I find myself somewhere in between mid and high volume plans.
specifically looking at Sweet Spot Base part 2, there is a huge jump from mid to high volume TSS (400->630) and time (6.2 → 10.2 hrs) per week.
it would be great if there was an option for “mid volume +1, mid volume -1”, etc that would add/remove a workout or switch out +/- versions of workouts to get the desired TSS and time.
15 Likes
You are not alone. Many people want the Goldilocks plan between Low-Mid or Mid-High.
We can do it manually with some effort. But I almost expect this to be solved via the upcoming “new features” that may well lead us to the more “optimized” version of a plan and/or workout to suit our individual needs. All guessing at this point, but the hints dropped sound interesting.
9 Likes
Putting together the plans is a ton of work. So go from three volumes to 5 or 9 seems like a ton of effort for little gain and tons of decision paralysis. I think the answer to your ask is actually the rumored/speculated about adaptive training. It’s not here yet, don’t know when it will be here, but apparently @chad is working on something.
1 Like
Bear in mind for your example that SSB HV has a different design than LV/MV. So there could be an MV+1 or HV-1, but not necessarily a midpoint between them.
2 Likes
I think the easiest way to handle this is to choose a plan that you know you can do, and then add in an extra ride or 2 each week if you can handle it. I do the low volume plan and then add in an MTB or Fat Bike ride each week all winter (yes, even at -26 C like it is here today…). That’s more than enough extra load to satisfy me.
11 Likes
I’m going to echo some of the sentiments above, if the TR guys go creating all these multiple levels of plans, it would just lead to more decision paralysis, in my opinion. 3 volume choices is definitely adequate, and I personally think there’s value for people learning how to modify plans to suit their needs and preferences and not having everything ready-made
7 Likes
What I did was choose the HV plan and then just delete a ride from the week to suit what I was wanting. You could drop one of the weekend rides to get the TSS closer to a MV+1 or drop one of the shorter/less intense rides to get closer to a HV -1.
Some good tips here
2 Likes
The latest episode of the podcast (#206) included a discussion on why most people should start with the low-volume plans. I find myself wanting something in between low- and mid-volume. Specifically, I would like to keep 3 workouts during the week but only one during the weekend, so that on the other day of the weekend I can go out for rides with my mates. Of course, I could do this manually by either deleting workouts in the mid-volume plans or adding them to the low-volume plans.
Would anyone else be interested in such a plan?
3 Likes
I think if you are including a random ride with mates every week you need to do your own scheduling.
Why not try squeezing LV into Mon-Fri and base your 4th TR workout as complimentary to the outdoor ride to keep TSS and intensity at the levels you need.
2 Likes
Support this fix. The 4th TR workout can i.e. be based on Wednesdays in the MV plans. You can also schedule the ride with your mates as a recurring ride and assign a planned TSS.
Sure, I can do all of that, but I reckon this is an extremely common scenario during the on-season that this might merit an officially supported training plan. For example, what drove me away from the LV plan was the markedly lower intensity (including in the individual workouts), and I am too much of a completionist to delete workouts 
It’s not clear what you mean here. Which plan, and what do you mean by intensity?
Typical intensity as measured by IF tends to be higher in the lower-volume plans, because they are stripped down to only the high-intensity work. Volume is certainly lower, both in number of workout days in the plan and length of each workout. But where that extra workout length is spent varies. The high-intensity workouts (e.g., VO2max) don’t typically get more work at high intensity; they get extra aerobic work tacked on. Compare, for example, General Build Low to General Build Medium. Time at high intensity is practically the same for the Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday workouts.
I think your situation is exactly what they were talking about in the podcast. You want three structured workout days and to also do some extra riding – a fun ride on the weekend. Do the Low Volume plan. Put those three structured days – which are the most valuable three days out of the Medium Volume plan, by the way – on the week. Put your weekend ride as a recurring event on the schedule. (If you miss it, substitute with the appropriate Sunday ride from the Medium Volume plan.) Not enough work for you? First make sure you’re nailing your three workouts 100%. If that goal is met, you can add work by tacking on riding at about 65-70% FTP to the end of any of the structured workouts. (Now you have more or less recreated the Medium Volume plan minus the short midweek aerobic ride.)
6 Likes
Perfection 
2 Likes
Yes, I meant TSS, not IF.
No, I want four structured workouts, three during the week and one on the weekend.
Ah, I misunderstood. One structured workout and one ride-with-friends on the weekend? For a total of five?
Mid-volume plan already has five workouts. The unstructured ride replaces your Sunday ride. Leave the Sunday ride on the schedule, though, and just Associate your unstructured ride with the scheduled workout after it syncs in.
8 Likes
Do exactly this. I do the same as long as the weather cooperates.
1 Like
i don’t think TR needs more plans. With the low and mid volume plans to start from, the calendar feature and workout creator are all you need to tweak from there.
I use the low volume plans as my baseline to build from. I sometimes swap out workouts, and/or add outside workouts. I really like this flexibility to take control of my plans.
3 Likes
Agreed. The law of diminishing returns is worth remembering here. Only they really know, but there would be a huge amount of work to build and maintain the Low-Mid and Mid-High (intermediate volume) plans that have been requested here and elsewhere.
When you consider that this would be needed for at least Sweet Spot Base, then 3 Builds, and 14 Specialties (from Road, Off-Road & Triathlon), you will see that leads to a large amount of time. You need to make them in the first place, and then maintain them over time (which we saw for many plans last Fall).
The number of people splintering between that wider options might work in theory, but you would still see people asking for modifications because even those wouldn’t be “perfect” for some people. At some point, we need to take on some effort to adjust these plans for our individual needs.
TR does a better job than most services for offering advice and direction to do that. And at a $15 per month fee, much more than that seems like a big ask to me.
On top of that, I am not aware of any other service that offers the sheer number of plans that cover the full depth of phases (28 weeks from start to completion) that are already offered. I admit to not digging that deep into the competition, but from what I have seen, nothing else really comes close to the current TR plan offerings.
I don’t see enough need to push that hard on the intermediate plans with all that is currently offered, and the ways we can easily mold it to our specific needs.
3 Likes
I didn’t realize that an outside ride could be associated with the day’s scheduled TR ride like that, thanks for the suggestion!
2 Likes