Hey,
first I want to thank you for the great podcast. What a great way to educate oneself!
I’m a 32 year old male (177cm, 72kg) and have been riding enduro for eight years or so. I occasionally race, but the main goal is to get a better rider and this is where a structured training plan can definitely help. I have been doing sports almost my entire life and consider myself fairly fit through weight training, TRX, etc. Important to note, is that I plan to continue doing strength training followed by some power and eventually speed exercises as well. But depending on the overall load at TR, those exercises can be limited to upper body and core.
Since I injured my wrist, I want to do the best of the upcoming few weeks and follow a structured training plan. I ordered a power meter for my hardtail and all my training will be done outdoors. I plan to follow it at least for 4 months, i.e. beginning of May when the bike park season starts in the Alps.
In the Plan Builder the step previous experience in interval training seems to be critical. Last two off-seasons I have done some rather unstructured polarized training. If I choose “I’ve done some interval training”, the recommendation is to do two blocks of Base training followed by a block of Build. If I choose “I’ve done a lot of interval training”, the recommendation changes significantly to one block of Base followed by a block of Build and a block of Speciality.
I’m wondering what the best approach might be. Obviously I’m not very experienced in interval training, but at the same time I don’t want to miss a crucial part. Extending the training into June is also an option, but I’m not sure if I can stick to it when riding for fun will be the main focus.
Thanks for your help!