I’ve recently wrapped up my first progression of of Base (I, II, III ) → Build and really enjoyed the TrainerRoad adaptive plans. As I head back to “Base” for this next round of training I was thinking about using a more customized plan that would look something like this:
Mon: Off
Tues: 2hr Sweetspot
Weds: 2hr Z2
Thurs: Off
Friday: 2hr Sweetspot
Sat: 4+hr Z2
Sun: 2-3hr Z2
In this plan I would progress Sweetspot intervals from 3x20 to 2x45 (@90-91% FTP) over the 3 weeks. Would target 12-13 hours per week.
Obviously the standard plans provided by TR look slightly different - I was playing around with both standard base (2x SS + O/Us every week - I don’t think I can do 12 hours on this plan intensity) or Polarized (2x Threshold sessions every week - I can handle this load, but threshold TTE seems less beneficial to my long events). I appreciate any thoughts / advice - thanks much in advance!
Other context:
Don’t “race” much, but have a few gravel events planned ranging from 110miles-250miles… feels like extended Sweetspot is important for these. First event is end of May
FTP ~285 (4W/kg) and was pretty stagnant through 8 weeks of Build (had good compliance)
This is just my opinion of course, but if first event is in May, I would chill a bit now.
I would focus on Z2, and do one hard session per week, could be 30/30, long tempo, or threshold, whatever you feel is most important (maybe sweet spot in your case).
And then in March & April start ramping up.
But that of course depends on how long you wish to be at your “peak”. I have always been peaking too early (may ish), and then slowly fall into a rut come July/August.
What I am doing this year is a bit like Dylan Johnson is doing: 3 days on, 1 day off. One hard session per week. Of course I cannot match his volume, but so far it’s been going well and it feels like a great balance for the base season.
Then once I head to Altea in March, I’ll start to ramp up volume with a bit more intensity.
Helpful! Are you doing any sort of progression on your one hard session per week or mostly using it for tune-up/maintenance through Base Phase?
This is my first real cycling season so I am not even sure how to properly peak. I have a 110mile event I want to crush end of May and then my ~250mile ultra in August that I really want to do well in. The rest of the events are less important to me.
I just finished up an 8 week base block that is almost identical. But I’m stuck inside for winter and 2 hrs on the trainer is about all I can stand. My schedule was:
mon - lift
tues - 2 hr SS
weds - 2 hr z2
thurs - 2 hr z2
fri - lift
sat - 2 hr SS
sun - 2 hr z2
I feel great and it was definitely the most I’ve ever progressed SS compared to previous years of straight TR plans. Now I’m in a build block (straight TR plan) and crushed a breakthrough V02 workout this morning. I plan to follow it as is, including the Saturday threshold workouts. I’ve always found threshold in the base phases to be really taxing, even though I did them lol.
Experimentation keeps things fresh and helps change things up from the typical routine. My non-scientific opinion, is that this leads to gains.
Nice job getting through that first training progression!
Sounds like you’re on the right track with how you want to really hone in on SST training – I think it could be beneficial to work on that for maybe one or two “normal” 4 week blocks, but I wouldn’t totally ignore all of the other training zones, either. The work you do in other training zones (such as Threshold and VO2 Max in this case) has carryover to your overall fitness that can benefit you – even if you don’t plan on racing in those zones very much.
You mentioned looking at standard and polarized plans and it seems like you like the idea of a little less intensity – so I think it might be a good option to check out our Masters Plans as well, which would give you 2 “hard” sessions per week instead of the “standard” 3.
As for peaking, Plan Builder can help you out with that if you’re unsure of what to do… But some good guidelines on tapering and peaking can be found in this article:
Haha, I was just setting the progression as we speak in TrainingPeaks!
This yeah I am focussing a bit more on tempo now in the base season, since I’ll be doing lots of gravel this summer that seems to benefit from a bit more tempo/sweetspot.
So I am doing the following progression at 88% of FTP:
4x12min (today)
3x16min
3x20min
4x16min
4x20min
Then rest weeks with just some noodling in Z1/Z2 before I head abroad
If you have one event I May and one in August, where the long on is in August, I would almost try to plan it so that the 110 mile event in May is part of the prep for August.
I would focus on volume and not overdo it with intensity if you have the ultra
Before you decide what to do, I suggest you consider using the Plan Builder to build a plan with the end of May event as the target event
You don’t need to use it. You don’t even need to add it to your calendar. But I do think it is helpful to look at the proposed plan and think about its structure. You might spot something in there that influences any custom plan that you put together.
My own view - that others (many of who know more than me) will disagree with - is that there is a lot of value in having one session per week where you do some work above your FTP, even in base. A VO2 workout, or a sprint session for instance.
With 12 - 13 hours per week consistently, you can achieve a lot.
That’s helpful. I was actually debating another structure where I’d do one SS session and one short power interval (30/15’s or 1-2 min intervals) every week or even do a Zwift race. I don’t think I could do “true” 5x5 all out VO2 max intensity every week of the year though (ex-recovery weeks).
