Many of us in the northern hemisphere are entering the summer months and want to be going outside. But as we all know we need to have some structured training to maintain or improve our fitness. So it’s a balancing act.
Please give feedback on my approach as to whether it makes sense or I am just in the fog of war. I think if I do a structured plan it will constantly be giving me fluffy bunny workouts where as using train now might give me productive workouts.
So without further adieu I give you the 5 month summer plan starting mid April
Monday tr train now
Tuesday tr train now
Wednesday. Tr train now
Thursday. Moderate intensity gravel rid
Friday. Off
Saturday. High intensity group ride
Sunday. Moderate intensity group ride
If the weather sucks for the outdoor rides they will be replaced with a tr/zwift equivalent ride.
What are you trying to say here? Are you saying you want every workout to be hard? We all know that doesn’t work in the long run, and you’re talking about 5 months. Can you be more specific about why you would choose not to use a plan, especially now that TR allows you to schedule in weekly group rides and races?
We’d recommend sticking with a plan instead of using TrainNow if you want something that spreads out over a longer period of time. TrainNow works great in a pinch if you have an odd day off you want to fill or if you’re between plans, but we think Plan Builder is better than TrainNow if you want something longer-term.
You wouldn’t be getting fluffy bunny workouts, either – you’d get workouts based on your Progression Levels and recent riding, just as you would using TrainNow. You could also complete your training plan’s workouts as Outside Workouts.
How intense is “moderate” on your Thursday and Sunday rides? Are there still hard surges that push you well over Threshold? If so, it might be worth rethinking your current approach as you would then have 3 hard days alone from group rides/solo rides. Piling high-intensity interval sessions on top of 3 demanding outdoor rides would lead to burnout pretty quickly.
I think it would be worth reconsidering using Plan Builder, even if you want to be outdoors more than on the trainer. You can add Group and Solo Rides to your plan and Plan Builder can fill out the rest of your schedule around them. You’d get a more complete plan with rest and recovery scheduled into it than you would using TrainNow alone.
Hopefully that gives you some food for thought – feel free to let us know if you have any other questions!
Yeah. Here in CO we get nice wx for a week or two in Mar/Apr than get hit with a couple of big snow storms. That said, it’s usually quickly gets warm enough for roads to clear and be rideable. In any case, when I can ride outside, I just do and don’t concern myself with a plan. My outdoor rides always have higher TSS and IF than TR workouts so I space them out a little more. One thing about using TN. It tells you what you can do, but not what you should do. That’s up to you.
train now is not really a specific workout to be planning on.
Are you planning on doing vo2 work? Threshold? What is the actual plan and progression you are going to follow. Because right now it is ride your bike and do a couple group rides.
I mean you can do this but I wouldn’t call it a training plan and much more of a ride my bike 6 days a week plan.
My big plan is to try out different group rides. As a dyed in the wool introvert, it takes a huge effort for me to go new things with people I don’t know.
But I also know I need to get out and socialize more, and whenever I do ride with other folks I have a good time.
So yea. Stick to the diet and TR plan and go ride with people. Not exactly a BHAG (big hairy a@@ goal), but it fits the season of my life.
