Hey all,
I started cycling and using Trainerroad in January and I love it so far, but I can only train on weekends/friday evenings. Do you guys think it is enough to see some significant gains, if I rest for 4-5 days and train only on weekends? And also, are rest weeks beneficial if I rest so long during the week?
I think it will be possible to maintain fitness but v difficult to build it much if you are already at a fairly decent level of fitness.
You can do three workouts (Fri, sat, sun) but limit of how hard you can go as all next to each other.
I certainly wouldn’t have rest weeks personally given that schedule.
At end of the day, all you can do is what you can do.
Depending on genetics and what you’re training for, you could see decent gains providing session choice is sensible. I would:
Friday: VO2 Max
Saturday: Sweet Spot
Sunday: Long Endurance ride.
As above, I wouldn’t necessarily have a rest week after 3 “work” weeks, but would certainly monitor my fatigue and take one where needed. This week could be 3 x endurance rides of lower intensity.
You stated that you started cycling in January, to me this says that you have plenty to gain from weekend training. Cadence drills and pedaling efficiency drills (these come in the form of Coach Chad’s instructional texts during the rides) will help you tremendously. I had been riding bikes for most of my life when I started using TR, one of the first things I noticed, even before any strength or endurance gains, was pedaling efficiency.