Has anyone had any success moving the longer / harder workout to the middle of the week in the low volume plan?
Also is there a Low Volume Plan with only 2 workouts a week?
I have 3 workouts in my plan and I usually ride outdoors on the weekend (Sat, Sun) and then take a rest day on Monday. So that means my hardest TR workout usually overlaps with the longer (and sometimes harder) outdoor rides on the weekend.
So far I’ve managed by either skipping outdoor rides this winter( we luck out and it either rains or snows out the ride), or just doing the 90 min TR session Sat and go into the harder Sunday ride with a bit less in the tank.
I’m also anticipating that this summer I’ll be working with our club to lead rides on both Sat and Sunday.
I wonder if moving the 90 minute TR session to either Tues or Friday might let me get in the harder/longer workout more consistently and let me a little more fresh for weekend rides when the weather warms up?
Life comes first, so just squeeze your TR plan of choice in to your schedule as best as you can. There isn’t much else you can do unless something gives.
Theres no plan that only has 2 workouts per week. However, its not uncommon for riders to substitute a TR workout for regular weekend ride. It may not be quite as efficient for training, but probably more fun!
I suspect one important element of the 90min ride is that its followed by 2 rest/easy/non TR days. So if you want to keep up with the 3 TR rides then you could try moving the 90min one to earlier in the week, followed by 2 days off.
Another idea, for similar volume, might be to do two workouts per week and do the +1 or +2 etc versions of them? There’s lots of flexibility in the plans and workouts so best choice is just to try a few options and see what works best for you. It will be a little different for everyone.
Maybe also consider loading up the MV plans but then just ride outdoors on Sat/Sun instead of the scheduled rides. That way you’ll have 3 weekday rides (2 harder, 1 aerobic) and then you get in your outdoor rides and you have something on the schedule if the weather (or something else) forces you indoors.
Otherwise, I would maybe take the LV plan and put the Tuesday and Saturday workouts on Tuesday and Thursday so that you get the hardest workouts in but then have your weekend free to do the outdoor rides.
There are a bunch of options and they kinda hinge on how much volume you can handle, how much time you have on the weekdays, and how hard the weekend rides are.
That sounds about what I’m thinking. I’m slowly increasing my volume. I can now do easy-ish weekend rides without feeling too tired for my next TR workout, but I’m still trying to manage volume and stress overall.
Can you look at Mid-Volume without loading it up on the calendar? I assume MV is 4 or 5 days a week or is it less? Are the workouts just as intense as LV?
Yeah, If you go on the website or app then go to the “training plans” tab you can preview all the plans.
MV tends to be the exact same as LV but the workouts start to get longer as you progress and they are 5 days per week with one being and endurance ride
I’m a little confused, what days are you riding? This is my best guess from what you wrote:
Mon: off
Tue: TR LV (?)
Wed: ?
Thur: TR LV (?)
Fri: off
Sat: TR LV + bonus miles (outdoor ride)
Sun: outdoor ride (what type?)
My preference is this template:
rest day
3-day mid-week block of training
rest day
2-day weekend block of training
With LV plans you can add an endurance day on Wed, and then do Saturday outside. Or to paraphrase onemanpeloton, you could take the two hardest workouts and do them Tue/Thur, and then on the weekend do endurance plus “stuff” which I would suggest making Saturday based on the 3rd workout and adding endurance miles.
That might look something like this:
Mon: off
Tue: TR LV longer workout (originally the Sat workout)
Wed: endurance miles
Thur: TR LV
Fri: off
Sat: longer outdoor endurance ride with intervals from TR LV’s Tue workout
Based on that, I’d start by putting the easiest workout on Saturday and adding zone2/endurance if doing it outside. Ease into that 2-day weekend block. You might want to try doing a super easy recovery ride on Wed and see if you can start progressing a 3-day mid week block.
Brilliant!!! i’ve been trying to solve this riddle my self for a long time. It solves the problem of too much intensity. I’m usually cooked by the summer when I incorporate outdoor rides with the better weather. I can’t wait to try this in the spring.
RydeRuff has a group ride on Sunday, and group rides can often be longer and harder than zone2 / endurance. So you really need to think about that weekend 2-day block, recovery requirements.
Don’t forget that you can move the weekly workouts around. As Pete often says on the Podcast, he makes sure that he does his KEY workouts. Those workouts that he knows will directly effect his personal training goals.
If you think you’re going to have a tricky week, make sure you move the workouts (as best you can) to ensure you’re getting your key workouts done. If you miss the third workout, here and there, you’ll still be getting some good stimulus.
I do a Tuesday, Thursday Friday schedule. I typically try to put the hardest workout of the week on Tuesday, followed by Thursday, and Friday is the longer / lower intensity intervals. For example, Low Volume Short Power Build usually has 2 VO2 Max workouts and a threshold workout each week. Even though the threshold was usually 1.5 I would schedule it for Fridays because I felt it easier to achieve when fatigued from the day before.
This leaves 3 days completely open in my schedule. So, whatever I want to do on the weekend and an easy day on Monday to recover from it. This has been working for me. I can always try and sit in a little on the weekends if absolutely needed.