Recommendation for back to back 12 week training plans - Belgian Waffle Ride and the like

Hi @AdamS! One thing that I might suggest is to have an off week, or at the very least 3-5 days completely off and just easy rides the other days) in between 2 different 12-week plans…so starting 25-weeks out is my first suggestion.

That being said, there are a few different options that could work for you for the first 12-week plan. Specifically the Metric Century and Century plans would both work quite well, as would the Mountainous/Hilly Gran Fondo plan. Both the Century and Mountainous/Hilly GF plans will have bigger week volumes in the 10-12 hour range, while the metric century will be more 9-10 hours in the bigger weeks. The All Purpose Road plan would also be a slightly lower volume plan, similar to the Metric Century plan as a 4th option.

Depending on your goals and time availability, that would probably be the biggest reason that I would suggest one over the other. For that first 12-weeks, I wouldn’t say that more is better. Especially if the BWR is going to be a big challenge for you, then you’d be better off leaving a little something in the tank in your first 12-weeks of training. Also, I would again suggest to keep a week off in between the two 12-week plans - maybe scheduling a little vacation without your bike for that week would be a great idea to consider!

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