Hey All - I feel like this has been talked about before but can’t find the discussion.
What’s the primary goal of 30 minute endurances between Interval days? My plan looks like this most weeks at the moment.
Active recovery? Feels a bit like junk miles and I’m wondering if I’m better served adding 30 minutes elsewhere so that I can keep Tuesday as a true rest day.
It’s definitely not “junk miles”. Time counts as long as it’s quality, and that’s quality time. Whether you want to do it or not, or add 30 min to the end of another ride is up to you. Ultimately it’s not going to make that much of a difference.
That said, if you have the time to do that 30 min AND add 30 min at the end of another ride, why not both?
This is what the AI plan spit out, I haven’t given it any weekly/daily time limits. So just trying to understand why it thinks 30 minutes is important on Tuesday versus taking a rest day and making that 30 minutes up elsewhere.
It’s just spitting out TSS progression and building time slowly. There’s not much rhyme or reason to that, and there’s little difference if you do it that day or tack 30 minutes on to the end of another ride.
I have the same thing on my schedule and I feel the same way. I don’t love having to wash another pair of bike shorts for a measly 30 minute ride!
However, there is probably some benefit as a recovery ride and as a bit of keeping the pump primed for the next hard day. I find that I struggle most on the intense day after my rest day.
I also have my eye on extending these workouts if it feels like I can take it. I’ve both extended them in the past and also dialed them back down to 30 minutes (or skipped them altogether) when I feel like I’m not going to be recovered enough for my next intense day.
I have the same 30 min endurance ride. I’m going to stick to the plan with the hope that every month when I hit “check volume” it updates to 45 minutes, then an hour, then 75 minutes, etc.
Same here - do I really want to wash a pair of bibs for 30 minutes?! 
Hot take: 30 minutes on the trainer don’t require technical clothing
I had the same for the first few blocks of my training plan. Hit “check volume” last week and it jumped to 2 hours. It should be mentioned that I did a lot of volume over Christmas and often extended other workouts during the week, but the Wednesday workout was always 30 minutes.
I have the same today - Manly. I intend doing a flattish FulGaz ride for 45-55 minutes. Taking it easy though. 60% of whichever metric we are using today.
I must admit, given I don’t sweat much on such a ride, I just typically hang the bibs up on the clothes horse after for the hard session the night after (oh and I live alone!)
Active recovery is highly beneficial, especially between two hard workouts.
I think those quick, easy spins are worthwhile, and they can develop into longer, easy rides over time, if that’s desirable..
The goal here is mostly to get your legs moving and blood pumping to help with recovery. 
Like so many others who are commenting, I also have 2x30 Endurance Rides in my AI generated plan. I’ll use those days to do some strength/resistance training.
Thanks for the clarification.
This is my experience as well. I often race Tuesday ZRL and Thursday TTT. If I don’t get an easy 60min in on Wednesday, I usually feel like junk on Thursday.
I also ride most days, and I feel out of routine I don’t ride; my brain chemistry screams at me to satiate something it’s missing and I go stir crazy. I take a complete rest day only when my motivation to ride is zero, and it seems to manage the natural rest requirements fairly well (averaging about 6 days/week on the bike).
Agreed, but I wouldn’t classify a 30minute upper endurance workout as active recovery.
The time length, sure, but the intensity no. Active recovery at that duration should be 10ish TSS.
I would love to hear other viewpoints, though.
I normally switch out my 30 min ride for a run and maybe some strength work.
when i have runs i will swap them. I also will use these as my weight session warm ups.
I hear the comments regarding a hard workout the day after a recovery ride or short Z2 workout, being less awful than that same hard workout the day after a day of full rest, & I figure my commutes at .5 IF take care of the intention of the reco ride. The initial plan wanted me to do a short workout & a long outdoor ride, but I swapped them, making the short session outdoors & the long session a proper workout.
Edit: I don’t find myself drawn to many of the group rides. Everyone seems to want to beat each other up on the climbs & coast over the top & down the other side.
Do a 30 min walk round your local park instead. Equally beneficial.
