Should I train or not?

Things came up at work and now I have VERY little time for training.

Its going to be like this for a month and I’m wondering If I should bother training at all?

I have maybe 30 minutes a day of free time, which workouts should I do, if any?

Sorry to hear that - I find it so annoying when work gets in the way of training! :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

I would still try to train, though. I’m always of the thinking that doing something is better than nothing, especially over a long a period as a month. You undoubtedly will lose some fitness, but at least you’ll come out the other side being in slightly better shape than if you’d done nothing.

I can’t advise on sessions, I’m afraid. I personally would go for high intensity stuff so to retain top end as much as possible, with some recovery work sprinkled in. If you’ve got 30 minutes a day, then perhaps extend to 6 sessions a week to keep as much fitness as possible?

Just my tuppence worth. Good luck - hope it doesn’t affect your goals too much

Depends on how stressful the work is.

Stressful = endurance only
Not stressful, just busy = do some high end stuff

Also depends on your training history (i.e, have you been cycling for 5 weeks or 5 decades?).

In general, something is better than nothing, both physically and mentally. You could do Volunteer every day, and while you will lose fitness, you won’t lose as much fitness as if you did nothing.

I’d say do what you can when you can, but don’t plan it. If you plan something out, it’ll just add stress when you miss workouts. But do get on the bike as often as you can. I like @d_diston’s recommendation… if you’re feeling stressed, ride Volunteer or something like that… if you’re feeling good, find a 30 minute suffer fest. They’re out there… check the Time Crunched plans for ideas.

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Yes!

What are your goals? If you have an upcoming event and need to maintain some top end fitness the answer will be different than if your season is drawing to a close and you’re looking to next year for your next big event

Basically - if you need to hit an A event then you should do one of the maintenance plans and supplement it with short 30 minute rides on the off days if you can handle it. If you’re pretty much done for the year and don’t have a peak event until 2020 then maybe consider this an opportunity to get your end of season down time (still ride, still train - but just do what you’re feeling up for on a given day, focus on life and recovery) and plan to start base after that month is over

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If you have run in the past, try again as the benefit is 3x for the time you need to spend on the bike to get the same training effect. If brand new to running -you’ll be struggling to get beyond 10 minutes on a walk/run basis and be careful not to overdo it and pick up an injury.

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I’d do either 30 minutes really hard like Elephants or Bird

or 30 minutes really easy like Taku.

Do the tough stuff 2-3 times a week, especially on days where you really feel like getting the blood pumping.

Everybody is going to say “yes you should train”, but the question is if you have “30 minutes of day of free time”, and I take that to mean that all the freetime you have in a day, not 30 minutes that you could train … what do you want to do with that time ?

If it’s train , then train for 30 minutes and it will do you some good, if it read a book … that will do you some good as well

If you want to train and feel able then you could consider the time crunch 30 or maintenance plans from the speciality category.

Free ride brah - just do what the legs and bike want and reset your brain