Hello,
Ready to finish up the Basic Sweet Spot Pt1 plan…if availability of time is good, can I jump into the Advanced plan for SS pt 2 or would Intermediate be recommended? And then Advanced for SS pt 3?
Had a 6 month layoff on the bike and started to reinstate fitness with the Basic plan , but planning a full early spring of big gravel races and obviously want to get to larger volume riding. Thanks for any info
Intermediate plan is best for 90% of all our athletes. Its mostly based on available time to train and ability to recover. It’s for the 20 year olds with no family type of situation. The intermediate is more than adequate for most plus plenty of hard long rides, especially on the weekend. Not only do you want to look at training time but ability to recovery. If you do more are you recovering, getting enough sleep, time off your feet and etc. That is also why the intermediate is best.
Once you get closer to your goal race and do one of our 6 weeks till gravel race you will get to complete some gravel simulation rides. These are where you really get some hard, long efforts in that simulate race day. Not to say you won’t get that in sweet spot 2 or 3 just saying trust the process.
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Hi -
I noticed several posts suggesting that intermediate was the way to go. However, I thought I read somewhere that for Masters like me at 55 years old should use the basic level. Can you please clarify? I’m starting my new plan on Monday and want the right one.
Intermediate plan is the way to go.
Basic is for true beginner cyclist.
Thanks Jake - now to figure out how to request the change… 
Hi Jake? I am 43, will finish the season with 550hours of riding time in 2020. I have ordered the 3 SS plans in advanced mode. I think I can handle the load and recovery. Should I try it and skip some Z2 time if not rested enough, of switch to intermediate?
I would probably recommend intermediate and add zone 2 time. On average the advance plan is 14hrs per week. That would be half of your yearly total in just 18 weeks of training. Where the intermediate plan is 10hrs per week would be 180 hours so falls in line with what you have done.
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Ok thx Jake. What is the average hrs/week for intermediate?Because I want to go to the next level and raise my weekly hours (extra day off from work weekly).
It is 8 - 12 hours per week. But remember more is not always better. Like I said I believe you would be better off adding zone 2. Like on Thursdays rides before an off day and also then maybe 30 - 60 minutes each weekend day. Maybe even slightly more before a regeneration week. Adding 2 hours of zone 2 a week would give you an extra 100 TSS. If repeated for 32 days that is going to boost your CTL 14 which is quite a bit higher overall. Even just 50 TSS per hour more per week would be 7. It really comes down to workload as opposed to time. If you have more time you don’t necessarily want to increase intensity. With the extra time riding you will get more work by just riding more. That is why just adding zone 2 is good.
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