Hello,
I tried TrainerRoad a few years back but I had a pretty low cost trainer and that was a little bit unpleasant. Now I bought a high-end unit ( tacx neo 2t) and I’m sure this will work this time. At least I’m going to try TrainerRoad once again.
I got pretty in shape during the summer (I did a hilly 150km race, 2200m ascents in total, 29km/h and I was alone, because I was too chill at the beginning to catch people my level), nothing too extravagant, but still. This was by training 6-8 hrs per week like at a very slow pace and, maybe once a week or less, doing a very hard interval session (I had a hill that’s approx. 6 minutes nearby that I would go up and down, doing progressions from week to week: 2x, 3x, 4x; then go back to 2x etc., taking a week “off” from time to time). I did that regimen on and off (basically when weather is good) for the past few years. Of course I’m guided by the resources out there on training, but I am no expert. As an anecdotal point, I had the privilege to do a training camp with the U23 team AG2R (French team) and all they (the trainers, the riders) were talking about was polarizing the training, even for us amateurs; saying that we were riding too “hard” too often and that, at the end, our hard sessions were not that hard and our slow sessions were not that slow. I am well aware that the pros ride their bikes an incredible amount of time and do races on the week ends though.
I also do some running (up to 3-4hrs per week max, very slow pace, from time to time a hard session; more and I’ll start to develop knee pains and the likes unfortunately; I was able to run a sub 20min 5k by training less than 25km/week for 12 weeks or so this year) and lifting (I hit the gym 2 times per week doing deadlifts/squats mainly; if I do 3x it starts to impact negatively my other sports) trying to be mindful about progressions. Overall very healthy lifestyle, all of that regardless of weather this time. Also I’m 34, so definitely getting old.
So this year I really want to trump the winter and optimize for cycling for 2024 (main objective could be something like L’Etape du Tour kind of race, but also maybe join a nice cycling club with great group rides). I’m willing to reduce a little bit the running, but I would like to keep it in the mix.
So back to the point; I have the intuition that the Sweet Spot plans are not for me. I think I’ll fail to follow the plan if there are too many hard-ish sessions, given my other activities. What do you think? Maybe a sweet spot low volume plan with added slow rides?
Now I heard there were quite a few new plans on TrainerRoad, like a Traditional Base plan. Is every workout just slow riding? Or is there some spice in it (maybe one hard session from time to time, high cadence exercises etc., one-leg stuff etc. : because this is the kind of stuff I think the trainer could be great for) .
Anyway, and sorry for the long post, what are your thoughts? And what happens after base, assuming I start quite soon (it’s already raining this week end where I live 
). I think build and specialty are the way to go (which volume/type?)
Thanks so much for your ideas; I can’t wait to unbox the new trainer.
