you guys ride extra hour?
2: For weekend(sat and sun), is 90 mins or even 120 mins sufficient? Do you guys rather ride outdoor(3-4hrs) ride?

Thanks

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For what?

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I’m about the same w/kg , I do a mid volume plan in the winter, which I add zone 2 to coming into spring, when March comes I start to ride outside, 1 or 2 longer rides during the weekend. As scheldule permits with family and things that need time and dedication.

I’m 47 right now, so my focus is a little bit more on the strenght and endurance side and less on the peak power.

I think an hour on the the trainer to start is fine, but you will need to up the volume to improve and get better. Adaptive training with a goal will set you up fine.

I started with just to do 2 rides on a trainer for an hour a week when I started indoortraining. But I wasn’t 3w/kg then. But then again ftp is just one of the metrics. Just train, feel and see

for keeping up with bunch ride. they rolling like 38km/h or above usually.

I put in 12-15 hours a week but the riding time varies by season with winter and fall being a lot of gym and running with very little of either in spring and summer.

I like riding and it’s my main outlet from work stress, so I like to do as much as I can without digging too big of a hole. I ride for fun and self-improvement. Getting fast just increases enjoyment, so miles are a reward in themselves and for what they build toward. If I didn’t have other constraints, I’d probably do 15-20hrs/wk. As-is, life and being a good house-partner to my better-half means 10-15hrs/wk is more sustainable.

What are your goals? What do you like doing? Unless you’re going pro, you should be doing exactly as many hours as you want…and can find time for…

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Quite honestly, you’re thinking about this the wrong way with the wrong metrics. Keeping up with a 38kph group ride depends on many factors, very few of which have anything to do with W/kg. Likely it’s your raw watts that will matter far more than your weight here. In any case, more information is needed on why you currently cannot keep up:

  • How big is the group?
  • How long is the ride?
  • It’s obviously relatively flat if they’re carrying 38kph. Perhaps there’s some rollers that can get people unhitched from surges, but for the most part this sounds like a typical club ride with the A group. Correct me if I’m wrong.
  • Are you actively pulling or just trying to hold the draft?

To keep up, you need more than anything: experience. Honestly, my no.1 recommendation for you, based on the information provided (i.e. very little), is to start training with a low volume plan, nail the consistency as a priority, and then get out to the group ride as often as you can. If you get dropped, brush it off, come back and try again, while continuing to get consistent time on the bike. Learn the ride, where it surges, where it settles, etc. and learn where and how long certain efforts are required.

If you do the above, you can float in a 38kph group ride without worrying or targeting a specific W/kg.

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if you want to increase your w/kg (or ftp for that matter), That would most likely be possible with LV + some additional riding (like your group ride).

I started TR with LV 2 years ago and climbed pretty quickly from 3.4 to 4 w/kg and have been able to maintain 4 w/kg with an average of 3-6 hours per week, varying from 3 short trainerrides, to only outside rides, but mostly something in between, you can check my activities on strava: Strava Cyclist Profile | Niels van Alphen

2021 stats (mostly maintaining ~4w/kg over the whole year):
Distance: 5.793,8 km
Time: 243u 53m
Rides: 171
Avg 3.3 rides/week, 4.7 hours/week, 1.4 hour/ride

So, results may vary of course, a lot is depending on genetics, lifestyle, sleep, food … for what it’s worth, when I compare myself with others… I think I do pretty well on low volume with quite some intensity, I probably got lucky on the genetics side (difficult to say, but I guess I am on the high side with this volume), but I could do better on the sleep and food side. I do see I can improve when I up the volume, specially with some longer (3+ hour rides). But even on LV (60+60+90 minutes) when I would nail every workout.

