I’ve been trying to get a bit more consistent with my indoor riding, but I keep changing what I do each week. Some days I’ll just ride easy, and other days I’ll pick a harder workout depending on how I’m feeling. Curious how everyone else does it. Do you usually follow a training plan, or just choose a workout when you get on the bike?
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@lisa01 For me, since I’m not training for an event, I ride for two reasons: to work on fitness such as better climbing stamina and then to complete badges such as all of the Sufferfest videos or all On Location. The Plans menu is a great place to start a routine then you can supplement from there.
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I plan my rides out about a week in advance depending on my goals and what prof the year we are in. For indoor workouts during the winter I use the Wahoo App calendar to plan my workouts. I typically do 2 hard workouts during the week and longer workouts on the weekends.
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I usually do an All Purpose plan. Sometimes I’ll select building blocks or Go Beyond FTP plans for something different. I usually like to plan 12 weeks at a time and move things around as needed for life events and so on. This means each morning after rising I don’t have to think, just jump on the trainer and do what’s next. I also enjoy fitting in the monthly challenges, so that means replacing or moving some previously planned workouts. All in all this works for me, providing a fair amount of variety, and keeping me fit enough to ride outside sometimes during summer, or when my spouse and I travel for a cycling vacation. Before some of those trips, I’ll often do a mountain fondo plan, as we usually plant cycling trips with a lot of climbing.
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So I ride a lot outdoors - 190 miles a week commuting, outdoor weekend rides in good weather.
So, my indoor rides are weekends in the winter and whenever I can fit them in, no plan.
Basically my approach is to target my 4DP weakness. I spent a lot of time doing MAP workouts (9 hammers on repeat), and now I’m hitting all the AC stuff.
So I’ll just go into the library, pick the 4DP focus I want, then just filter for time, and pick one that looks interesting.
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I’m over 70, so the “plans” that worked well for past now leave me too fatigued. I try to do a hard ride, 0.8-1.0, on Wednesday, then Monday and Friday do whatever other rides were listed that week for an hour staying in zone 2. Sometimes a Weekend 2 hour ride zone 2 while watching a movie. More of an 80:20 philosophy that leaves me with enough energy to play golf or hike do some resistance training, or spend a day with my spouse or grandchildren.
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I think it’s fairly common to be doing an easy (GvA forbid) ride one day and a tougher ride on another day especially if not following a training plan. Yes it’s not ideal but the important thing is to know what drives your motivation to get on the bike.
If not training for any specific ride or event, going on the All Purpose plan as suggested by Sir Paul @pkdaylu is a good start. Following a training plan helps build consistency.
Alternatively, try the building blocks plan 
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I plan my training in 4 week blocks, 3 weeks with intensity followed by a rest week. In the 3 intense weeks my priority is targeting specific zones, for example Friday is my threshold day, Wednesday is my anaerobic day, Monday and Sunday are my endurance days. This is just based on how I perform in races and what I perceive as my weaknesses. I find Wahoo’s progression series (ie AC progression, FTP progression etc) really helpful with this approach, as I can set myself the goal of reaching progression 5 in a series, at which point I know I’ve probably gained fitness and can either do a fitness test or splice in some more challenging dynamic workouts from the sufferfest library for example. This approach helps me stay consistent and removes the job of choosing a workout 
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Thanks everyone for sharing your approaches. I’m actually finding the idea of planning rides around specific weaknesses really useful, especially the 4DP focus approach. I also like the idea of keeping some Zone 2 rides in the week instead of making every indoor session hard. The 4-week block approach sounds interesting too, so I may try something similar and see how it fits with my schedule.
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While I follow the Strength training plans in SYSTM, for bike, I tend to make selections based on…
- How much time I have
- How I’m feeling
- What I’ll be doing outdoors
For example, I have Bike MS the first weekend in October. This year’s ride will push 85 miles on day 1 with a whole lot of climbing. However, I had surgery last week, so I’m still off the bike for a few more days. Once I feel well enough to get back in the saddle, I’ve a series of SUF climbing videos lined up, starting “small” (Angels is up first) and increasing to build intensity & stamina.
But that’s me. Find what works for you & your goals. There’s a wealth of content available on SYSTM to accommodate nearly every need. 
I think a little structure goes a long way. You don’t need to follow a strict plan every single day, but having a mix of easy rides, harder sessions, and recovery days gives you a much better balance.
Some days you’ll feel great and can push it, and other days an easy ride is the smarter choice. The main thing is keeping the bigger picture in mind instead of judging every ride on its own.