Where to next? Cross Country Olympic vs Time Crunched 30 mid volume or 45 low volume

I’m a 52 y/o mountain bike rider who doesn’t race. I kicked off my first trainer road program on January 1st, SSB1. I’ve completed SSB1, SSB2 and I’m now in the last work week of Short Power Build (all low volume).

Mentally I’m gravity focused. In reality, I trail ride which involves more time pedalling up than bombing down. Trainer road has really helped me enjoy my outdoor time a lot more as I’m climbing faster with less fatigue which allows me to open up on the descents.

I’d initially planned to go into the gravity speciality phase, as it’s how I think of myself. As I started to think about the riding I do, 1-2 hour rides with 70% of the time climbing, I started to think that maybe I should do Cross Country Olympic instead as it was a better reflection of the riding I was actually doing. It was then that I noticed the enthusiast plans.

One of the challenges that I found during the build phase was the ride durations increased and I’ve ended up cutting a number of sessions short due to time pressures. The enthusiast plans include a series of “Time Crunched” plans which look attractive from this perspective.

So … What are the disadvantages of the Time Crunched plans compared to, for example, the Cross Country Olympic plan? What are the tradeoffs between the 30-minute mid volume vs the 45-minute low volume Time Crunched plans?

Thanks in advance, Kevin.

Do the Cross Country Olympic. If you know you need to cut the workout short, then select the shorter version of the workout. Many of the workouts have shorter and longer versions. For example, in week 1 of Cross Country Olympic LV, Augusta is 90min long. Maybe you only have 60min. Then, I would do Augusta -3 which is 60min long.

You can see the variations by selecting the workout and then scrolling down. If they exist, they will be listed under the “Workout Variations” tab.

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Thanks Kickr, I should have thought about doing this during the build phase, :confused:. I’m still interested in the advantages (or not) of 30 minute mid volume vs 45 minute low volume as they are around the same amount of time but spread it slightly differently.

I did the 45min Time Crunch MV earlier this year. I was surprised how much I liked it. Being short on time, it provides a good mix of workouts with some intensity. But if you compare the Time Crunch with Cross Country Olympic, the advantage is with the Cross Country plan. This is because it was designed to specifically prepare you for the kind of efforts needed for that type of racing.