TCTP Advice

meanredspider

I'm doing the Time Crunched plan and the results are coming but there is one issue I find and I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Some of the sessions, like the 12-minute steady state, mean that I need a pretty long clear bit of road - I always underestimate how far I'm going to travel in 12 minutes. It's not bad in Scotland but in Amsterdam I need to ride quite a way out of the city before I can find suitable space - which kinda defeats the Time Crunched part. How have other addressed this?

napoleond

Turbo

Freeza

Resistance rollers

Before that, turbo.

meanredspider

NapoleonD wrote:

Turbo

I was worried you were going to say that

I've packed the Tacx Fortius away for the summer - turbo is miserable when it's nice out

lochindaal

Turbo here too

supermurph09

Hi, I wrote a blog about my use of the TCTP https://supermurph.wordpress.com/

Apart from some of the weekend stuff I used the turbo all the time, when you have a focused session to be doing then the turbo really is the best for this type of thing. I made good gains I hope you do too.

meanredspider

Thanks for the blog link - interesting and I recognise making some mistakes.

I HATE the idea of doing this stuff on the turbo during warmer months. If that's the best alternative, I'll stick with sub-optimal road riding. There are places I can go where I can get the space - it's just the time wasted getting there and back.

As for results, I'm already seeing the power coming back after only 3 weeks. I'm not yet back to last summer's average power over a century that I'd reached as a result of my Alpe D'HuZes event training. I'm now sure that'll come and probably more as I've never really trained for aerobic power. If this works at all, I should then achieve good results.

supermurph09

Regarding the warmer months comment... I can relate to that, as you can see mine was done over winter but I guess it depends on what your goals are and how best you feel you can achieve them.

meanredspider

I was 50 in January and decided that I'd give myself a year off tougher events and just enjoy riding. Then, a few weeks ago, I got roped into doing the Rapha Prestige Limburg (200km 2500m) in mid-June and realised I needed to get fitter again. TCTP, being well-reviewed on here, seemed like a good idea - especially as I'd been doing plenty of "base miles" just not much aerobic training. The issue is, as I said above, that the longer intervals need a fair bit of space. I did the 12-min SS last night and, even with a strong cross-wind, I was covering around 7.5km - finding a bit of clear road close-by to the centre of Amsterdam isn't easy. Hence my question. But, if the alternative is the turbo, I'll stick with heading out of town

Freeza

Depending on which plan you're following you might want to reconsider the turbo again, particularly if it involves SEPI or OU sessions.
I too managed to get away with doing SS intervals outdoors but quickly realised that attempting a 3 minute power interval on public roads was the fast track to achieving a Darwin award.

meanredspider

I think the short bursts will be OK - it's the longer ones where I run out of space before I hit some lights or a junction. The road I use along the Amstel river is popular with bikes and the cycle lanes have priority over the cars.

markwb79

meanredspider wrote:

I'm doing the Time Crunched plan and the results are coming but there is one issue I find and I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Some of the sessions, like the 12-minute steady state, mean that I need a pretty long clear bit of road - I always underestimate how far I'm going to travel in 12 minutes. It's not bad in Scotland but in Amsterdam I need to ride quite a way out of the city before I can find suitable space - which kinda defeats the Time Crunched part. How have other addressed this?

Ronde Hoep really that far away?

I find it perfect for longer intervals.

meanredspider

Markwb79 wrote:

Ronde Hoep really that far away?

I find it perfect for longer intervals.

Before you get to a point that you can do an uninterrupted 7.5km interval, yes, it's quite a way. You have to get past the lights at Ouderkerk. The stretch from there to Uithorn is just long enough. The contrast with home in Scotland is stark where I can roll onto a perfect road almost outside my front door.

supermurph09

The thing I found with this plan is that you can cut the intervals sessions down to miss some of the endurance stuff. I did a 10 minute warm up, hit the intervals then 5-10 mins cool down. Pretty much all my sessions were no more than 1 hour so while I'm sure it will be a challenge when the weather is nice, the training is over before you know it! Use the other days to enjoy the sunshine