Once High Value, Always High Volume?

Hello team,

I joined TR back in October 2019 and I love it.
I started with a High Volume Plan and I’m sticking to it till my A Event.

The question is:
For upcoming seasons, what happens if I’m forced to “downgrade” to Mid Volume?

I’d like to stay in High Volume for as long as life lets me but in the event that things change (new job, new baby, etc), would I still be able to get adaptations that would improve my performance or would I inevitably be slower than this season that I am in High Volume?

What’s important is not that you’re just as fast as you were last year, but that you’re as fast as you can be in your current situation :slight_smile:.

New job + new baby = New stress, and life stress makes it harder to recover from training stress. I would definitely recommend starting in Mid-Volume and if you feel you need more, you can always add some endurance riding on the weekends or jump up to High-Volume if you’re sure you can manage it :+1:.

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I find that my strongest masters team mates are the guys that have never stopped. They have been riding for decades without significant time off. Once you get to a high level, it’s easier to maintain it even if you keep at it on lower volume. Don’t take months or years off and frequency, even at a lower total volume, is your friend.

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I did SSBHV1/2 last year and FTP went from 236 to 280W - I then got ill and cut to MV for build as I couldn’t do the HV with the intensity (base was fine) - I then raced tt all last UK summer. Had a couple of weeks off and then started using MV with a slightly longer aerobic ride and some 75/90 mins SS instead of Thursday threshold - kept the weekend o/u and did 2 hrs SS Sunday or an outside ride. FTP went to 289-295-298W as I felt I benefited from the o/u intensity. Still doing about 25% less than last year but seeing improvements. I think the variety has helped - less time more intensity, I think provided you keep changing the stimulus you can still see gains even on less hours. It’s doing the same all the time that leads to stagnation.

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That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing your story @jdman :+1:

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Got it. Fair enough :ok_hand:@AJS914

Good Point :thinking:
Thank You! :pray:
@Bryce

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