If you find you’re having trouble doing the VO2 and the SS every week, you can try doing the VO2 every other week. So:
WK1: VO2 + SS
WK2: SS
WK3: VO2 + SS
WK4: Recovery Week (Or just the 1 SS)
Check out the sweet spot progression thread, lots of free knowledge and guidance in there. More specifically Kurt has some solid advice that works really well.
From my previous post “some work above your FTP” is (imo) the key
The workout catalogue has plenty of 2 hour sweet spot workouts that have hard starts to the intervals, quite a few 2 hour endurance workouts with bursts, and some 2 hour tempo workouts with a few sprints in them too.
lots of interesting answers here lol but I’m following and have followed very similar approach, in the past I’ve dragged the sweet spot over a couple of blocks, but this year I’m keeping it to a single block this month, and progressed 3x20, 3x25, 4x20, 3x30, and this week I’m due to do 2x50 and maybe 2x60. the one wrinkle is that I got talked into doing zwift racing league so I had a team time trial today, but that was just 40mins. i’m definitely not opposed to throwing in bursts for SS workouts, and i’ve prescribed it to one of my guys and I’ve done it myself, but aside from that I think there are plenty of opportunities in future blocks to do higher intensity and like to focus base on that sweet spot TTE and general endurance volume
With your first target event not coming until the end of May, I’d just be cautious about anything that might lead to burnout (physical and/or mental). I’m kind of in the same boat with my A race being Unbound 200 at end of May. I took a proper off season this year with some cross training and just started proper training for 2025 last week. And I’m super ready to train hard and get fast, but I also know that I don’t want to peak too early or burn out before my A race.
I’d agree with the other comments about working in a little intensity if that’s something you enjoy, but I personally minimize anything above sweet spot until I start build in March (just some group rides, c races, etc., but no structured intervals). It’s not that I question the benefits of doing some intensity now, but I don’t love threshold or v02max intervals and I know I’ll get burnt out on them if I start this early in the year. So, I’m a fan of a bunch of Z2, tempo, and sweet spot work during my base period (Jan/Feb). Basically just push as many Kj’s through my legs as I can. I really enjoy those kind of rides, so it’s easy for me to rack up some serious TSS without burning out physically or mentally. And when intervals start ~ March, my base is huge and I can mix in the intensity work while continuing to push volume and still adapt well to the training. I basically used this approach last year for Unbound (with one injury setback) and my durability was off the charts while I still had plenty of punchy power to race hard and stay with fast groups. Everyone has different physiology and motivation, but I know I’ve only got so many high quality intervals in me each season. A couple months of build plus a month of tuning/specialty prior to the race is about what I can do and my body seems to respond to that also. Anyways, just giving you my perspective since it sounds like we’re in the same boat from a timing perspective and some similarities with the longer events.
Sounds like you and I are quite similar so thanks a ton for the advice! Also, Unbound looks awesome so I’m very jealous. I really want to do that when I’m a bit more experienced.
Curious - what does your Build Phase generally look like as you prep for an event such as Unbound? Do you run some sort of VO2 block into Threshold TTE before Specialty?
Very helpful! I think I’m just going to do this approach. When I started on Trainerroad I was doing the Medium Volume Base plan so like 8-10 hours a week. I actually ramped up to 12 in November but was doing 2 days of pretty high intensity with it so I don’t think I ever properly built the base. I’m learning as I’m going so like the idea of 4-6 weeks just focused on Z2 + Sweetspot then maybe revisit a VO2 block to raise the ceiling.
I get good results doing it slightly differently - doing this type layout at this time of year
Mon off
Tues easy ride z1/z2 1 hr
Wed 3x20 sweetspot 1.5 hr total
Thurs 4x15 sweet spot 1.5 hr
Fri off
Sat 2-3 hrs zone 2/3
Sun 2-4 hrs zone 2/3
Then progress midweek intervals into steady state ftp then VO2 as season progresses.
Switched back to TR for a bit but prefer the above. 1st week back after xmas and strength training I need a few pauses in later intervals but come 2nd week have adapted and can do it. Love the freedom of weekend zone 2/3 rides also. Just ride.
For build, my intervals are mostly vo2max and over/unders. I don’t do much long threshold, prefer the over/unders. As far as pushing TTE/durability, my focus is volume and long rides. My 2 interval days will reach 5+ hours with the intervals in the middle of the ride (the balance being Z2). And my long Saturday rides will work up to 6+ hours at low tempo and surging into sweet spot on the climbs. For specialty, it’s a lot of the same, just backing down the volume (and a long/hard race a couple weeks out).
For these long events, I’m all about pushing CTL as high as possible and working in “just enough” high intensity intervals. Even for a ~12h race like unbound, the first 5+ hours have a bunch of intensity if you want to hang with fast groups.
