End of Time crunced training plan - development ideas??

daniel_b

So I am coming towards the end of my 11 week time crunched training program, and for me I have seen some serious improvements, and I must be honest, have never looked forward to getting out on a bike more than I am right now.

The target of my training (102 mile ride) is this coming Sunday, and I then want to maintain my fitness, and hopefully improve it a bit towards the Autumn, maintain during the winter, and then improve again in the spring.

The current schedule is as follows:
2.5hr 'Endurance miles' ride on Sunday
90 minute ride including Intervals on Monday
90 minute ride including Intervals on Wednesday
90 minute 'Endurance miles' ride on Friday

I can't quite remember what the Endurance miles is in terms of % of HR max etc, but it's a fairly comfortable rate I can push the bike along at, and not get overly tired out after 4 hours for example.
Now come the end of the training, the book advises to reduce the workload a bit, so I will probably try and stick to one long ride at the weekend, and probably 2 interval sessions during the week, either out on the road or Turbo - whichever is more preferable at the time, and as childcare requirements dictate.

On occasion, it may end up that I can't manage one of the intervals sessions, so what I am wondering is would it have a negative effect if I were to add some intervals of some sort into the long weekend ride?

Usually I would ride the whole lot at Endurance pace, but beyond that the book gives me Steady state pace, and beyond that Climbing repeat pace.
So in my mind I was considering running a 2hr 40 hour ride as follows:
10:00 - Warm up
20:00 - Endurance pace
10:00 - Steady State pace
30:00 - Endurance pace
10:00 - Steady State pace
30:00 - Endurance pace
10:00 - Steady State pace
30:00 - Endurance pace
10:00 - Warm down

And then potentially some other mixtures with some power intervals, and or some time at the climbing repeat rate - some of the intervals I do inslude the Over/Under sessions, which are very hard work, but I really enjoy.

Is the above a good idea, bad idea, or neither here nor there?
Just thinking during the darker months it might make things a bit more interesting, but if it would have a negative effect then am more than happy to stick with my endurance miles pace for the whole lot.

Cheers

Dan

jgsi

assuming these are road rides.. cannot ye find yourself a club... a few like minded training mates? mix it up a bit?
Training can be fun almost if you having the wind taken out of you by others or you dishing it out

All what you do sounds far too clinical ..joyless and tbh is 102 mile needful of so much training?

napoleond

Rather than that rather strict timed session just go out on a hilly ride, ride hard up the hills, recover on the descents and ride, well, 'endurance' on the flat. Thats what I do for my threshold/sweet spot sessions.

DeVlaeminck

JGSI wrote:

assuming these are road rides.. cannot ye find yourself a club... a few like minded training mates? mix it up a bit?
Training can be fun almost if you having the wind taken out of you by others or you dishing it out

All what you do sounds far too clinical ..joyless and tbh is 102 mile needful of so much training?

I sometimes think people need to find this out for themselves. I've known plenty of people who think they are going to train almost exclusively on their own and pretty much without exception they don't sustain it long term.

bahzob

Ignore the trolling above. First rule of cycling as in life is that there are different strokes for different folks.

From a training pov their advice is pretty useless anyway. Riding with others is fun but it needs to be the right group. A typical 4 hour ride with my local club is a waste of time training wise as it's just recovery.

What can be fun and motivating is to take part in some races. There are many where you can just turn up and ride, these really will stretch you, but the short hard efforts of the TCTP should give you a bit of preparation.

Anyway on your OP congratulations on getting to the end

Your suggestion is fine, if you have improved its fun to reap some of the benefits and put in a hard ride which should make you feel pretty good about yourself and set a standard for the future.

Tom Dean

Your 2h40 session looks harder than any of the SS workouts in the TCTP, and they are not easy. Are you sure you have been going hard enough?

My advice is: read the book again, retest and do it properly :P

daniel_b

Thanks for the replies all, appreciate there are lots of different opinions, and am prepared to take all onboard.

At the minute, coming from someone who would struggle to achieve 15mph as an average, this training program has been a revelation, I can now hit what I am sure it still a measily 16.3mph average on a 60 mile ride, AND not feel exhausted at the end.
I thikn this was veyr much needed to complete a 102 mile ride, when the furtherst I had ridden in the last year was 40 miles, so have no doubts about it's need and benefits - plus I want to get around it in a decent time, as opposed to just spinning the whole way.

