- plan: ssb1 LV Mon, Tues and Friday (60min max)
- Wednesday World Championship with the club
- 2 bodyweight & kb sessions aimed for when I can, but do skip weekend one to hike/MTB/diy/life admin
Guess it’s a plan question.
Currently I’ve planned my week as above which isn’t massive compared to others but I am improving. The modifications are only on the daily level where sometimes you wake up and know your legs are there.
For example today I could feel the kb session and DIY from Sunday along with Goddard yesterday, but I tried Mono -2 and subsequently died after 30 mins. Tbh I knew I would die before I even put the first pedal stroke in.
At times like this you’ve got 3 options: fail the scheduled one, find an easier alternative or rest.
Obviously I tried the fail option, and I should say this isn’t the first time I’ve gone down this route. For best results is an easy alt the best plan or rest it? Clearly only I know just how fucked my legs were but in a general light fatigue where you know you’ve done some exercise but not crippling doms I guess doing something is better than nothing otherwise I’ll never get any strength work done.
I need a clear 48hrs after lifting before I consider an interval session, that’s why I do my intervals in the morning and lifting later on the same day. It cooks me pretty good that day but it means I’m not compromising rest days with lifting, which is as taxing if not more so than intervals.
If sore what I would do is some light endurance, like 55-60% FTP and see how your legs feel. Mine usually come good after 20mins or so and it’s comfortable. This would probably be preferable than skipping a day, especially if you are on very low volume e.g. 3 days/wk
I’d have done a recovery ride (45 mins tops) on Tuesday and Mono -2 on Wednesday.
“What about Wednesday Night World Championships?” in response to “What about Wednesday Night World Championships?” 
+1 on the wisdom of doubling up riding and lifting in order to preserve recovery days.
Wednesday Worlds will only go on for a couple more months before it’s too dark after work, but don’t really want to miss them as it’s my only social ride (well social anything really).
Think I might have to reduce via easier alternative sessions my Tues or Mon depending on legs until training season is well underway, then I will be doing MWF sessions so more recovery time.
Hey @firemunki, good question!
First off, there is a ton of great information about combining strength training with a cycling schedule in the TR support article below. Check it out!
* Combining Cycling & Weight Training: How to Time Your Workouts
As a quick note, given the volume of your plan, you have some options regarding which days to double up on TR workouts/BW/KB sessions. I’d probably recommend Friday as your double day as it is one of your “easier” workouts of the week, and you have two rest days afterward. After that, Sunday might be a good day for the other BW/KB session as it comes after another rest day, and the following workout is another “easier” one.
To answer your question about fail/alternate/skip, I’d always recommend dialing things back rather than pushing forward when incorporating a bunch of extra work into your schedule. If you’re really sore and “know” that you’re going to fail your workout, skip it. There’s no sense in pushing yourself to your limits as it will only make the recovery before your next activity more difficult. If you’re tired/sore but feeling good and motivated to ride, I’d actually recommend using TrainNow to select an Endurance workout rather than using Workout Alternates, as Alternates will likely give you workouts pretty similar to what you had scheduled.
The bottom line here is that you’re getting plenty of stimulus in with all of the different activities on your schedule, so don’t be afraid to change up your workout or skip it entirely when you feel the need.
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Riding outside I’ll keep warming up for a solid 30 minutes, and if legs still aren’t happy then I ride easy. Whatever easy feels like that day. More volume. Fitness keeps going up.
Endurance sports are not like weight lifting. Easy contractions of the heart and legs are enough to stimulate adaptations, and allow for more volume and consistency. More volume and consistency will drive gains. Toss in some hard stuff too.