I am 46 yrs old, signed up for LoToJa this year (3rd time) (202 miles / 8500 ft elevation - 1 day), been on trainerroad for about 1.5 yrs and about to begin another training block. Im curious about a recommendation for a training program.
My historical training program when training for LoToJa has been Gran Fondo, low volume. 3 indoor rides during the week (approx 1 hr ish each, but could be longer) and then a long outdoor ride on Saturday (usually 75 - 100 miles) which is an effort of sweetspot.
I am now looking at the mid volume options debating between Masters and normal and considering how I can get more endurance rides in and thinking that might help me. The gran fondo low volume doesnt have any real endurance except for every 4th week.
Are you doing an LV masters plan @czollinger I’m doing a LV Master 40km TT plan and I have an endurance workout every week. My weekend rides are added to that to increase the volume and keep me sane (well sane’ish ) and I let RLGL adjust my plan if it thinks I’ve done too much.
Its a while since I’ve done a MV plan but I found it a little too restrictive at the weekend and old LV plans were too intense. I used to do a homemade hybrid of the two (changing the middle LV HIIT to an Endurance Workout). Now LV masters have come along its doing what I was doing manually. They’ve also added a lot of cool features which lets you customise your training time. I’m 48 FWIW, and my recommendation would be to do an LV Masters plan and keep on doing your weekend ride but don’t worry about the intensity and let RLGL analyse them and adjust your plan if necessary.
I have a question to your comment , stay on LV with the weekend rides, if you were to give an opinion, my question is , I just finished 8 weeks of Lv , with no outdoor riding due to weather/ schedule , if I stay on the LV and and the weather is nice on weekends , how often would you throw in a threshold ride, because I would basically be trading that for the long ride? I would like to keep nudging the performance in the upward trajectory? Am I making sense … FTR 53 non racer , just like to keep up when group ride comes along , sorry - long way to the point, thx
I’m no coach but I’d wouldn’t throw in a threshold ride the plan has plenty enough built in for me. If I wasn’t able to get out on the weekend, I’d fire up Train Now (only after a recovery week has it ever recommended anything higher than endurance though). Touchwood my rides are still getting faster (an upward trajectory I hope) at 48 but I’m also a TT’er and have reasonable volume which helps there. Good luck!
If it were me… I would go masters plan. The two days of intensity will be enough and your priority is increasing volume (I mean, since you are doing a 200 mile event). As you mention… those long endurance rides are going to help you!
For workouts I would focus mostly on extending tempo/sweet spot time (limit recoveries and increase intensity as you gain fitness). VO2 will keep the engine burning hot and well help when you need to up the watts in the hills.
The normal (old) mid volume TT plan seemed to have a lot of long intervals. This with subbing long weekends rides worked the best for me being able to build endurance.
If you’ve felt good on the Low Volume plans in the past and you’re looking to bump up your volume a bit to get more endurance riding in, I think switching up to a Mid Volume Masters plan would be a solid choice!
For a race as long as LoToJa, I think sticking with the Gran Fondo Plan would be a good move too. You’ll primarily be getting Threshold and Sweet Spot work in, which will be helpful in building up your aerobic engine for that big 202-mile race coming up. Outside of those 2 interval days per week, you can fit in plenty of endurance riding!
Hope that helps – feel free to ask any additional questions and good luck at the race! LoToJa is probably the most epic 1-day USAC-sanctioned race in the country (in my opinion) – never done it myself, but big respect to those who have!
I really appreciate your response to this. Your exactly right about LoToJa, it truly is epic! It is absolutely one of the most challenging events you can do, and is cool to feel like your on tour for 1 day.
I think my biggest hangup between the mid volume and low volume is how I handle the Saturday rides. I try to take off 2 days per week (Sunday plus Friday or Tuesday). In the past I have also tried for 1 run / week, but I may give that up this summer. Which of the workouts would be best to make the outdoor ride on Saturday (100 ish miles)? The mid volume, masters Base shows 3 endurance rides, 1 threshold, and 1 sweetspot. I would need to exchange one of those for a 5 hr ish ride that is generally a mix of sweetspot / threshold depending on how our little group decides to ride (plus Texas brutal heat impact). Last year we completed about 10 century rides May - August preparing for it.
I think swapping your Sweet Spot ride for that Saturday group ride would be a good idea. That way, you get to keep the Threshold workout in your normal schedule while increasing your overall volume with more Z2 riding and you get a second hard day each week with the group ride. It sounds like you get a good mix of Threshold/Sweet Spot in that ride, so it should make a great second intensity day for your plan. Good race-specific efforts as well!
If you happen to feel a bit more tired during a given week, you could always sub out your Threshold workout for Sweet Spot instead if you’re looking for a little less intensity.
) and I let RLGL adjust my plan if it thinks I’ve done too much.