I have considered joining a club many times, and may well do so in the near future, but a part of me likes the stats, and concentrated efforts that these workouts provide.
I also do enjoy riding on my own I must be honest, a bit of time on my own to mull things over and just concntrate on the ride and the bike, it's good for the soul I think.

Anyway, I digress.

Interesting idea on races, I guess if I join a club that may open up some opportunities for enterig races, and also they will probably have fast, or at least more competitive rides I could take part in.
My situation of having a very young daughter means I can't really afford the luxury of a 60 miler starting at 9am on a Sunday, and stopping for 45 minutes at a cake stop etc, so this has been the main reason I have not looked to hook up with a club - aside from now really enjoying riding on my own of course!

Hi Tom, not sure I know where you are coming from?
The 2h 40 session I have put up is my proposed idea of what I might look to do, it's nothing I have yet done.
There are 4 programs within the book, and I went for the New Century, and I am fairly sure this is the easiest of the 4, the other 3 being IIRC, Experienced century, New competitor, Experienced competitor.
I carried out the field test about 8 weeks ago, and used the HR and Power figures from that to set my differeing zones, and am pretty sure they have been spot on, as they have been hard, sometimes a little too hard, but mostly achievable, and as I say, the progress has for me, been notable.
Looking at my notes, a typical SS intervals workout I have been doing is:

60-90 Minutes Endurance miles, containing:
3 X 10 Min SS, with 5 Min Rest between intervals.

So to my eye, that looks exactly like the same quantity of SS intervals I put in my proposed 2hr 40 workout above, just with longer rest periods, and of course on a much longer ride.

If I have missed something obvious re the book/plan, please do let me know though!

And thankyou for the Congrats Bahzob :-) It's been a pretty intense nearly 8 weeks, and I've only missed 2 out of around 32 workouts, so pretty pleased with that, and tbh I must have made at least one of those up, by carrying out a 60 mile ride last Sunday. Never adhered to a plan as well as I have to this one.

Tom Dean

Daniel B wrote:

Hi Tom, not sure I know where you are coming from?..
Looking at my notes, a typical SS intervals workout I have been doing is:

60-90 Minutes Endurance miles, containing:
3 X 10 Min SS, with 5 Min Rest between intervals.

So to my eye, that looks exactly like the same quantity of SS intervals I put in my proposed 2hr 40 workout above, just with longer rest periods, and of course on a much longer ride.

Admittedly the way the above is described is a little misleading, I'm not sure why it's described as Endurance miles when the intervals and rest take up 40 mins of a possible 60 total. What you call EM in your proposed session you are also calling 'rest' and the two are not the same.

To be fair the book gives a very wide range for EM. My interpretation is that every session in the TCTP should be 'hard' so adjust the intensity to the duration. I don't see it as easy riding.

If you have done the programme and improved, and enjoyed it, do a few weeks unstructured as the book recommends then retest and do another one.

JayKosta

I think your training for the up-coming 102 miles ride on Aug 17 will be completely adequate.
My suggestions are to eat properly on the ride, and stop occasionally to rest and stretch. If you start getting cramps in your legs or soreness from the saddle, stand for a few easy pedal strokes and stretch while rolling along.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

jgsi

bahzob wrote:

Ignore the trolling above. First rule of cycling as in life is that there are different strokes for different folks.

From a training pov their advice is pretty useless anyway. Riding with others is fun but it needs to be the right group. A typical 4 hour ride with my local club is a waste of time training wise as it's just recovery.

What can be fun and motivating is to take part in some races. There are many where you can just turn up and ride, these really will stretch you, but the short hard efforts of the TCTP should give you a bit of preparation.
e.

Sometimes your utter condescension knows no bounds ...

That aside you mention racing... well , well.. if we were all solo riders cocooned in own little universes .. there wouldnt be much of that would there? think about it...

Ok, so I havent been on an offical club ride with my lot for ages.. but then again I knows a lot of other riders in other clubs (cycling having its very important socialising aspect to it) and jump on their unofficial chaingangs etc from time to time.
Out of the racing season, organising 2 hour plus training rides that tick all the boxes as regards a training effect isnt too difficult...

Barbarossa

Some thoughts.

Don't bet bored - mix things up, find some goals (cyclocross racing?), join a club.

Work out how you are going to ride through the winter - Already I need lights for the start of my morning rides :-( Lunchtime rides? Turbo? Gym? Just weekend rides?

The TCS endurance plans are very steady state biased. Throw in some AC and sprint intervals.

If you are serious about improving, get yourself a power meter.

dw300

If you're still time crunched, I'd suggest trying the Time Crunched Training Plan. 8)