There is a lot to digest in chapter 6, and why people either hire coaches or invest the time to build their own plan. I think TR’s low-volume plans are good starting points if you are good with 7-day training weeks. But you should actively look at modifying workouts, for example in SSB-2 LV the first vo2/aerobic-capacity workout is Taylor -2 which is 3 sets of 14-minute 30/30s (14x30-sec). Without a lot of miles in my legs, I’ve found that to be too much intensity (no surprise). Friel in table 6.1 recommends low-dosage at either 10x30-sec, or 7x1-min. So you might want to do Bluebell which is 3 sets of 6x1-min, and modify by only doing 1 set. Last night I dialed down the intensity to 92% (turning 120% into 110%) and did all 3 sets. Point is, you need to find what works and don’t be afraid to experiment to determine what works and what doesn’t. Hope that helps.
58 here, and training (mostly running, now cycling) for years. The issue most (including myself) have with cycles other than 7 days is pure practicality, which leads to lack of compliance. I can’t do a long run during the week; I can easily do one on a weekend morning. I’ve stuck with 7-day cycles, and will do until I retire and am then free from the vagarities of a work week. Whether that happens anytime soon is another debate altogether.
7 day here too for practical reasons, and from time-to-time doing some on-the-fly modification of intensity. Or replacing an interval workout with an aerobic endurance workout. Listen to your body.
I’m an older athlete as well (45)
I’m not in a position, nor am I qualified, to argue with Joe Friel. I am just telling you what has worked for me.
In my opinion/experience, raising the roof with out minding the foundation creates a different racing experience that raising the roof alone. I am becoming a disciple of what Seiler calls “biological durability” - which requires great aerobic conditioning and muscular endurance.
I also think (per Seiler) if you want to know what your FTP is, do a 60 minute test.
LOL, sorry, had to giggle. Have you ever read Friel? Here is an oldie but goodie:
December 9, 2013 by Joe Friel
“Polarized training” is a fancy new name for a basic old concept—train either at low or high intensity, but keep the moderate training time between these extremes relatively small.
and nuggets like this:
One take-home message here is that there is nothing wrong with training below your aerobic threshold. In other words, really easy. Recovery is important. Too many athletes think the way to better performance is to raise the intensities on their recovery days. Not good.
I’ve been guilty of that!
Started reading Friel’s books and blog 4 years ago and learned a lot, including the importance of proper base building.
The thing which concerns me re a low volume plan is the stagnation of CTL. I realise training is not all about banging up your CTL as high as possible but, I don’t think you can escape the fact that a higher CTL tends to correspond with higher fitness. I know you can fill in the empty days with extra rides. How I match this up against training for the demands of the events you are competing in I’m not sure.
What I do know is that there is no need for me to be doing 4 hour endurance rides when my events last less than 30 minutes.
Scotscyclist65, I think you should try this plan and report back. Honestly, if half the guys in my cycling club did a plan like this they would probably be faster cyclists.
To answer the above, I don’t see how 3x12 would be seen as a maximum. Maybe a maximum single dose? But how many does per week? All the training methods I’ve read about often talk about a progression (3x5, 2x10, 2x12, 3x10, 3x12, etc).
Is also comes down to what you are trying to achieve. Are you trying to get faster and faster? Are you just trying to stay reasonably fit over the long haul? How long is your event? A two hour ride with friends? A 5 hour slugfest of a grand fondo? Three rides a week plus strength training is probably perfect to be fit enough to enjoy the 2 hour weekend ride. It’s not enough training to perform well at the 5 hour fondo with 6,000 feet of climbing.
I didn’t see 3x12 sweet spot being described as the maximum. Maybe I missed something, haven’t fully read the book.
If you mean the exact same 3 workouts, I don’t think that’ll work. You need to progress something, or you will stagnate. That something can either be time-in-zone, interval length, or increased power. But if you don’t change anything you’ll quickly (a few weeks) reach a point where you’re really good at those workouts, but don’t progress your fitness anymore.
Somebody should ask @Chris21
I think in general this premise is valid though as stated before doing this with progression would most likely be better. I’m doing something similar this year but with progression in both the VO2 and sweet spot workouts and gradually increasing the length of the endurance rides. If nothing else it is less boring. And as stated the TR plans generally do this anyway. But I do find that at 52 the TR plans as prescribed do have too much intensity for me to handle (particularly the weekend which is where I substitute long endurance). I’m also interested in Joel Filliol’s approach of not taking recovery weeks but adjusting the load so that your body can handle the continuous build from week to week. At least for me, I have found that volume and frequency work way better than intensity but finding the time for that is always a struggle.
Filliol loves frequency. I wonder what he’d suggest to the 4 hour a week athlete (2x1hr, 1x2hr). Maybe he’d like 4x30min, 1x2hr better?
How would the “over/under” workouts help or hinder the general plan? I have scheduled VO2 max, “Mary Austin” or derivatives, and then 2 endurance rides on the weekend.
Do the over unders add the overload stimulus to promote inprovement
That would be too much frequency for my age lol
I’ve found this to be the same for me. I can do the VO2 stuff later in the season after I have a lot more miles in my legs, but it’s always much worse early in the season. I like a slower lead into VO2 work, thrusting into 21 minutes of work on week 2 is a lot for me so early in the season.
If you look at the training plans, you see that they are a series of ever increasing training stress levels: up, up, up, taper, drop down a bit, up, up, up, recover, taper, drop down a bit, up, up, up …
Doing the same workouts, week after week, for a whole year means your TSS is going to be flat, for a whole year. Without increasing your stress, nor adequate periods of recovery, the consensus seems to be that at best you’ll see no improvement, and more likely eventually decline.
Over 50 here. I’m trying something like this for the next 8 weeks. Two 4-week blocks that will be progressive. I’m coming off SSBLV so I’m aiming for around 5+ hours each week with a VO2max workout, a sweet spot workout, 2.5 - 3 hours of endurance workouts, and active recovery. The 5-6 hours will be more volume than I’m accustomed to, but the TSS will be lower until week 6 of the progression. I’m looking forward to seeing how this goes after focusing on SSB.