Hi, after a failed start to Trainerroad due to my trainer promptly breaking after signing up, I’m back and have aligned some time off to boost my fitness before the spring group rides start, so back to the question in the title, should I…
A) Do the planned workout and eat biscuits in the spare time
or
B) Change the planned workout to a longer suggested workout
That’s what I usually do. Click the ‘Alternates’ button…pull down whatever time I have…probably pull down the intensity menu to make sure it’s ‘Productive’…let the fun begin!
Sometimes I’ll do this for absurd non-training reasons. TR usually wants me to do a 1 hour workout…but most movies are 1.5hours. So you gotta hit that ‘Alternates’ button.
A question very similar to this was covered on the podcast a while back (maybe a year or more). Anyway, as I recall the consensus was that if you just choose a longer workout with a significantly higher TSS you could affect future workouts if you are following a strict plan by not having enough recovery from a longer ride of the same IF. This seems to be what alternative rides does most of the time for me. The recommendation was, I think, just add endurance effort of however much extra time you have. Improve aerobic conditioning but not much stress added for recovery. I suppose you could also pick a similar ride of lower IF but similar TSS. But on a related question I had recently on Instagram or FB (forgot which) re: finding a matching Zone 2 ride instead of Sweet Spot, someone at TR replied that you can’t just substitute an Endurance ride with the same TSS as SS and get a similar workout. Apparently it’s a bit more complicated.
Workout alternates is your friend here and the joy of Adaptive Training is exactly this, that it will moderate the intensity according on time available to get a similar level of workout.
But do watch out for the extra volume catching up with you, depending on your training experience - adding 30 minutes once a week to a Low Volume plan is probably fine, adding 30 minutes three times a week to mid volume could easily be too much.
Take it slow and see how you go basically. As they often say on the podcast, consistency is key. Better to nail a whole training block perfectly (and remember AT will make it just hard enough), than have a hero week and be too tired to complete the whole plan.
Typically if I have a 60 or 90 min interval session and have time after I’ll try and ride some additional Z2. If you can tack on 30 min a couple of times a week, that time will add up. An extra hour a week and all of a sudden you have 50 more hours for the year.