Building a plan and plan selection

Training
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Hello everybody,
I’m seeking suggestions on which type of plan would best suit reaching my goal. My A event is scheduled for the beginning of October, a road race covering about 120km with 2000m of elevation gain. While there aren’t any major climbs, the longest ones are 6km and 7km.

For context, I recently raced in a similar event and finished in 4 hours 40 minutes. I’m a male, 33 years old, with an estimated FTP of 310W, which translates to 3.44W/kg. While not particularly high, considering my limited cycling background and race experience, it’s promising. I’ve been following TrainerRoad’s (TR) estimations and sticking to their suggested plans. Since November, when I restarted structured training, I’ve increased my estimated FTP by 30W. While these numbers may not be exact, I’m noticing progress on the road, which is encouraging.

I’m 194cm tall, so weight loss isn’t a priority for me right now. My goal is to complete the A race as close to the 4-hour mark as possible. While it may not be a remarkable result in my category, it’s a significant achievement for me.

Therefore, I’ve decided to opt for a high-volume (HV) plan, as I can commit to a 10-hour per week training schedule. However, I’m uncertain about which type of plan would best help me achieve my goal. The 6-week building polarized plan emphasizes threshold workouts, while the Traditional plan incorporates a mix of Sweet Spot and Threshold in Phases I and II, and adds some VO2 max sessions in Build Phase III.

Between now and the A event, I have a B race scheduled in June, which is similar in length and elevation but features many ‘walls’ (in Flanders style) and no major climbs. I’m also considering including other C events, perhaps once a month.

According to Best Bike Split, to reach my goal, I need to average 30km/h, generating an average power of 245W.

What’s your opinion on this?

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Use Plan Builder. Regarding which plans to choose, (polarized versus sweet spot) choose whichever you find looks more interesting/fun. There will be no difference in outcome, but consistency matters. After 7 years with TrainerRoad I can tell you that it is about just putting in the work and being consistent. Whether one workout is better than another or pyramid versus polarized is marginal at best. All roads lead to Rome.

Personally, I prefer Sweet Spot Base (I swap the threshold for another SS workout) then Sustained Power Build.

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Hey @fabio272!

Yes! As @MI-XC mentioned, I would highly recommend using Plan Builder considering you have other events along the way. Plan Builder will create a training plan targeted to your A Event, but also adjust your training for other events along the way.

As far as to what discipline to pick for your A Event, I would probably select the Gran Fondo (which I see you already have :sunglasses:). These specialty blocks primarily focus on muscular endurance, equipping you to pedal powerfully for hours on end over widely-varied terrain. But they also include some higher-intensity VO2 max efforts, so you’ll have the fitness you need to stay at the front when the pace rises.

The only thing, I would probably recommend to keep an eye on is the High Volume Plan. We normally only recommend this type of plan for very experienced rides since it’s a nice load of training. I would consider changing the plan to a Master’s; this will swap one of your interval training days for an endurance day (more rest, but still getting in the hours). If along the way you see that the volume is too much you can always switch to a Mid Volume. The last thing we want is to burn the matches before you even get to the event.

Here is also a super helpful blog post that touches on training, nutrition, strategy, etc… for these types of events:

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Thank you both for the clear answers!
I’ll definitely use the plan builder as you suggested scheduling at first the A event. And adjust it according to other events.
Concerning the volume, at this point instead of Master maybe I’ll pick either one from Polarized Base or Generale Base but reduce to Mid Volume.

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