Volume = same result?

Folks,

On the volume topic for gravel grinder 200m there is the option of moderate (7-9hrs) and high (8-14hrs). Can I assume to moderate plan is more intense and gets the same result as high volume?

Thanks

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It may or may not be the case. What I would do is select the first (moderate) and see what’s included as far as rides. Then do the same for High. I noticed in the past that the training load was higher for the high version, but there was more rest/recovery during the week as well.

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I’d like to see a coach comment on this as this question applies to other training plans too.

From a quick look at the plans, it looks like the high intensity plan has more endurance time in it. That would address your stamina / long distance capacity, whereas the moderate intensity leaves some of those out. My guess would be that they both have pretty much the same effect on your 4DP numbers, but that the higher intensity plan has a better result beyond your 4DP numbers (your 1h and 2h power if that was a thing)

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Based on my metric century plan, I would say “no”. Intense efforts were the same/similar, but the long-ride volume on weekends was much less. Seemed mainly about how much time/conditioning you wanted to just being in the saddle.

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@CPT_A And if you plan on riding for five, six, or more hours you want saddle time. Your body will adapt to the number of hours you’ve maximum rode. You might be able to squeeze about 10% more out, but you will definitely suffer for the next few days. My plan went to a five hour maximum time but I was riding much faster during my event to cover 100 miles.

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Exactly. Was my point to OP. :+1:t2:

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The main difference will be the amount of volume in the plan. We get a lot of training benefits from high-volume but we do require a lot of ride time to achieve those. Some of those aerobic fitness gains are also achieved by high intensity but we are limited by how much of that we can realistically do within one week before fatigue becomes too high. So on a time constrained training plan it is better to do the high intensity work. When we have more time we want to supplement that high intensity with low intensity high volume. If you are able to fit in the higher volume you will likely experience improved aerobic fitness gains over the moderate volume. But it is all about what fits in with your lifestyle. A professional rider can manage 30 hours of training a week because they have nothing else to do. For example when I was riding professionally after graduating I could do 25 hours a week happily. While I was doing my degree and now while I am working a lot more, I find 10 hours is about the maximum I can do. If I tried to do more I would just stress myself out too much and overall would get fuel gains and probably burn out

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