Hi,
I finished SSBII low volume. Very tough legs in the week before the easier trainings. I go to the Alps in 9 weeks and was thinking to focus more on long outside rides to have enough km before I leave. In between I would do Trainerroad workouts. What workouts are good? How many should I do a week? Or do you think it’s better to continue with a training plan?
I have to decide now, Wednesday is my ramp test to (eventually) start the built phase.
All tips are more than welcome!
Thanks
If it were me I would add either General Power Build or Sustained Power Build Low Volume to my calendar.
Then on any given week I would supplement the 3 Trainer Road rides with a long outdoor ride and, potentially, replace one of the TR workouts with an outdoor ride with similar effort. For example, I had Bashful +1 today as part of Sus Pow Build LV, but could have take the bike out and done similar 60/30s on local hills.
Practice lower cadence work. I thought i wouldn’t need to, but my average of 56rpm over 2hrs15 going up one of the Cols says otherwise!
As far as recovery goes if you’re staying in Bormio you definitely have to check out the bar below Hotel Funivia! So much cycling goodness!!
Bormio indeed. I’ll keep it in mind.
Is 1 longer outside ride enough?
What are you doing in the Alps? Is it just one day like a gran fondo or is it a multi day race, a week away where you plan to tick off climbs?
I did the latter a few years ago and mainly worked on sweetspot in preparation as I knew that’s what I would be doing day in day out for 12 days. 1-2 hours of climbing at 90% ftp.
If it’s a gran fondo then maybe the general build.
Remember that the closer you get to your target event then the more your workouts should become like your target event.
3 days of riding ± 130km rides with alpine climbs like Stelvio, Gavia, Mortirolo. No race just enjoying the view, to enjoy I need to be trained 
If doing the steep side of the Mortirolo I’d do some out of the saddle work as well. I think I spent more time out of the saddle than in it. Was brutal but brilliant.
You say that now but I bet the old competitive nature kicks in on each climb! 
For me, I was only riding 1 or 2 climbs a day with maximum of 2-2.5 hours of climbing so I trained doing long sweetspot sessions building up to an hour or so of non stop sweetspot work. I think it helped a lot plus I was fairly happy with my times up the climbs. They were hard, but still enjoyable.
I did try and go harder on Alpe d’Huez and hated the entire climb!
None of the climbs I tackled were particularly steep, so you might want to think about gearing if the ones you are doing are!
would you rather ride outside? It’s getting nice outdoors in most places. Do they workouts outside where you will actually be riding; this will make you a better overall cyclist.
Work on some tempo (90%), sweet spot, threshold, and even vo2max, as there were certainly be times you want to rev it up and over a climb. That will also push our your aerobic ceiling to grow a larger FTP down the road, and you won’t risk stagnation.
Don’t do all these in one week. Build to them and use vo2max sparingly.
Have an amazing trip!
PS, don’t forget to rest, that’s when you’ll absorb all the training and get faster
Problem is that on my bike I don’t have a powermeter. So I don’t have any references when training outside.
And indeed, although it’s not a race, I want to do the climbs the best I can.
ah dang; hmm. that does make it more difficult; could use HR but not always ideal.
Plug: follow us as we’re getting ready to drop some power meter giveaways this summer; working out details with the sponsoring company this month