New to Trainer Road, where to start newbie questions

Training
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Greetings,

I just signed up for Trainer Road (TR), and would like some advice from forum members on where to start and which training plans I should use.

I have been road cycling for about 20 months, and using that ever popular virtual world cycling software for about 16 months. Want to try TR for several reasons. A more serious training commitment on my part. I believe the TR calendar will be extremely useful for me. And I have been listening to the TR podcasts which I find very informative, AND motivating.

I’m an enthusiast road cyclist (group rides, solo rides), I try to ride 5-10 hours per week (varies a lot), combination outdoor rides (weather dependent), indoor trainer. I’m comfortable 50 - 60 mile rides, but want to ride a century soon. During nice weather, longer days, sometimes will bike & train to work, and a have beautiful 20-25 mile commute home. I’m using a Wahoo Kickr Snap, and my FTP is 260. During the past 2 years have lost a significant amount of weight (approx 40 lb), and have about 10-15 lb more to reach my goal of 180 lb.

I want to use TR to maintain and improve my cycling fitness.
I want to use TR to help reach my weight goal.
I want to use TR to prepare for my first century ride this spring/summer.

PS. I’m good for about an hour, hour and half at most on the indoor trainer, after that extreme boredom sets in.

Thanks in Advance, Max

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Here is the start page for the training plans:
https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/plans

Most common recommendations:

  • First, riders new to structured training are recommended to use the Low Volume versions of the following plans. This gives you 3 workouts per week, 60-90 minutes each.
  • You can supplement with outdoor rides or additional indoor workouts, if you can handle the work and recovery. But start with Low and see how you handle it.
  1. Base Phase: Do Sweet Spot Base I (6 weeks) and then Sweet Spot Base II (6 weeks)
  2. Build Phase: Likely do Sustained Power Build (8 weeks) for longer efforts like the century.
  3. Specialty Phase: Likely choose the Century Specialty (8 weeks) to get you solid long range power.
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Hi Chad,

Awesome, thank you so much for the advice, much appreciated.
Really looking forward to using TR.
Will start tomorrow after work.

Take care…

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+1 on what Chad said - you’ll thank him later

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Hello.

I know this is an old post but I am in a similar boat but with an Olympic distance coming up soon. I have had very little time on the bike recently and ideally would like to add one or two more sessions in. What sort of additional indoor workouts are recommended? Thanks!

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If you are a TrainerRoad user, I’d suggest looking at their Oly Tri plan for the distance and volume you need.

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Rather than post a new topic, I figured I’d search and -boom-! Amazing what you can find.

I’ve been listening to the podcast for about six months and bought a powered trainer to help ride through the bad air quality we had in Central California last year, but I could never get into it because I was overdoing the efforts by 70-80w.

Thanks TR crew for a fantastic product and a even better customer service experience!

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