looking at mid-volume
TB1 is aerobic endurance
TB2 ups the intensity with a lot 70-80% tempo work + long aerobic endurance ride
TB3 progresses the intensity with 85% tempo + some threshold work
SSB1 is focused on sweet spot with some over/under work
SSB2 progresses sweet spot and ups intensity with threshold and vo2 work
Written in the order above, that seems like a smooth progression.
that seems ok, with TB3 providing some intensity relief. But I didn’t look at TSS.
Personally I find this order really odd, jumping around with 4 weeks low intensity, 6 weeks sweet spot, then lowering intensity with 4 weeks of tempo, followed by much higher intensity. The progression just looks wrong.
great replies in this thread.
It sounds like you love riding, love training, and are in it to get better in not only the short term, but long term, which is why traditional would be better for you. Too much sweet spot makes lots and lots of riders dull after a while.
Hit the traditional base for 12 weeks as another person said, and then one spin off that you can take is what works for lots of amateur riders: don’t necessarily periodize for just 2-3 big events, but work on weaknesses and race specific efforts. This is becoming more and more popular for the 8-13h a week rider, and even amongst pro level coaches like Mike Woods’ coach from Italy. He discusses this on a velo news podcast.
I did just that this past season: TB>SSB>SPB>Century Specialty, all mid-volume. I had a great season, completing brevets of 200, 300, 400, and 600 kilometers. I made liberal use of Coach Chad’s long steady alternatives. My cycling endurance has never been better. Of course, my events don’t call for covering breakaways or sprinting, just steady riding over rolling terrain for up to 40 hours with short bathroom and refueling breaks. I’m considering an extended trad base in lieu of SSB this season.
After some reflection - I am going to do TB 1,2,3 all Mid volume and then SS base mid volume and then general build.
I do all my indoor training on my Tacx Neo and am going to switch over to rollers for the Trad Base period to mix it up and build some skills and stay stay mentally engaged. This has been a great thread for me and I have enjoyed reading over everyone’s thoughts and experiences.
I’m two weeks I to TB1 HV. Before I started I was planning on doing TB HV all the way through. But I can’t watch this much crap tv. You basically have to find a new show every week! I’m doing TB1 HV - followed by SSB 1&2 at mid-volume now.
Ha ha, yeah TB MV or HV is easier breathing fresh air and watching the countryside roll by… on the trainer I look for work related conferences on YouTube to stay current on all the stuff happening in tech. Some of the cycling stuff is hard to watch as my brain gets confused and dizzy while virtually following a guy into tight corner LOL. During base with lower intensity workouts you can learn a lot on YouTube!
while he might have flubbed a bit on the wording, the study does show that elite cyclists do tend towards High volume, low intensity in the offseason/winter and then ramp up the intensity in prep for races. Thus still support for a traditional base approach, if you can make the time commitment.
This is a very interesting thread as I was coming here to ask something similar. I am gearing up my training plan after a holiday. My ‘A’ event for next year is Dirty Kanza, I did SSB-High Volume last year in lead up to my competitive season. I was thinking that since the distance of DK is so huge, that a TB- High Volume may be the way to go. I don’t see volume/time commmitment being an issue. Is there any reason to skip TB for SSB in regards to long-distance gravel racing?
I have the same quandry. I’ve spent the summer and fall so far doing polarized training, averaging 10 to 12 hrs/week. I wonder if TB would be redundant, and should move straight into SSB1 and 2. I like the idea of the longer workoiuts in MV SSB, but I may space them out to 3 /week with a couple of Zone 2 (Seiler Zone 1) longer rides tossed in.
But you also have to consider that these references studies are 10, 20 years old. Since then pro racing has changed a lot, race season goes basically from January to October. And as Dan Lorang said in an interview on Buchmanns TdF prep: these days there are no prep/training races anymore. Because of sponsors you have to perform throughout the year.
There is no time for a traditional base anymore, basically just one month. Most take it easy late October and November. Then they ramp it up in December. Training does not change that much during the year. The huge low-intensity fraction is the combined effect of a) very long basic endurance rides, b) ride long with efforts spread evenly along the ride.
HOwever, I found it interesting to see how Bernal just put in huge base block. it seems he really needed re-focusing after TdF. Or the huge base block of Froome 2 or 3 years ago that showed up on Strava. Though we don’t know how much intensity was in there because power data had not been shown. But these are always just blocks, I wouln’t call it periods. The modern race schedule dictates a lot. And perhaps only the Bernals and Dumolins are given the freedom for a more structured prep.
Speaking of old studies, just saw a 20year old study on Team Telekom. Tracking their training and diet in a winter/spring camp for 2 weeks. Daily calories deficit 2000kcal. Must have been one of Ulle’s weight loss camps. Probably something you can only withstand pumped up with EPO.
I would do ‘traditional base’, but there’s no way I can do that indoors. I did Petitit once in half a year of TR, and that was mental torture. And difficulties in actually getting out to ride my bike in winter is what let me to indoor training in the first place. So SSB it is.
Don’t forget that tr’s traditional base plan only has super low intensity during the first block. Things get more varied in the other blocks to include some sweet spot and high tempo work.
Since you bring up Dan Lorang, at least the way he coaches his triathletes, they go through phases where they are first focusing on form/technique doing lots of easy aerobic work with short bouts of fast or high intensity and finishing up with some VO2 work, then move on to some hill/sweetspot/low cadence work to lower VLamax, and finally the last phase is getting in a decent amount of work at race pace. Since race pace for longer distances is a fair bit off from threshold, he says they can handle more than say the 10-20%, but he was indicating that there are distinct periods of changing focus. With the longest amount of prep for the first race of the year, and then repeat between races, but just in shorter periods for each smaller mesocycle.
I may have missed it, but for this reason, I was thinking if fall weather held up, something like TB 2 and/or 3 prior to SSB might be an interesting approach to make the most of outside while you can, and once things are forced inside, then less time but more intensity.
TB1 looks a bit too low in intensity if you’ve been riding a lot all year. It looks like a step backwards if you’re coming in with good fitness and minimal break.
Maybe TB2, TB3 with goal of getting a lot of it done outside and finally indoors for SSB when winter fully hits, maybe going direct to SSB2, then to build?
I think TB1 (and also SSB1 to a lesser degree) are deliberately low in stress, to serve as some sort of structured off-season. If you’ve been training all year, a step back might be good for you. (And if you’re new to TR, a low-stress start might also be good).
If that’s your bag… others would say that the 1 month of lower intensity work after a hard race season is the perfect recipe to get your battery back to full, laying the foundation for better quality work deeper in to the season. But there are lots of ways to skin a cat… I myself will be taking about 5 weeks of easy time included a week vacation between my last race of the season and starting SSB1.
My main complaint about TB1 is that all of the workouts are the same in the given week, I don’t have much more than 1 hour during weekdays available before work, but with the calendar making scheduling pretty easy it’s not a huge deal to craft my own sort of traditional base plan.
