What to expect from longer weeks?

[dsirrom]

Hoping to get some top-tips from those athletes on the forum who have experienced a transition from moderate to longer hours / higher volume training.

Background

• averaged between 8 to 10 hours a week of training (indoors) over the last 3 months
• Prior to this similar volume based on indoor training, supplemented with longer outdoor sessions during the warmer (UK ) spring and summer months
• 2024 was a really good year for me - w/kg went up a good chunk and I recognised that I respond well to increased volume so long as I moderate the intensity
• Also was able to stick to a plan and execute which was pleasing
• Sleep and nutrition are pretty much on point - I’ve learnt a lot about how my physiology responds to training and have over time been able to find what works well for me
• Had a good ‘base’ so far this winter and transitioning into build at the end of January
• Had success on polarised / masters approach with 2 hard ‘intensity’ workouts a week and the rest at Z2 with some Z1 recovery as well.
• Relative strength is shorter power (if I do a ramp test IRL I always over-score) however AI ramp test is much more accurate and realistic as it takes account of my relative lack of ability to hold and maintain longer duration power numbers
• Staring this year in a stronger place than I was last year and looking to build on this and get myself to a higher level of overall fitness for the year ahead

Plan for year ahead

• maintaining the 2 hard sessions of intervals a week
• Increasing the Z2 volume - initially indoors but transitioning to outdoors when the weather allows (I’m now pretty much a fair-weather cyclist )
• Aim is to gradually increase overall time in the saddle - moving from current 8-10 hour envelope to a 12-14 hour envelope - extra volume / hours will all be in the Z2 range - but where able to, I will be aiming to keep most of it at the slightly harder end of Z2 (still relatively easy)
• strategy to achieve the extra time is to tag more time onto the end of all TR sessions to accumulate an increase and then as this builds, swap one of the Z2 indoor rides for a longer outdoor weekend ride to further bump up the overall time.

Goals

• Fitness outcome goal underpinning this change in process goal - significantly improve my fatigue resistance and overall general endurance
• Current AI FTP is 308 - aiming to see in the ballpark of 320 by end of May - but more importantly aiming to see significant improvement in TTE at higher % of whatever my FTP happens to be
• Exceeding 4W/lg would be nice, but I’m not obsessed with the numbers, focus for the first half of the year is more on improving ability to hold higher power for longer
• practical application of theses fitness goals is twofold:

1. • to perform as well as I can in climbing some big climbs in the Pyrenees in early June (bucket list stuff) - I have some intermediate steps to this with a trip to Girona in March
2. • create a bigger endurance base on which to build a stronger power curve for the 2nd half of the year when my goal is to pivot back to crit racing and switch up my training accordingly (probably will be my last year of racing as I will be 52 in March) so I want to give it one last go and feel like I can say I gave it my best shot

Questions

• what should I ‘look out for’ when increasing my volume ostensibly by 40% in terms of time - I intend to ramp up gradually
• any tips on what to expect / pitfalls / benefits and strategies to cope
• Any tips on how to adapt my training and / or how I approach the Z2 rides as I transition more to outdoor riding as the weather improves
• Mixing outdoor and indoor TSS seems to misrepresent overall TSS (for me) - any tips on how to monitor overall stress (apart from how I feel) to avoid over-cooking things

Any advice gratefully received

[svens]

I would approach it other way around – keep hard days as prescribed and do additional Z2 at low intensity.

Adding volume is sneaky business, it can eat your motivation in a way you don’t notice until it is too late. It is better start at 60% of FTP and push it higher only if you see no bad side-effects in month or so.

Other than that, @dsirrom plan seems reasonable.

[MI-XC]

When looking for advice on a forum, being concise can go a long way, lol. That being said, I did read your biography and recently went through a large volume increase the second half of 2023 and all of 2024 after a few years of plateauing and frustration. I am of similar FTP and w/kg and peaked in 2024 for my “A” race around 4.25 w/kg.

I increased my volume 38% in 2023 over 2022 and another 32% in 2024 over 2023. I did this solely focusing on raising my CTL since prior to these volume increases it never got over 80. YMMV, but my results were a breakthrough season in 2024 beyond my expectations and what I thought was possible for me in my late 40s. Though my FTP stayed about the same, my TTE and ability to express my FTP in races was amazing.

I used TrainingPeaks to guide my volume (and fatigue) by gradually increasing it up to my A race. I ensured my ramp rates were not excessive during work and recovery weeks. I adjusted intensity and z2 workouts depending on my fatigue and RPE. More when I could handle it and less when I couldn’t, but I always got the volume in no matter what. I experimented at the end of 2023 and beginning of 2024 with how volume and fatigue would affect my races and made adjustments as the year went on. Also, I’ll be making some changes in 2025 as I plan to raise my volume again by 11%. My problem in 2024 was I never had a true Build period in 2024 to raise my FTP, because I was too focused on volume. Then race season started and when I tried to Build and race that left me too fatigued. So in 2025 I’ll get my Build in before race season starts and my volume builds to consistent 1,000+ tss weeks. My biggest advise is of course fuel the rides, focus on recovery and realize there are no special workouts or intervals. Just get the work done.

[dsirrom]

Thanks everyone. Feedback and advice very much appreciated

[dsirrom]

@ivegotabike - great thanks for the info - makes perfect sense to me and is helpful

[dsirrom]

@MI-XC

When looking for advice on a forum, being concise can go a long way, lol.

@MI-XC - yep duly noted.

Thanks for the advice - very much appreciated

[grwoolf]

@MI-XC

Though my FTP stayed about the same, my TTE and ability to express my FTP in races was amazing.

I’ve ramped volume quite a bit over the last 2 years and saw the same thing (with some pretty decent race results). My focus is on longer gravel and marathon MTB events (5-10+ hours). I do OK in shorter stuff, but I’m not often fighting for podiums in ~3 hour races.

A critical part of this for me was just getting in better tune with my body and make sure I wasn’t over doing it. But I found out that I can really pile on the volume as long as it wasn’t too much intensity. A huge amount of high Z2 hours in training, but no problems pushing intensity in B/C races leading up to my events.

Probably my biggest challenge with the increased volume was figuring out the best way to taper for my A races. I’m still figuring that out, but I err on the side of really backing off volume for about a month prior to my event. I’ll do a final “push” week about a month out (like 25+ hours and ~1500 tss) and then cut volume in half while keeping some intensity. Ideally, do a 5+ hour prep race about 2 weeks out. It’s really hard to back off that much for a month when I feel like I’m flying, but I’ve forced myself to do it and I’ve felt super strong with great endurance on race day. Last year, I peaked my CTL around 130 a month before Unbound and Leadville and was sitting around 110 CTL the day before each race. I may play with the taper a little this year, but it worked so well last year that I’m a little scared to change.

[MI-XC]

@grwoolf

Probably my biggest challenge with the increased volume was figuring out the best way to taper for my A races. I’m still figuring that out

Same. I’m not sure I have it dialed yet but I’m the opposite of you, I can’t be too fresh on race day and do better with some fatigue in the legs. I do a “volume block”, recover week, then a 2 week build back into a taper. This is what I have planned for this year’s A race (Lumberjack 100) which is similar to last years. The race week TSS includes the actual race which will be 400-450 TSS: