I am currently on a mid volume plan which I pretty much follow correctly. I also have RLGL/adaptive training active.
Normally on Sunday I have to do an endurance workout for 2 hours.
I don’t do this and do an outdoor club ride instead. This often generates quite some tss.
This has the effect that the weekly Vo2 workout on Tuesday gets changed to a recovery workout.
I always accept the change, however, I always keep doing recovery on Tuesday, endurance on Wednesday, SST on Thursday and threshold on Saturday.
Wouldn’t it be better for me to always swap the real workouts around? Because at the moment I am never doing Vo2. Is it better to do 1 week of Vo2 and SST, 1 week of SST and Threshold, 1 week of Vo2 and Threshold, …?
A bit more information about myself and goals:
I have been using TR plans for a few years now. Currently training for 14 months straight now without a real break. In 2 months I plan to do a 175km ride with 4500m of elevation gain (event at the Ventoux).
In general, I’d like to get some Vo2 work in and so would alternate the vo2/threshold workouts.
There is the idea that vo2 work will raise the ceiling so everything below it will benefit and it is just more interesting to do some.
That said, with a goal of climbing Ventoux, I wouldn’t think you would be spending much time at vo2 max, so if you are find it too taxing, you might prefer to concentrate on sweetspot/Threshold.
why not try a block of making tuesday the scheduled recovery ride and stack the interval days. V02 wednesday and SS on thursday is often how i pair workouts.
I guess it depends if you feel that the Sunday ride is actually that taxing or if it’s just being triggered because the duration is creating a lot of TSS
I like both of the suggestions from @DO-IT-ALL and @Gaggy15 here – good stuff to consider!
With your focus being on Ventoux, it might make sense to prioritize your SST and Threshold work. Those will be the specific kinds of efforts that will correlate to your goal event. Ventoux is a long climb (I’m lucky enough to have done it before!), so you ideally won’t be spending much time at VO2 Max.
You mentioned that the ride is 175km, though – does that mean you’d be racing for a while before you hit the main climb? If so, you should think of how important working on your VO2 Max efforts might be. If there are a lot of shorter climbs en route to Ventoux and you anticipate the pace being high, you may want to substitute some of those VO2 sessions into your training schedule so you can be prepared for those types of efforts.
You could also try out the idea of stacking your VO2/SST days together on Wednesday/Thursday. I’d keep in mind how hard your club ride is, though. If it features some intensity, it may not be a good idea to try to slot in that extra workout that’s currently being left out. We recommend sticking with three days of intensity per week maximum, or it could lead to burnout down the line.
Hope that helps! Feel free to let us know if you have any additional questions.
I must admit that the ride on Sunday is often taxing. Can def. still feel the legs today.
I had a whole ride at the front past weekend. It’s mostly a rolling route with me being at the front quite often. Sometimes it’s a flat route with me being in the middle of the pack… Obviously those are the rides that feel less taxing. So I guess when those rides come around I’ll leave the Vo2 in.
I added a few screenshots of the last few weeks and upcoming weeks:
I believe the ride will be ridden at threshold/sweet spot or lower as it is just an event I want to complete. It’s not a race either. I did climb the Ventoux from Bedoin last year and had a heart rate of 150-170 all the time. Still felt great afterwards. I never did a ride like the event however. Only did 1 col and that’s it. Did complete the longest route of the Tour of Flanders (230km), but that’s not really comparable either.
The toughest part of the event is right at the start, with a climb to the top of the Ventoux from Bedoin. It ends with another one up the Ventoux from Sault. There are 4 other climbs in between.
I was mainly worried that leaving out Vo2 all the time would result in me not getting stronger/increasing my FTP. However I don’t think I will be spending any or nearly any time in the Vo2 zone during the event. The idea is to just complete it. I guess leaving out Vo2 and only doing SST/Threshold will still continue to make me stronger?
I’m not a coach, so I’d be interested to hear what coaches have to say and if my strategy below is a smart one.
Knowing your goal, you’ve got a long day ahead with a lot of climbing, and especially having to climb right at the start. Rather than focus on raising my FTP, I would focus on extending time in zone, fueling strategy, etc., so that you’re not feeling gassed after that first climb and still feel like the final climb is achievable. After your event, you can do a VO2 block and/or focus on raising FTP.
You’re right that the VO2 Max sessions in your plan can still be helpful in bumping up your fitness leading into the event. It might be worth substituting in a few of those workouts in lieu of a SST/Threshold session in the next few weeks. Another idea might be to skip the club ride for a given week or two so that you can get a week of training in with your SST, Threshold, and VO2 Max workouts. Intervals aren’t as fun as group rides, but they do generally tend to make riders stronger.
That said, I wouldn’t sacrifice too much of your SST and Threshold work for the VO2 Max workouts. It looks like the majority of your hard efforts will be done at or a little below your FTP, so it still seems like a good call to focus on the type of work you’ll be doing during the event.
The SST and Threshold work will still make you stronger, though! And as @Pbase said, it can be beneficial to focus on increasing interval length/total time spent in zone for your SST/Threshold efforts leading into the event – especially with such a substantial amount of climbing. Thinking about nutrition is a great idea as well. Riding at high percentages of FTP burns a lot of energy, so it would be worth experimenting with taking on as much fuel as you can so you grow accustomed to it by the time the event rolls around.
We have some tips on nutrition prep for long rides here – might be a helpful article to go through.
Only did 1 col and that’s it. Did complete the longest route of the Tour of Flanders (230km), but that’s not really comparable either.
