Hi all,
I have this doubt.
I am on week 18 of my 24 weeks plan.
Finished three base phases and now I am on Sustained Power Build phase.
My plan is 4 days/week and ~5 hours/week.
I am 53 yo and so by default plan builder gave me a Masters Plan suggestion which I neglected and went for the non-master. This is because i am in general quite fit and have been doing sport for my entire life so I thought I could still deal with a standard plan, especially in the base phase which indeed was never too challenging for me.
And indeed I saw great improvements since the start of my TR journey (which is pretty much also the start of my cycling journey). In fact I started cycling just last summer, and joined TR in September. My FTP went from ~2.8W/Kg to ~3.3W/Kg.
That being said, the current Sustained Power Build is indeed more challenging and after a high intensity session I feel really exhausted.
But after one day of recovery in general I feel ok. Not 100% recovered but OK. But never failed a single interval so far.
Nevertheless I do feel this phase is more challenging and not sure if this training distribution will at some point break me down.
So i am wondering if this would be a good time to switch to Masters.
Side note: by switching to the Masters version, Plan Builder would replace the Sweet Spot session with an Endurance session for all upcoming weeks. Wouldn’t this change the nature of the Sustained Power Build ?
Bottom line, I need someone more rational and with more knowledge than me that could help me to decide if it is better to switch.
Sorry for the long message.
Thank you.
g
As a dude who is pretty fit, training for a long time now, and is only 45, I do a max of 3 workouts a week. Everything else is Z1/2 (ACTUALLY Z1/2, not bordering Z3). Usually just 2 a week.
At a certain age you don’t bounce back as fast and need more rest between workouts. Pretending to be young isn’t going to change reality.
How did you determine you were quite cycling fit after so short a time? Either way, by asking the question about Masters, you likely already have your answer.
My view is that the masters / non masters question isn’t the right question to answer.
In your case, training 5 hours per week for sustained power build, I think you would benefit from adding more volume to that plan.
Specifically, if you can find the time to do so, swapping out the lower intensity rides for (much) longer ones
For most people, two hard (read HARD) sessions per week, with as much lower intensity volume as possible, without impacting on the ability to nail those two hard (read HARD) sessions, will deliver good progression.
I’m 52 and 3 months into my first plan on TR. I’m doing the masters plan. Agree with the above response. The goal is to get as much consistent work as you can absorb.
My masters plan has me riding 4 days per week, 4 hours, with one TH and one VO2 currently starting build. I rated my last vo2 max as hard, but that’s how they should be, right? My threshold workouts have all been moderate so far, and endurance rides could have been easy or moderate. I have tacked on a few minutes to endurance rides on occasion. A moderate endurance ride rating probably means I was not fully recovered from the hard ride before and my legs were a little heavy. If I have fresh legs, an hour in endurance is going to be Easy, so I would tack on some time.
Two biggies to keep in focus:
Training = stress + recovery (imbalance either way is bad)
Consistency over the long term wins (consistent “B” workouts are better than inconsistent “A” workouts)
If the planned workout is just too much (stressful week, sleep disruption), pick an alternate—shorter, different type, or cut out an interval. TR will adjust around the reality.
OK, this thread has me re-thinking my approach. I just rejoined TRAINERROAD after 4 years (and I didn’t stick to any plan last time).
I’m 56. I’ve been riding bikes for decades, but almost never followed a training plan for more than a couple of weeks.
When I initially set a plan, I thought it looked a bit light. So I swapped from the Masters one, and pushed it up to Aggressive. The load looks more aligned to what I’ve been doing recently, but I might be setting myself up for failure.
I guess I just need to play it by ear, and as people in the New User Experience/onboarding thread said, give things a chance to catch up; particularly in terms of the progression levels (because at the moment I don’t feel like they’re reflective of reality, but I presume that’s just because I haven’t done many workouts “within” TR).
Impressive! I am no expert, but if after 5 days straight on the bike you can click the smiley face before your 1 hour threshold workout and make it a good one, you would seem to be absorbing the work pretty well.
We tend to recommend taking a more conservative/careful approach to training, so if you’re feeling exhausted recently and questioning whether a “standard” plan is the right choice over a Masters Plan, then, to us, that seems like it might be a strong sign to make the switch over.
If you want to make the change, you can find the instructions on how to do so here.
Hope that helps – feel free to let us know if you have any other questions!
While my power is increasing, and so is my estimated VO2Max (I know Firstbeat/Garmin is a very vague ballpark approximation), I appreciate it’s possibly not the most effective thing to do.
That’s the reason I’ve decided to give TR another go.
