I’m looking to add some structure to my training for an upcoming multi-day event in mid January. This event will be 5 days with an average of 100 miles and 8k ft climbing per day.
For the last 4-5 months I’ve been doing outdoor ‘base’ training after taking time off the bike for some life stuff.
My average week has been 17-20 hours ( ~750 tss), almost all zone 2 with a faster group ride once a week or every two weeks. I’d like to think I have a good base now but with no top-end.
Without knowing more about what you’ve been doing, I’ll tell you what I would do. I’d be inclined to load SSB-2 MV or General Build, do 3 hard workouts from the plan, and continue doing another 2 days/week of endurance riding. Also I would be careful to not drop overall training load even if that meant possibly trimming back some of the hard intervals. A small 2week taper, so 6 weeks of intervals to sharpen up sustained threshold power and top-end 2-6 minute power. That would be my first thoughts, based on what I know about myself.
8000 ft of climbing is where you need to make your effort count . Climbing road race is geared to train your ability to ride at high percentages of threshold .
Do you have any prior experience with the TR plans and/or what typically works well for you in a build? Those could be good starting points. I’d also consider outdoor/indoor balance and if you’re planning to add any additional rides-I think MV would be a solid bet coming from that kind of base, but LV+endurance or one of the polarized plans would be more than enough to sharpen you up with a bit of flexibility. (I’d probably be preferential to the latter, but that might change based on time constraints or if you’re staring down a winter on the trainer)
No prior TR experience. I’m still planning to do my z2/endurance rides outside, so like you say, maybe one of the polarized plans.
I like the idea of doing the hard ride on the trainer, as that’s where I need the structure and I feel like it will be nice to just put my head down and get them done as opposed to trying to do them outdoors, looking for appropriate uninterrupted sections of road, dodging traffic etc.
First post - SaffaSurfer’s average hours is 17-20 per week so I think the pedal turning for a long time is mission accomplished.
@SaffaSurfer I max out around 12 hours per week, someone else at your level might have better input. I’d imagine day 2 has a couple climbs up the coastal mountains on the southern half of Big Sur. Mt Fig is a heck of a warmup for Gibraltar if you go back down to the coast!
Your situation describes where I was last summer/fall. I did sustained power build high volume 1 and 2 and got some real big gains–went from 310 W (4.08 W/kg) to 331 W (4.36 W/kg) in 2 months. Be ready to eat.