I should have continued JRA and commuting but thrown in TR time crunch 45 or something like that. Ultra do-able, for sure, but even a very small amount of disciplined trainer-based work would have resulted in noticeable gains.
It would be better to do the only a little bit of incremental work that produces gains & is super high-quality. Then ramp it up from there. Rather than finding out the hard way that a high-volume (or even mid!) plan on the trainer is a LOT if you’re not used to it.
Yes, I chose a low volume plan for exactly this reason. I added an active recovery workout too all free days and will mix it up with some endurance workouts on some Sundays.
See:
when in doubt, always go the conservative way. If you find yourself with more time or energy, add a ride or a + variant.
No matter which volume you choose you’ll have weeks where your schedule or your health/recovery puts you in a position of under shooting the goal or potentially of having extra time that could be capitalized.
If you’re strapped for time, first downgrade the week by turning the recovery rides into rests, and if you’re over trained and tired turn queen stages into a (-) version. If you’re feeling frisky and have extra time, go with (+) versions of the queen stages, and tack on extra cool down time to the recoveries to up TSS.
There almost needs to be 4 levels of volume…medium is a bit too much and low is too low. Needs to be a 4 day a week plan.
I see this request a lot. I feel like the answer is nail low volume, add easy volume where convenient.
Seriously, the difference between low and mid volume, depending on plan, is usually just something like petite between a threshold and a vo2 workout or something. Just do an easy ride when you can.
Yep, you’re right, there isn’t that much difference. The issue I have with the low and mid volume sweetspot plans is that they have too much intensity above sweetspot especially when you get into base 2. I feel like I need more time away from threshold and VO2 workouts, but don’t think I’ll get any benefit from Trad low/mid, and don’t have time for the HV plan.
I’ve therefore started planning my own sweetspot progression loosely based on the FasCat approach of Tu Sweetspot, We Tempo, Thu Endurance, Sat longer Sweetspot, Su Longer endurance preferably outside. Intervals get longer and or harder over 4 weeks then rest week. I’ll then plan to replace We Tempo with Sweetspot in the next phase, which I’ve yet to plan. Might then do a third mesocycle before going into SSB2.
I think of the plans as a great starting point for people new to TR or new to structured training overall - not a catch-all for every person.
People like yourself who understand training a bit more than the average user are always going to want to modify and develop their own modifications based on their knowledge of training and their own body. There’s no way for TR to develop plans that work for everyone and I think they have a fairly good baseline for the 80% of users
That said - I’m starting to get impatient for the responsive plans they’ve been hinting at on the podcast for a year or so. It feels like they’ve missed that feature for the northern hemisphere’s fall training planning and that is a large miss in my mind. I know they haven’t ever committed to that functionality, let alone a release date, but the longer they go without it the more others will begin to eat their lunch in this space.
That functionality, should it be viable, is precisely what you and others in this thread need to find that middle ground between low and mid, or mid and high volume plans
I’ve been in this boat for awhile now. I just put the mid volume plan up and low volume side-by-side on my monitor then plan ahead by inserting workouts in the low volume.
However, I’m trying to figure out why some people want the ‘in between’ plan vs just doing the method above specific to your needs. I’m sure there’s a gap similar for mid to high volume but we just don’t hear about it as much bc of the number of people in that situation.
Is there something I’m missing?
Low-Mid and Mid-High options have been discussed at length.
I look at SSB MV2 more as a build plan than a base plan.
SST MV2 is not easy and is not a beginner plan.
I think a bunch of folks starting their structured training journey are missing the value of the LV plans. Possibly because it seems weak, or not enough work load, to start with LV and progress from there.
Take a good look at SSB LV2 and Sustained Power Build LV plans. Very similar and very purposeful. Back to back this paring makes for a brilliant pair of core training blocks. With three days set and four days open you can take recovery, or add in work on a specific weakness, additional SST/LT work, long Z2 (if your schedule permits).
FWIW - an easy mod to MV is to flip Tues/Wed (so you get an extra day of recovery after the weekend) and then delete Thursday or substitute another Petit or Baxter.
You’d still ride 4-5 days a week with about 400-500 TSS depending on which workouts:
Mod - Off
Tues - ER
Wed - VO2
Thurs - ER or extra rest / recovery day if needed
Fri - Off
Sat - SST/LT
Sun - SST/LT
Many ways to skin that cat but LV plans have the absolute core workouts.
-Mark