Hi! First post here, although been a Sufferer for a little over a year.
Well, a new year brings about new and wacky plans. I’m 50, short (163cm), not a great cyclist, overweight etc. But, I have been known to Squat 130kgs for reps and Deadlift 165kgs, so there is potential there! So, dusting off the Wahoo Snap over the holidays I planned to cycle everyday in 2022 and so far have kept up with it!
Here’s my Profile:
NM - 727w
AC - 299w
MAP - 216w
FTP - 176w
cTHR - 158bpm
Max HR - 172bpm
My question relates to the type of workouts to concentrate on, or try for a certain amount of each every month. I know some will say ‘do a plan’ but my time constants don’t always lend for sitting for over an hour on the trainer, so for example, I’m doing SUF Idol tonight as I was at the gym at 5am this morning!
I’ve planned Thursday and Sunday as a Recovery Ride.
Do I just bang out MAP and FTP workouts (30-45mins suits my schedule), with some NM/AC thrown in and do a ramp test every 6 weeks and go from there?
Oh, what sort of rider do I want to be? I love going for a 30-mile blast, rather than a 4hr trek, but saying that I holiday in the Lake District (UK) and there are some lovely rides to be had, but I’m crap at hills so definitely need to improve my sustainable power!!
The reason I like having a plan is that it has the balance between hard workouts and recovery built into it. I like having that structure to make sure I’m not over- or under-doing the training load over a period of time. Perhaps you could use one of the plans as a starting point and then adjust the workouts based on your time availability?
Probably not. That will probably be too much. I’d start with maybe 2 or 3 intense rides per week and fill in the rest with endurance and recovery rides. Every 2 or 3 weeks, I’d back off even on that do fewer intense rides.
But what I’d really do is do the 12 week All Around Plan and fill in rest days with extra recovery rides. If you select low or moderate volume, you’ll have to do a bunch of filling in, but it should give you the flexibility you need and will never (or rarely) have you on the bike for too long. If it does and you don’t have time, just replace that workout with a shorter one. The advantage of a plan is that it will help you structure the intense rides and you can fill in the rest with recovery rides and sometimes and endurance ride.
I would agree with the previous comments about utilising a low to moderate volume plan to provide the basic structure.
Are you also targeting a minimum duration each day? There are plenty of options in the 15 - 25 minute range that can be used as fillers without adding any real training stress.
As others have said, definitely give yourself recovery sessions. It’s ok, they’ll make you fitter, burn calories and be good for you all round. The fatigue of smashing MAP or FTP workouts every single day will get you sooner or later, and well inside a year.
A cool goal though - good luck and let us know how you get on.
Welcome to the forums Phil!
Coach also agrees with the previous two posts.
@PhilMD, I would also recommend starting out with the a Cycling Plan > General Fitness > All Purpose > Low Volume > with a 2:1 Progression.
As stated, this will ensure that you are not overreaching, and will take the decision paralysis out of the equation. Having structure with a logical progression will not only prevent you from over doing it, it will also be the best formula for improvement.
As the others have stated, if there is ever a workout that is too long on any particular day, you can substitute it for a shorter workout using the Library and the workout filter tools, which allow you to not only sort based on duration, but also on 4DP Metrics, so you can still get the spirit of the workout in.
On any of the days that do not have scheduled rides, I would recommend using the library and filtering the workouts based on Category and selecting Active Recovery.
