Due to work I have not been cycling as much as I would like lately. However, I have a cycling trip planned with my club in five weeks, during which we will be riding more than 60 miles each day, with a couple of 100-mile days. In order to be in peak physical condition for the trip, I am willing to do whatever it takes.
Realistically, I will have four weeks of intense training, followed by one week of recovery before the trip. Recently I have been mostly riding socially on gravel with no proper structure but over the last two years, I have completed multiple 100-200 mile rides, and have even done an Everest, but I was in better shape then.
I have decided to follow the low volume plan builder route, which includes Sweet Spot Base 1, but I want to add more volume to the plan. I am considering adding 1-2 hour zone 2 workouts on Mondays and Wednesdays. In the past, I have tried to mix in TR workouts with club bashes, but for the next month, I will be strict and do everything on TR to get the most out of my training.
I am wondering if this is the best approach or if I should try the polarized high volume plan instead? What would others suggest in my situation?
Train now takes a lot of guess work out of it and is the easy button.
Taking life time commitments into consideration, if you can commit to additional 60 minute z2 rides I’d opt for more frequency and increased volume before making your existing less frequent trainings longer. Z2 is a safe addition to any plan, especially since durations are <2hrs. Just don’t sacrifice sleep. Or you can blend the two and add 30 mins to a sweet spot workout and add a 4th 60-75 min z2 ride in there. Could be a good hybrid.
Bottom line: whatever you can stick to to safely increase volume and recover properly. Then the camp you’ll be recovered and raring to go!
Varies from 5-9 hours/week but this mostly involves unstructured riding, I’m willing to ditch these fully for the next month to get the most out of TR. I can probably go up to 12hrs/week but just wary of overtraining.
Yeah. Your unstructured riding has served its purpose in a decent base. Get some intensity in to have some fun in the big group rides for the vacation, or use it to hold the wheel(s) of the guys you want to smash it with.
Training plans aren’t apples(base) and oranges(build)
More like a smoothie.
Given the information you’ve provided, I would hit a LVbuild up. Best case you gain some punch, worst case you raise your base a bit.
I’d have thought the unstructured rides will have included intensity? That’s the nature of an unstructured ride, usually touches a bit of every intensity.