Pretty much my experience, with the one addition of dropping TrainerRoad once the season starts. I might try to pick up a workout or two, but no more following a plan once the season starts. A VO2 max workout sprinkled in between events is probably enough.
2 Likes
I do the same thing, dropping TR once the season starts (snow is gone etc). I am mostly a mountain biker which naturally gives me some level of intervals when my trails have 5 to 20 minute climbs scattered throughout.
The other thing I am adding this year is strength training. I think it should have major benefits for me in the ultra long distances.
3 Likes
Hi - I am new to TR but something I found useful in planning for longer events is to make them Stage Races of the Gran Fondo Type. So a 600km can be split over 2 stages/days and will give you TSS scores for each separately. The Plan then seems to build around these nicely. There is a bug on events over 24 hours where it gives you a negative TSS (and then a workout the next day!!). So split these into Stages.
regards
David Cowie
Kingston Wheelers CC
5 Likes
This seems to be the randonneuring and TR thread. I have been doing long rides for 3 years now and finished my first series last year. I find structured interval training over the winter that focuses on raising your FTP to be useful. To that end, I’m using the SSB plan with good results so far. I modify it somewhat to still include a long ride every few weeks though. Outdoor is not a great option as currently -30, so long rides are limited by the ability to stay on the trainer for that long.
Once it warms up, I will start training outside, doing my usually progression and aiming to do a 200k or longer each week. The problem I ran into last year though was my high end really dropped off over the summer, so this year plan to do a theshold or VO2 max workout from TR weekly to maintain the high end (either inside or outside).
I am thinking of using the full distance triathlon training plan as a guide for the outside season in regards to when to and how much threshold and VO2 work to do, and then replace the weekly long ride with a 200k or longer outside.
2 Likes
That is close to my experience since I started this. Once the outdoor season starts, my high end sinks. I know that. We don’t do a lot of sprinting or racing during the season, so that part of my form gets dulled.
I am getting lazing. I plan to do the General Build (low volume) this year, just because there was a window open after SSBII. But finishing up on SSBII, I notice that the second phase of sweet spot has just about everything I will really need. So I am considering replacing the General Build by doing SSBII again. I haven’t decided, but I am toying with the idea. The second phase of Sweet spot doesn’t really have a lot of Sweet spot stuff. It has a healthy sprinkling of threshold and VO2max. Like you, once the season starts, I plan on fitting in a VO2max in the middle of every week. As I said, I’m getting lazy and they seem to give good bang for the buck.
Daniel
The TR crew have said several times that SSB pt2 is more like a pre-Build or Build pt1. From memory there’s one sweet spot workout in there, the rest is VO2max or threshold.
I do long distance ITTs so basically the off-road variant of audaxing/randonneuring. As above, it’s best to set even the short ones as stage races when using plan builder. If you are doing an event every weekend then that’s a huge whack of TSS to recover from every week so I wouldn’t be even considering following a plan as well. It’s a bit of a balancing act. I only do the low volume plans which leaves the weekends free for whatever I want, usually a few hours at Z2 (7-zone model).
Once you know you can ride a 200 or 300 there’s not much point in doing such long rides in training as you won’t have the recovery time and you are just beating your body for no real reason or benefit. Hence people like Mark Beaumont doing a bit of VO2max to “top things off” and work those parts of your system that normally don’t get a look in.
2 Likes
Yeah, several times you get the feeling “Hey! This ain’t sweet.”
I’d never heard of this event despite the route passing within a mile of my house near Inverness.
The lad that finished first doing that in just less than 5 days is absolutely obscene.
Hi,
I am using TR for my Audax training and have used the Low Volume training (3x week). This gets me 3 turbo sessions a week of VO2 Max, Threshold/Sweetspot and Endurance (least benefit but it’s quality). I view these as my quality (required) training sessions. In addition I commute to work (by bike) 2-3 times a week. Any rides on the weekend (outside Audaxes) are a bonus but always try at least 1 on either Saturday or Sunday (club). This enabled me to complete a SR2500 this year.
Hope this helps with a plan choices.
regards
David
I just listened to a podcast with the author of the book “the science of winning”, the main idea was that you separately build “aerobic capacity” and “aerobic power”. The guy supported the idea that during the “aerobic capacity” base phase, you should include once a week a workout with short 1-2 minute (if I understood correctly) hard intervals, and that VO2Max and threshold could be added later in weeks dedicated to “aerobic power”. I am not quite sure where does sweet spot land in all of that, but in general it seems to agree with the general idea that you need to do some speed work for your aerobic systems to improve optimally.
1 Like
I used to do long distance (400+ km) before I got kids and before I started TR. I just rode a lot, at least one 100+k ride a week.
Now with the kids getting older I’m starting to increase the distance again (100+ k for now). Since starting TR, many VO2 max and threshold rides, my FTP increased, and I am capable of riding faster over longer distances.
But the off chance I have to ride 160-200km I notice it is not fitness holding me back. It is being able to stay 6+ hours in the saddle and staying on top of nutrition.
So I would say planbuilder as a base through the year and regular long rides, not for fitness but to get comfortable on the saddle, train neck muscles, get used to all day thrash eating etc.
2 Likes