Cheers for the reply.
I run it a little more dynamic than that. I’ll try to explain. I base the two hard days on every possible metric I can find. Meaning, not much. HRV, resting HR. The most important factor being, how I feel. Even this, is all over the show. It’s definitely art not science.
I simply don’t do the Tuesday hard session if I feel remotely off. Same with the Saturday ride. I base it on my overall feelings. Often, I only do a single hard day a week. In regards to slightly upping the Z2, it’s because I don’t really want to go longer. I’m already doing 3hrs a day. It’s a mental game to keep this up, day in day out. It’s a knife edge I know, but that’s the game. Just about ruin yourself every week, without actually doing it too successfully. Repeat this year round.
My current opinion, which could change an hour from now… is that blindly following some cookie cutter training plan is so far from ideal, I’m stunned it even exists. The same goes for coaching, to a degree. I get it, one is paying for expertise etc, but the communication would need to be truly incredible.
I feel that after a few years doing this, while carefully monitoring all of your data and subjective feelings, only you can truly know how or when you should go harder or hold back. I say this with huge caveats, I personally often fail to get it right, as it’s incredibly complex with sleep, nutrition and other life factors.
What I now know, for me and for me only. Volume is incredibly important. I would guess it’s the single most important factor. Next, and running it close, is intensity distribution. It’s incredibly important to control this daily, weekly and yearly. Forget the actual prescription, but the general principal that Dr Seiler gives, easy days easy, hard days hard, is very much a vital consideration. At least, it is in my experience.
Finally, and I know I have said it before, but I’ll repeat it for those that haven’t heard it. If you are a fast twitch athlete, which I am. Threshold and endless sweet spot training is not the best solution to improving as a cyclist. Yes, it works. Particularly if you are on limited time. However, you will plateau rapidly, and risk burn out. Please take it in context, I’m talking about fast twitch athletes. For TTers, all rounders, triathletes etc, then I’d ignore this advice and find your own path.
With the recent breakthroughs in fiber type testing in Gent, I think we are close to a kind of revolution in training. We’ll be able to easily get our exact fiber type tested and follow a program best suited to us, not the general population.
Exciting times ahead.