Substitute for Hesperus?

[Scheherazade]

I’ll be starting Trad Base III (low volume) in a couple of weeks and looking ahead I know I’m going to struggle to fit in Hesperus each week - what would be a good alternative that’s max 90 minutes long?

[julianoliver]

I’d think something like Echo and Phoenix -2 are ‘similar’ 90 min workouts. But you can’t reasonably expect to get the same training benefit from a 2:30 tempo ride when you lop off 1 hour of it.

Your questions prompts me to ask, why are you doing Traditional Base Low Volume? It’s been stated several times on the Ask A Cycling Podcast that the Traditional Base is not well suited to low volume, as it’s unlikely to yield much benefit.

From the TR Blog:

Most people are time-poor with greater family and professional responsibilities that limit their available training time. The reason this is so limiting in the context of traditional base training is due to the fact that the improvements you are chasing only come through a very large amount of volume. If a cyclist is training at these low intensities without high volume, then they are doing very little to build their aerobic capacity.

If you only have time for low volume but don’t have time for the longer workouts, why not consider a Sweet Spot plan instead?

[Scheherazade]

Thanks for the suggestions for Echo and Phoenix -2. I found Passadumkeag but that looks like it’s more sweet spot than tempo.

I’m doing trad base because I have lots of extra time until I need to start my triathlon b/b/s for next season and Bryce suggested that it would be a good way to fill in the gap. It’s also a nice low intensity way of keeping the bike training consistent while I work on my swim and run (relatively weaker in those).

I’ve generally got time for the long rides but these ones just clash with family visiting and a course I’m doing for work.