Outside Season - training modification

Hey - Just started back up on trainerroad after some time off the platform.

Back in time i only used Trainerroad on trainer indoor but for the next months i will ride outdoor 90% of my rides.

Now to the question:
Trainingplan have alot of short workouts scheduled 1-1.5 hrs. And normally i ride 2-4 hrs. Outdoor.

What is best practice? To choose alternate workout with longer duration? Then the plan will be different from the original plan. Or just accept alot of short rides?

To go with polarized plan for longer outdoor rides also?

I also train with my team when it fits in my calendar.

Looking forward to hear what u guys are doing for you outdoor seasons.

Best regards!

If you go to your calendar and click on the current phase (ie Base 1, General Build, etc) you will then be able to change the workout durations, days for each workout, indoor vs outdoor, etc. That will change the setting for every workout in the current phase but not future phases.

In the summer, I prefer Masters Plans. I swap the Thursday and Saturday workout so I’m doing two days of structured intensity. Then my Wednesday, (new) Saturday, and Sunday are all endurance rides.

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Hey there and welcome to the TR community!

I think going with a Polarized Plan or perhaps a Masters Plan, as @mtbjones suggested, would be a good move.

Either of those plans would have you doing 2 intensity days per week, which would allow you to stack on more Z2/Endurance volume without too much high-intensity work. Increasing the duration of your current workouts to 2-4 hours while maintaining 3 days of intensity would be a pretty big jump in training stress, which could quickly lead to excess fatigue.

Even if you do switch to a Polarized/Masters Plan, we’d recommend gradually increasing your training volume over time rather than jumping straight from 1-1.5 hours/workout to 2-4 hours/workout. It sounds like you’d be at least doubling your training volume, which is a significant increase. I think it’d be a good idea to start by adding ~15-30 minutes to a few of your sessions each week so you can build that volume up over time. If you doubled (or more than doubled) your volume immediately, you’d probably face a big risk of overtraining/burnout.

Just something to consider as we get into the outdoor season. :slight_smile:

Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions about switching up your training plan!

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