Save easier endurance workouts for outside/weekend

Hi,

I sadistically enjoy hard workouts, and lose focus during easier indoor workouts.

Is it feasible to swap out the mid-week endurance sessions for v02 max, anaerobic type workouts? Obviously when an easier week is on the plan I’ll follow that so as not too overtrain and burn out.

I really enjoy the punchy on/off workouts and the satisfaction of completing them.

Currently on mid-volume rolling road race and currently in the build phase, as I am riding Paris-Roubaix sportive in June.

And to finish, I love TrainerRoad, thank you! I started structured training in January after, fours years off (last time I rode Roubaix) and got back into structured training after being asked to ride it again this year. Since January I have added 50w to my FTP, after a couple of weeks off here and there due to work and the “C” word illness! On track to hit 300w FTP in time for the big cobbled day :blush:

Those mid-week z2 rides are low intensity because they follow, and are also followed afterwards, by high intensity rides. You need those easy days or you’ll be doing 3 hard days in a row.

Now, in the short term you may enjoy that and find it achieveable but longer term you’ll likely run into trouble. Read any of the countless threads on here about people over doing the intensity with TR plans. I’d suggest that if you did that swap and did 3 hard rides back to back you’d probably find yourself in a deep hole and in trouble by June for P-R. You need to remember its not the workout that makes you fit - its the recovery and adaption fro the stress it creates. 3 hard back to back days allows no recovery and when you then go into lots of work on weekends and repeat the next week, you are gradually digging a bigger and bigger hole.

The other approach is what some coaching companies do, like Fascat for example. The do 3 days but start with a hard session on day 1, have a slightly easier session on day 2 and then the easiest on day 3 - so as your fatigue develops across the 3 days you still ‘feel’ like you’re working hard, but you’re not digging the same hole and recovery is easier. The TR workouts are on/off/on/off so they are designed so that you have recovery and then hit it hard again when you are a little fresher. Filling in that easier ‘off’ day with another hard day will totally turn that on its head and mean you have 3 sessions that are not designed to be done back to back. You’ll likely also find the quality of the later sessions rapidly falls as you’re simply too tired to hit the numbers properly.

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It’s worth taking a look at the Week Tips for some guidance on substitutions for weekend rides.

Unfortunately, the introduction of Progression Levels has lead to some changes in the prescribed workouts, and the names aren’t the same. But basically the above suggests swapping out the sweet spot weekend workout for a longer endurance ride.

As a separate issue, I would have thought the Century/Fondo speciality was a better fit for the demands of P-R sportive than Rolling Road Race.