, lets agree that we all would love to have an easy button once in a while… in TR workouts, in life… everywhere… 
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Agree, easy is great when it can happen. 
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As far as I know TR don’t have plans that you are after.
You could make your own fairly easily if you aren’t interested in the progression which is built into the TR plans themselves.
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I would suggest, like other before me, to give the Sweet Spot Low Volume a try. I think that one is either 3 or 4 rides max.
You can fill the rest of the days with easier longer rides.
You will be riding for maybe 1hr. With SSLV wo thats probably closer to 1.5 hr on the road on z2. You will have more time in your hands!
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I think you’ll be fine on Sweet Spot Base LV, I dont think that would kill anyone for the next day BUT if what you want is z2 or aerobic endurance, do Traditional Base instead 
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It shouldn’t be too difficult though - you know what the workouts look like that target Z2. Try a high volume traditional base plan and know that you’ll just go through and delete some workouts. I find that when I’m “forced” to manually adjust my calendar that it puts even more intention to my plans and goals. When plan builder just “spits” something out, that’s great because it’s on the calendar, it’s a plan, and some plan is better than no plan. Still, when I know I need to modify it, it’s OK! Start with a 4 week block of training that looks like it fits your needs and see how it goes. Adjust as needed.
Eventually you’re probably going to want to get out of Z2 work (it gets boring especially indoors) so follow the advice of others and at least give some SS a shot. Good luck.
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Generally the shorter the time available the harder the workouts are going to be to get the training effect so the time crunched plans pack even more of a punch! Z2 rides on a trainer are hard work and you need to be quite focussed to stick at them.
Start at the beginning with SSB LV 1 & 2, they’ll get you into things gently(ish) and prepare you for the harder work ahead. The workouts in SSB LV1 aren’t too strenuous and the 48hrs gap between them should be enough to recover.
I’m just starting SSB LV2 again and can compare workouts after doing Sweet Spot Base LV1 & LV2, Sustained Power Build then Climbing Road Race Speciality. Looking at my notes from each workout for Jepson, in December (250W FTP) I wrote this: “I found that hard! There was definitely some clock-watching going on at times. I’m too close to my limit to recover quickly enough for the majority of the valleys.”
Yesterday’s notes at 266W FTP: “Short sprints still aren’t really my thing but I found that much easier than the last time I did the workout in December 5s power up by 111W, 60s power up by 23W, 5m up by 15W. I wasn’t even clock watching during the intervals. I could have increased my FTP by 3% quite comfortably.”
So it does work!
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maybe my special demands are too special to be met here? I am on TR since late 2018, followed Low and Mid level Base plans, did some Build and went often through Time crunch plans, put together my own plans etc.
as a Type1 diabetic I want to reduce insuline dependency.
I need Insuline whenever I have a sugar intake (carbonhydrates/food) or whenever my liver releases sugar from the body to the blood to compensate missing sugar in the blood (at night, while sleeping)… thats when I mostly need to grab the needle, calculate my sugar kevels and inject.
now, if I can keep the sugar level low right after food (through sports?!) I dont need to inject insuline - lovely.
Great thing: The higher the intensity of the workout is, the more muscles are built, and these muscles then feed themselves from the blood sugar even without actual sports (refill effect)
Problem: the higher the workout intensity is the more I need to refill my body (food), the more I crave for fast carbonhydrates… and the more I risk to have to inject again…
still: i was able to reduce my long term sugar levels massively to a very good 5,8… thanks to sports, thanks to cycling, thanks to TR…
that is so far my experience since I had to start injecting insuline in 2018.
But: I got so exhausted after couple of weeks… there were days I could barely move…
So my idea was to settle on fatburning Zone 2 training mainly, which does not force me to refill with food in the same amount as SS workouts force me to.
Now that is the reason I am looking for appropriate plans in TR.
If it would be for pure Zone 2 training I could program my Bolt to 150 Watts and ride my Kickr for 90min every day, i would not need TR, and would not have much exhaustion… but quite boring.
So I would like to find a solution in TR… and would like to stay so that I can bother ylu with plenty of posts like these
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If you haven’t already done so, I highly suggest sending your situation directly to the TR AACC podcast topic question site.
I do think you are a “special case” outside of the typical expectations TR intends to address with their “simple tools”. But I think that is one which may help server others if they come up with some suggestions for you. It will almost certainly take more manipulation than flipping the switches in the Plan Builder, but maybe they have some other great idea for you (that we haven’t already touched on above)?
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I think you just need to be willing to effectively make your own plan if you like the TR workout format and calendar. The amount of time spent on this thread, you could have done it three times over. 
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but i like being with you folks so much more than with the calender!
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@rentagreement I think you should find your way over to the TrainerRoad workout page, click the ‘Endurance’ checkbox, click the ‘2:00’ checkbox, and pick some workouts to do.
You’re savvy enough to schedule a few workouts.
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thanks chad: i posted my question to the podcast team.
I am sorry to bother you guys with so many questions. Cycling has become such an integral part of my Insuline therapy, but the intensity and amount can become deal breakers: injecting insuline can really poison your body and make you a lame duck for hours, sometimes days… I need to monitor very intensly all the different aspects, variables etc. even temperature and weather changes have huge impact.
and i need to plan ahead. I cant just spontanously decide: lets do high intense workout right now… and jump on the bike.
If I have injected Insuline some hours before this can be highly dangerous. so a plan, a calendar I can follow is no luxury… i need it.
therefore: your experience and support is highly appreciated
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- forget Plan Builder
- do Traditional Base mid volume 1, then immediately do it again as referenced in the plan description
- do Traditional Base mid volume 2 with an extra two weeks as referenced in the plan description
- come back before the end of TB-2 and tell us how its going, and advice on what to do next
I’m not the only one that believes TR really needs more 8-10 hour/week plans with more zone 2 volume. This year I did non-TR sweet spot plan with 8-12 hours/week and a lot of zone2, results of 3 month sweet spot block versus prior two years pretty much beat every power PR (2018 and 2019) from 5 seconds to 4 hours and it was easier training both mentally and physically. And subjectively I feel stronger. I took off several months last summer, and started Sept 2019 with traditional base 1 and 2 (adding weeks per plan description). Highly recommend TR’s traditional base.
I’ve only been training for 5 years, maybe TR high volume sweet spot and build approach is appropriate if you’ve been training for a long time and have a highly developed aerobic engine. But I’ve seen other plans including the original Time-Crunched Cyclist plan (some are on Strava Premium) and bought plans from other coaches, and they all appear to emphasize more aerobic development.
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Yeah, same here. When Plan Builder first came out, I stepped through it and a plan was spit out. I took one look, muttered, “no thanks” and deleted the plan.
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I’d just add a traditional base plan of whatever volume you have time for. No need to create a plan from scratch by filtering through the workouts.
I hadn’t looked at the Traditional Base plans before … but I have to say I’d probably go nuts doing the same workout 4 times in a week … at the very least I’d create something similar that mixed up the endurance workouts a bit.
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mentally it is easier doing traditional base outside!
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One of my friends was training with the guy below. He’s seriously fast, has type 1 diabetes and was described as a really nice guy.
Maybe look him up and shoot him a message. It might be worth chatting to someone who’s in the same boat.
https://www.teamnovonordisk.com/staff/justin-morris/
He’s also on Strava. Justin Morris (Mind Matters Athlete Coaching) | Strava Cyclist Profile
HTH.
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thank you - I an following Team Novo Nordisk intensively. Very inspiring and a great approach to sports and disease.
thx!
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