Consistency is key in this story, you don’t need every workout/ride to be structured, if you can and like it like that, that’s fine, but for me, I really enjoy some random PR hunts on the MTB, or just casual riding with friends. I don’t feel the need to always make it a workout. For me it’s easier to maintain consistency with for example 2 workouts per week when I add some fun :slight_smile: (and just blasting it an the MTB is a pretty decent vo2 workout for me :slight_smile: )

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I think the best way to determine if mid volume is sufficient/efficient is to see if you complete the planned workouts and gain FTP.

What other people do is largely, maybe entirely, irrelevant.

How long have you been doing mid volume, and which plan?

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According to Strava in the last 4 weeks Ive averaged 11h per week cycling and a lot of weeks are more than that. During the season 30mins-1h TTs will replace 3h + outdoors rides which will bring that down although at the moment I haven’t got much of a solo mojo and may do more group rides this summer :neutral_face:

I think your current fitness should do it. I’m about the same w/kg FTP and my speed at FTP on a dead flat road with no wind is around 38km/h. So in a bunch with the benefit of drafting this should be achievable. I did a 100km event recently and averaged 37km/h at 190W NP riding with various bunches along the way. I put in around 10hr/s a week all outside. My weeks are:

Mon = 2.5hr with intervals
Wed = 2.5hr with intervals
Fri = 1.5hr easy
Sat = 4-5hr easy

All outside these days.

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2021 I averaged 8.8 hrs/week

Last 4 weeks I’ve averaged 10.5 hrs/wk riding and 2.5 hrs/wk running.

My TR^FTP/kg is 4.6 w/kg, which who knows what that means, but SS workouts I’m usually around 3.9-4.1 w/kg for long efforts.

I’m on HV plan that I modify heavily. LV and MV are way too intense for me!

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Edit: Was responding to “I wonder is it sufficient”.
Not read the whole thread but, it depends…

I go backwards if I don’t train 10-12 hrs plus (to be fair that is just to maintain), but I have been in endurance sports for 20+ years.

You need to force / foster adaptations, and that is going to be very different dependent on your starting point.

Someone off the couch, 3 hours great progress,

Someone been doing 3 hours for 12 months / 2 years and does 3.5 / 4 hours little progress, dependent on the focus.

Been doing 15 hours and do 12 hours you are probably going backwards unless to change the mix and get adaptations another way other than duration.

8-10 hours weekly. My best bud has been doing 20-25 weekly for years now.

I ride 2 X 1hr and 1 X 75 min ride per week, all in trainer. Basically never ride outdoors except races, basically never do longer than this. Also run 3 times a week (2 X 1 hr, 1x 90ish mins). This allows me to maintain FTP of about 280w / 3.7 watts per kg. Main focus is duathlon.

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I put in 20-30 hours a week between cycling and running.

But there are people here with a higher w/kg than me with far less hours.

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The past 16 weeks I’ve done 12-14hrs, all inside. Hoping to do more once the weather improves enough to ride outside

image

Let’s see if I can average 8-9 hours in season during 2022 and jump from 3.7 to 4.1 w/kg :nerd_face:

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6-9 hours a week and around 4.0-4.2 w/kg, depending how much I actually weigh. 38 years old 180ish pounds. I feel more z2 is the key to progressing and nailing 3 core TrainerRoad workouts. I followed low volume plus endurance rides and now I follow the mid volume plan plus endurance with swapping out the Sunday sweet spot and choosing to ride 3-4 hours of zone 2 instead.

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I average 8-10hpw on the bike with 30-60min weights. I’m consistently around 4.8w/kg but I’m definitely a strength based athlete rather than your typical xc runner build type.
I would say that despite all the training theories, if you focus on sprint and vo2 (efforts sub 5 or 10min) this will indirectly translate into an ability to hold high w/kg for long. It just literally feels easier to say push 300w for long once my body is used to and efficient at pushing 400w constantly for a few minutes duration (obviously, right?). I personally go with this type of training because I can only escape for one long ride per week (family, kids, and desk job 9-5). I’m also 30 tho so that helps too! 75kg now but like 73-74 in summer when fittest

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