I think all non event based plans are 91 days
(and in one of the dutch podcast I think JvB said that goals should never be really far away but rather be made up of many small micro goals)
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Stamina builder has been pretty good, I’ve mostly been maintaining fitness. Can’t say I’m pushing my FTP up. That’s not my goal now so I don’t really mind. My CTL is the highest it’s been in two years, fwiw.
I’m thinking the same thing living in Florida for base season during July, August and September. Maybe throw June in there too 
One thing I’ve been doing with JOIN is taking rest weeks whenever I feel tired or have a rough week of work coming up. I really like how it keeps you on target with workouts no matter what days you want to takeoff
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It’s 12 weeks I think but I have a C race on w9 and after that I’ll rest and then start base.
I have my nutrition dialed in and I’m coping well with the plan, at least in terms of my normal day stuff stamina. But I’m suffering to get the work done on the longer Vo2 stuff, specially today, first 5m were in the middle of the zone 315W, the next 2 bellow @290W and the last dying @280W.
But there are some caveats to all of this, the intervals were done in rolling terrain and where I live is pretty hot the whole year but this last month we were hit by a heatwave and the temps every day reach 40-43ºC, even going out @ 7am today the air temp went from 27ºC to 34ºC so despite me liking the heat it might have impacted this kind of workout
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I’m apparently on nearly the same schedule as you. This is my last week of LSRF and I’ve put the FasCat 10-Week Weight Lifting Program on my calendar to start on Monday. I bought it two years ago and have used it each of the last two off-seasons. I’m looking run a “base” plan from Join alongside to see how it compares. For the last two years I then moved onto TR’s Polarized Base and Build plans, but now am not sure what to do in January given that TR Pol Base no longer has VO2 workouts.
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I’ve really enjoyed LSRF. I had to move the kid to college over the summer, and my stress level was huge for weeks on either side of that. I’m also doing some keto focused weight loss right now. LSRF has been great for me to focus mostly on LSD with a couple harder days…and when things get too intense on the hard days, I either quit the intervals and do some easier stuff or just replace the ride with Z2 to begin with. It’s been a great way to get in 90-180 mins 5 days a week without feeling like I HAVE to follow the plan or I’m “failing”. It took a huge mindset change, but it worked! Weight loss is going great and I’m not constantly exhausted and sore. In fact, it really makes me look forward to long weekend rides outside. I realize this is entirely on me, but when I was on the TR plans, I put pressure on myself to FTFP. More than I should have. And I just kept burning out. I’m not doing that now.
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This has been my experience, too. On the LSRF plan my FTP has essentially stayed the same, which has been great. My TR subscription is good through January so I hope Nate delivers on many of the things he talked about in the TrainerRoad - what do users expect / want in the future thread. I’m not sure that they plan to implement the same sort of day-to-day flexibility that JOIN currently offers, though.
I emailed JOIN Support to see what plans they recommend for Oct-Dec to run alongside the FasCat weight lifting plan. I know FasCat has their own cycling workouts but I am interested in seeing what JOIN offers. I also asked them for what to run Jan-Apr, when I would typically have done TR’s Polarized plans. These also worked well for me in the past, but I think I’ll have a lot more work travel than historically so the added flexibility of JOIN may prove it’s worth again. In the summer I’ll probably do either the stamina builder, FTP builder, or improve long climbs. Anyway, have a great day!
EDIT: Guess I should use the JOIN player to see how I like it, since I’ve been using TR’s thus far.
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Interesting on the planning. My first A race is middle of May, so I set that as the date from today, with the assumption that it would move me through something like base, build, specific, etc… It sounds like you all are doing maintenance plans and then manually switching over. Is that what’s recommended?
I asked about what plan to pick for an A event in March… They ramp up like base and build but would probably be a slower rate since the event is so far away.
They sent me this….
“Hey Andy
In our opinion it is a little early, it can work but we suggest that you break your goals up rather than having one big training program that feels like you are training towards one goal.
What I normally suggest users do is, start a Stamina builder (Conditie opbouwen) program as this program sets up perfectly for any program after. I would suggest you do the same, the program will be 3 months long, and you then start your program towards your event in March 24.
I normally suggest users start a program towards a specific event 3-4 months out. It can also be shorter if you have just finished one of our other programs. “
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That makes sense to me. The link I posted above implies to me that Stamina Builder is their version of Base.
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Yup, I’ve been enjoying it. Love the flexibility and haven’t felt too tired but if I do it’s easy to take some time off.
I think their winter plan is indoor focused, not sure if I’ll ever do that one. Living in Florida and all but might consider it if I still lived in Massachusetts.
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I’ll probably give the winter one a go. I’m in Atlantic Canada. I’m on borrowed time for outdoor riding at the moment, so trainer time approaches.
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Let us know how it goes! Even though I live in Florida I do ride on the trainer a lot because of my career.
My schedule is too chaotic to plan for and actually make a specific A event so I just train and do events as I can. My goals are to finish, explore new roads, and have fun. Podium is out of the question.
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I was on a goal event plan but diverted to stamina builder on the advice of Rohan. I am currently doing around 10/11 hours a week including some commutes.
Trainroad got me to 299 FTP. After using Join for a while and less intervals AIFtP brought me down to 287. And when triggered today after a further 4 weeks of mainly Z2 and easy vo2max I am down to 281, my lowest in quite a few years. Join has me at 288 interestingly.
Sick of doing intervals so sticking with the Z2 stuff and voliume for next 3 months.
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It’s been 28 days since my last FTP detection which was 272W and at the time JOIN’s was 272W too. Today TR detected 270W but JOIN 279W. (week 6 of FTP build intermediate level)
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I’m on the winter plan, and I don’t think it is that different to the other plans. It might have to do with available time though - I’ve got quite short timeslots now, mainly because doing more than 90 minutes indoors is not for me.
To be honest, I’ve tried 3-4 different plans now, and they all seem very similar to me.
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AI FTP Detection has been trained primarily using TrainerRoad workout data with the addition of unstructured outdoor rides. It could very well be that you get a higher AI FTP detection for workout structures typical for TrainerRoad. As far as I can see JOIN’s workouts are often longer zone 2 workouts with hard work in the middle, while TrainerRoad’s are typically shorter with focus on one zone only (tempo, SS, threshold, VO2Max).
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Very similar with Stamina Builder plan. 287 - 288 with Join, 287 - 281 with TR. I seem to hold FTP with volume and Z2 on JOIN whilst TR FTP seemingly plummets without intervals.
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@splash In the end it’s a (relatively) small library of workouts arranged differently, so not overly surprised that things can feel similar.
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I think JOIN’s workouts are a core that doesn’t change, and when you have more time, they just add z2 on either end.
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