Rolling Race vs Long Climb Racing Training…What’s The Difference

Training
1

Can someone tell me the difference in the training characteristics between Rolling vs Long Climb training plans?
If I’m doing a rolling races will I not be prepared for the short punchy and intense if I do a Long Climb race plan?
Thanks

2

Also, I’ve noticed that on the higher intensity training days the difficult efforts are just at or hardly above my FTP. Personally I feel that if I’m training to race short or long climbs where I’m well above my FTP I should be doing more training at those extremely high levels.
Am I wrong?

3

Hey there!

The Rolling RR plan focuses on making athletes more “well-rounded,” while the Climbing RR plan focuses on rides/races with long climbs. Here are the descriptions of each plan:

  • Rolling RR: For athletes targeting rides and races on rolling roads, the final phase of training is designed to form a well-rounded competitor—one with strong endurance and sustained power, as well as the ability to surge across gaps, up short climbs, and through the final sprint.

  • Climbing RR: For rides and races on roads with long climbs, this final phase of training is designed to equip athletes with a well-rounded but specialized skill set. This includes endurance to last through multi-hour events, the ability to explosively surge across gaps, and especially the strength to sustain multiple near-FTP efforts up long climbs.

So the Rolling RR plan will likely get you better prepared for shorter, punchier climbs, while the Climbing RR plan will get you in better shape for longer, sustained climbs that might have some surges.

As for your higher-intensity days, could you give some examples? If you’re talking about Threshold workouts, then it would make sense that they are at your FTP instead of above. If you mean VO2 or Anaerobic workouts, though, it might be because they are at lower Workout Levels, and thus may not be as intense as higher-level workouts would be. I checked out your account, though, and it does look like your VO2 Max Progression Level is pretty high at 5.8 right now.

If your sessions feel easier than you’d ideally like them to be, you could use Workout Alternates to find a “Stretch” workout. If you complete such a workout, your Progression Levels will increase accordingly, and Adaptive Training will start to prescribe you more challenging workouts.

Hope this helps – feel free to let me know if you have any additional questions!