Hello. I’ve been doing a low volume training plan but find it hard to stick to it while trying to incorporate weekend rides with friends which tend to be 3-4 hour tough rides while getting enough rest. Right now I do TR mon wed fri but then have to do a tough weekend ride either day after or day before a TR session which I know is not ideal. Being this is the low volume plan each TR day is rated as difficult.
Would you do 2 TR sessions on consecutive days say Monday Tuesday rest Wednesday train Thursday and tough weekend ride Saturday? Or skip a TR day or change a TR day to lower intensity TR session? I really don’t want to change the difficulty of my weekend rides since that would mean my buddies would always be waiting for me or I would have to do them alone which would be a bummer.
Thanks!
This question get answered fairly commonly on the podcast ans seems to revolve around swapping out one of your intensity days. That has worked for me too, I sometimes do a hard drop ride on a Tuesday and will drop on the the sessions as 4 x intensity is hard! If you want to keep the volume maybe swap the Monday ride for an easy hour to keep the legs spinning. Hope this helps
My lv plan is Monday Tuesday Thursday, with zone 2 added as I feel - normally Fri but sometimes weds instead.
Sat is whatever takes me: gravel, fast smash fest, MTB or even another turbo.
Another option is dropping one TR session and then doing your workouts on Tuesday / Thursday and leave your weekend rides as is.
This is a fairly traditional approach to a training week….you can then add in endurance rides on Weds if you have the time.
You don’t find the mon-Tuesday to be too tough on build phase?
This is what I’m doing at the moment:
Saturday: fairly hard, long ride (300-500 TSS, IF 0.8-0.9)
Sunday: fairly hard, long ride (300-500 TSS, IF 0.8-0.9)
Monday: active recovery
Tuesday: LV prescribed 1hr workout
Wednesday: LV prescribed 1hr workout
Thursday: LV prescribed 1,5hr workout
Friday: either additional 1,5hr endurance or sweet spot workout, depending on how I feel
I get around 800-1000 TSS a week, which is quite a lot I reckon. Mondays I’m very fatigued, but rest of the week is Ok. Never failed a workout and FTP is going up (currently 4.2 w/kg).
You will be fine doing TR rides on consecutive days, might take a few weeks to adjust but you’ll be fine. I do a medium volume plan Tuesday thru Friday and a hard 3hr race pace ride on Sunday. Saturday and Monday are bike rest days.
I’ve been on a LV plan since I started TR last March 2020. During lockdown, I did all 3 prescribed workouts per week with a Z2 ride (about 90 min and low-ish TSS). After local guidelines were relaxed, I wanted to get in some longer and more intense outdoor weekend rides, but knew that adding this to the existing 3 workouts per week plus life-stress would bring some added fatigue. I ended up dropping the prescribed 90 minute workout and substituted my outside ride. My 60 minute workouts are Wed and Fri, with the outside ride being on Sunday. Gives me a couple days off the bike to incorporate some weight training too. I’ve been doing that for the past 7-8 months yet still making gains.
Not always great fun!
But it’s manageable and my thinking is I train to be faster for non racing rides (cos I’m just not good enough) so if I occasionally have to reduce or skip a workout to keep my outside ride it’s a ok sacrifice.
I do LV Tues/Thurs/Fri with 3-4 hours MTB Sundays. Monday is a rest day, Saturday is a family day (so never restful). I also incorporate various strength training on trainer days too and Wednesdays.
You get used to it, your body adapts to what you can fit in over time. 
If these stats are only “fairly hard” for you then I’d venture your FTP is way low haha. These rides would probably hurt almost anyone and to do it twice a week is crazy. These are like 4-6 hour hard race efforts.
you are probably correct. I just had a scheduled ramp test and it put me from 267 to 283 (4.4w/kg) Pretty sure these are noob gains, as I’m only 3 months into structured training (and a bit over a year since starting riding a bike), but pretty happy with the results. Still, I think my Saturday and Sunday rides are around 0.8 IF and they are between 4 to 7 hours. By “fairly hard” I mean that they are certainly hurting and the rest of these days is spent resting, but they are not all out efforts, I could go harder and I could go longer.
My last mountain bike race was .7 IF for 3.5 hours (180 TSS). I was dead by the end, pushing hard for the last hour to try and catch back up to my friend who is my main rival ( I did manage to catch him…he is currently training for the Swiss Epic). While it was at elevation (6000’ above where I live), I do race with a Pro license so I am fairly experienced.
When I was at my peak a couple years ago, I set a course record at a local, smaller event. It was 5 hours of racing, I did that one at .7 IF (240 TSS) and I was surprised I was able to walk after that. A month before that I got a top 10 at a pretty large event and I couldn’t even sprint the last few hundred feet of climbing at the end and lost a position a minute from the finish line, I had NOTHING left in me. That was also .7 (300 TSS).
So you are saying you are doing back to back rides on weekends that would have someone with a pro license collapsing at the end? I mean, I am a slow pro, near the back of the pack. I did 500 TSS at a 24 hour MTB race, 15 hours of solid riding.
Is there a way to link rides from my calendar? Does just copying links work?
If so, here are the receipts.last weekend I did this ride on Saturday: Log In to TrainerRoad followed by this on Sunday: Log In to TrainerRoad
The weekend before I did this ride on Saturday: Log In to TrainerRoad and this on Sunday: Log In to TrainerRoad
Get a message saying your data is private. Not sure where you can change it but it should be a setting somewhere on your profile.
should be accessible now
this would totally crush me and seems like a crazy idea for 99% of the population.
My respect though 
Those are massive rides for sure. I am willing to bet your FTP is still set low though as a guess. Are these road rides? I did a road race a few years ago with similar numbers as your “Bummelrunde” ride. I was around 5w/kilo at the time (64’ish k and 300’ish watts) and had 300 TSS with a .7 IF. I was flat dead at the end.
You are probably stronger than you think.
Yes, these are full on rode rides.
5w/kg is my goal for this year. I still can lose another 3-4kg (currently at 64kg) and getting to 300w FTP should be doable.
I don’t think my FTP is set too low now. At yesterdays ramp test I gave everything I got. I may have not been recovered fully and could have carbed up more, but I think 283 is realistic, if not even a bit too high, since my kickr core tends to read a few watts above my dual sided garmin rally powermeter.
I think I’m gifted with very good recovery during a ride, my top end power is nothing to speak of, but I’m pretty good at long efforts around 80% of FTP, even late into a long ride.
You can say that again. I thing that stands out the most to me about those rides is in “Bummelrunde” you did 2 6-7 min efforts at ~108% at 7.5 and 8 hours into the ride (3500 and 3900 KJs). Those are seriously hard efforts even at the beginning of a ride (that’s essentially the older TR 8 min FTP test). You could just have some seriously impressive fatigue resistance but to me that would indicate that your FTP is a bit low. But if 283 is about right for your normal interval rides then maybe it is right and you just perform really really well deep into a ride.