Take a step back and stop making training so complicated. It doesn’t need to be. Be consistent, continually progress through tangible overload, then rest. Rinse, repeat.
If folks would spend more time doing the basics perfectly and put all the nuances like 30/30’s vs 30/15’s vs 4x5 vs endlessly debating Seiler, Polarized vs Sweet Spot, blah, blah, blah–on the back burner they would get a lot faster. Less theorizing, more doing. I love this forum, but my goodness there is SO MUCH NOISE.
This isn’t mean to discredit all the super-insightful (and helpful) info here, but as a reminder to keep it simple and go out and get em!
I think the big problem for this for a lot of people lately from what I have observed is the lack of racing. What we do is really hard, and to have no validation from the success of not just winning but participating in something we genuinely enjoy is probably very frustrating for many.
Yes, it’s a shame isn’t it. I preferred it in the days before everyone became an expert.
Luckily for me I love riding bikes so don’t get bogged down in anything apart from deep mud.
Sadly I think this is the nature of the way people consume information these days in all aspects of life. People are now politicians, entertainers, cycling coaches, and professional advice and opinion editors. I think its a blessing and a curse that folks can learn anything they want, but folks don’t have common sources anymore and when you have disparate sources that conflict, people start to argue. We probably all should think about what the value of being “right” is versus being “helpful.” The threads that are the most constructive are definitely the “helpful” threads.
It’s really easy to sell “The Next Big Thing” if your big thing is way different. Cynically, I think many workout suggestions (that are for sale) are purposefully complex, because it inherently will feel ‘worth’ more than something super basic. How much are you going to pay for someone to tell you to “Lift something heavy and put it back down, as much as you can, 3 or 4 times a week, for 2 years, then talk to me again?”
Sometimes it feels like we’re all just majoring in the minors, to steal a phrase. Go ride your bikes, a lot, as often as you can, and enjoy it
This is most sports. You see this in autoracing all the time. Someone has a Porsche with all the stuff the shops told them to buy, has coaching, data acquisition, etc. then some 17yo in a clapped out Miata goes and smokes them on the track.
And some point, there has to be a “shut up and just ride the bike”. I even have to remind myself that when I find myself going down the numbers rabbit hole.
Over the years (well before TR and this forum) all the same questions have already been asked and debated over and over and over. Just saying it’s nothing new. The questions are nothing new. The debates are not new. For me splitting hairs is not necessary for my training but, I enjoy the finer details people highlight even with topics I thought I had a handle on.
Not to disagree with what’s been said (especially the OP), but there is a flip side as well - with access to information, and so much of it out there, people are questioning so called experts that for years were able to get away with shoddy coaching (and other professions of course) due to lack of information and alternatives.
Since you mentioned Seiler - one of his observations of the top athletes in the world is that their training sessions are simple. No fancy workouts, just simple stuff, a couple of staple workouts (like 4x8 intervals for example) done extremely hard and consistently. The main difference between the elite and non, apart from maybe genetics, is the training discipline.
This can have more to do with lack of discipline - the average athlete doesn’t have the discipline to do the same simple workouts over and over and over so variety helps them keep motivated. Otherwise no one would need Zwift
