Maybe it’s boredom, maybe lack of time, maybe something else, but quite often the thought of sitting on the trainer for between 60 and 90 minutes really puts me off. (No saddle pain particularly).
I’m finding that most of my workouts tend to be adjusted to the 45 minute variant.
This seems more confrontable and i always get through them.
I vary workouts and they are usually sweetspot , threshold, or sometimes VO2 etc.
I do 2 or 3 of these per week and often a more gentle ride at the weekend. So only between 2 and 3 hours a week of tough training per week.
My races are 10 and 25 mile TT’s. (PB 10 = 21m 10s and PB 25 = 55m 12s and I’ve been TT’ing for 2 seasons now).
FTP is between 290 and 320 depending on what stage in my training i am. Weight is 80kg and I’m 5ft 11in.
I’m not quite sure 45 minutes is long enough to develop the adaptations you’re after. Since your goals are for TT’s, a simple sweet spot session will be 3x20 not including warmup and recovery valleys. Those sustained efforts are really what’s going to increase your endurance.
Depends how aero you are! There are guys doing those kind of speeds on similar watts to you, but does require a fair bit of focus on optimising your TT equipment and position, and choosing a fast course.
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All my workouts are tough ones. Usually the tss is 10% or so more than the specified for the workout. I use a non-smart trainer and also the pace between intervals i usually go a bit faster as 50% of ftp is just too low.
I am trying to maximise efficiency on the bike as time is limited and unsurprisingly i feel i can hit 45 mins more intensely than the 60 to 90mins etc. And still get a good workout in.
But am i missing out on sonething by not doing the longer workouts that would get me to my goal?
Also, over 45 mins does get boring.
In other words is 3 x 60+ mins much better than 4 x 45 mins with less rest etc?
To reach your stated goals, you’ll need to boost your FTP by roughly 30-40 watts (according to Bike Calculator), which isn’t easy for someone like yourself who’s already at a high level. A lot of folks in your position start piling on volume.
If your genetic potential is high, you might be able to get there without that much volume, but I think if you can stretch your workouts to 60 minutes, you’ll see some improvement.
45 min is very little and is more along the lines of Sprint Interval Training. SIT uses 30-second sprints to fatigue your body into overall fitness gains. It’s something you can try and will probably net you some gains, but it’s not really a year-round type of program.
You need to have a clear vision of what you are training for and what you want to achieve, even if it’s not racing. My goal last year was to get to a level where I would be able to hang with the fast group rides locally, and to be able to shut up a few idiots on Strava. If you focus on your end goal, you will get over the boredom. My question to myself last year, and this year (finally decided to race in 2020) is “how bad do you want it”. If you’ve never seen the Eric Thomas speech I suggest you check it out:
Life is too short to do something you don’t like, if you can’t take it outside for motivation then maybe time trialling isn’t for you? The beauty of shorter TT’s like you do is you can get very quick off 6-8 hours per week. But if you’re not motivated to train then getting faster isn’t going to happen
Or, I double up and do my (usually an hour of sweetspot or vo2) then jump on my outdoor bike and head out for 30-60mins at a low intensity to act as the endurance aspect. If it could work for you too, great
