Swapping a 1hr 30min threshold for a 3hr alternative

Good morning on the weekened I have a secluded 90 min threshold ride on my Crit racing plan but i have been swopping it for a 3hr alternative as it the weekend and i would normallydo my long ride outdoors. Is there ant benefit or down side to doing this? All session are done indoors on the turbo trainer

For example tomorrow i have Warlow to complete but would swop for huntington +2 what are the pros and cons of doing ththanks

You’ll find a lot of stuff on indoors v outdoors etc but to me the biggest con if you can call it that is outdoors rides are not as efficient but if thats what is encourage you to train and stay consistent that’s a bigger pro IMO.

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Sorry didn’t make myself clear i will be doing my long ride indoors on the trainer so 3hr session indoors instead of the 90 min session on my plan. Hopefully that makes sense.

It depends on a lot of variables….training history, current fitness level, proximity of your goal event (assuming you have one), etc.

If you do swap them out, you will be missing on the specific training stimuli for your chosen plan, but you will be replacing it with more volume. Both have their benefits…which one is ā€œbetterā€ will depend on the factors noted above.

Personally, if my goal event is not impending, I tend to choose more volume vs. intensity as I tend to respond better to more volume.

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I’m not sure what Huntington looks like, but Warlow is a solid over/under workout. The 5x9min with two minutes under ftp and 1 minute at suprathreshold, if I remember correctly? A really nice workout. I don’t do crits, but I think we can call it a key workout for crit racing. Works on your threshold and your ability to clear lactate at a power just below your threshold. Good physical adaptations to be made, but also a very good workout mentally.

If it is a 3h endurance ride you might get around the same TSS, but you are working completely different systems. Kind of a strange question really. Pros:you still ride, and the 3h endurance ride is nice for your endurance. Cons: you lose a key workout.

Instead of that, why don’t you do the original workout but add 90 min of endurance at the end (or start)? (Extend cooldown + adjust intensity).

As mentioned above, you will the keep the benefits of the original key workout, but add some volume on top.

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Thanks for the responce this is what huntington +2 looks like which is a thrshold 4.6. Trying to find out if the long session but slightly reduced is better.

The option of keeping the session but adding volume either side could be the answer.

It just won’t have the same training effect on your body. Ask yourself if you care or not, it’s subjective. It’s like asking if running a 5k at race pace is a clean exchange for walking for 2 hours. No, it’s not.

3 hours z2 in doors is like pulling teeth to me

And for some like me, it’s an awesome opportunity to double-dip training and entertainment to watch movies and series I’d not have time for otherwise. I look forwardtoit every weekend in the winter season :smiley:

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Ah, thanks! Huntington looks like a nice workout. Filtering out the ā€œthere to keep you distracted and entertained peaksā€ it is a tempo/sweet spot workout with good volume. It will work threshold, but it will not give you the lactate buffering from Warlow. I’m not on TR but I do Warlow, Palisades and another over/under workout I enjoyed from time to time. Those are all pretty hard. If your FTP is set correctly it might be hard to do 1,5h endurance after the workout to make it 3h.

Cool. See what alternates offers up as an alternative to Warlow for a 3h duration. I would think if there is one it’d be at a lower intensity. Moving straight to a 3h workout at the same intensity will likely lead to wearing you out so your body doesn’t go through the same adaption process. If its a longer duration but at a lower intensity (with a PL similar to Warlow) I doubt it’ll be a problem. Its a long time on the trainer though :+1:

I understand your point but taken out of context. The 3hr session is a thrshold type session, chosen from the alternative sessions to the one planned so i would emage it will have some value if it was a 3 hr recovery ride you would be correct. Im just wondering if the 3 hr session has the same benefits as my 90 min planned session.

The alternative is the one below 4.6 the one one my plan at 90 min is 4.7

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Go with that :+1: If TR are correct about their ā€˜Alternates’ there’ll be very little, if any, training effect difference. If you want to round it up to 3h exactly, hit the extend cool down button. Enjoy :+1:

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Hi everybody again just want your feedback below is the session i did this morning decided to go with the 90 min planned session (the last 2 reps i had to knock it back 5% so this may indicate im weeker at the top of threshold) with added warm up and finished with 75 min endurance session my question is am i wastin my time making them 3hrs as i was up at 4am to get it done. My goal isCrit racing in the summer with the odd road race but mainly want every session to be towards the crit season. Below is what i did and the 3 hr session i was offerad as an alternate. Thoughts please



Absolutely not wasting your time, this is a terrific way to add volume without a massive fatigue which is going to pay off.

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