Hi,
I’m looking forward to my 3 h session on Saturday including 3 x 12 min muscle tension intervals. The plan includes 80-minute "pre ride " in Z2 and 46-minute “post ride” on Z2.
As 3 hours on trainer sounds aching I wish I could do the pre- and post rides outdoors. And the intervals indoors on a trainer.
However, to make it a bit less hassle free, would it be ok to combine the pre and postride minutes (ie. 80 + 46 mins = 2 ours 6 mins) either before or after the interval session?
If yes, should I do the 2 hr6min riide before or after the intervals indoors?
Or option 2 : 1h45 minutes Z2 outdoors AND intervals + 20 minutes Z2 indoors ?
Or option 3: 20 min Z2 + intervals indoors AND 1h45 min Z2 outside?
or option 4: ??? what would be best?
It would be great to combine indoor trainer and outdoor road, as the weather here in North Europe sucks at the moment. Plus getting ready for an outdoor ride takes extra time… (dressing - undressing) . So I would like to minimise time spent on “getting ready”
Riding the whole 3 hrs session on the roads is not an option for me, because
a) I do not have the intervals required hills around my area
b) I do not have a power meter on my gravel bike
c) it is way too cold to ride 3 hours outside at the moment (2 hours is already hurting
You should follow the plan! 3 hours inside is A LOT but manageable. Get a legit indoor set up and make sure you are eating and drinking too.
Being efficient is key! Like you said, the dressing and undressing takes time too… #FtFP!
I agree with you. I have a great indoor setup with all the gadgets but find doing 3 hours in the trainer is really boring for me. I do the long MTI weekend workouts outdoors even when is cold and adapt the workout to the road. I find a hilly road so I can do the MTIs there as close as possible. I don’t see why I must have to follow the plan 100%. It has to be fun too.
There is no reason to put the muscle tension later in a ride, like after 80 minutes of zone 2. The workout builder was built to mostly get you that 3 hour ride. By putting them towards the middle it splits the long ride up a bit. The goal of a muscle tension interval is to build strength. Doing it 90 minutes into a ride does not change the training effect you would get. Not like doing a race specific interval 80 minutes into a ride to simulate a race winning move.
If I had an athlete that could not ride outdoors because of weather I would tell them to do 2 hours max. So do the intervals in the first hour of the ride. Mix in some tempo in the second hour to get that TSS up close to the target and call it day. Many are in the strength phase and building a huge base or getting the long rides in right now are not crucial. Also trainer burn out is real and its better to save those longer days closer to the end of the base period and spring when its more crucial. And by that time you would benefit far more from the adaptation of a ride 2 - 3 weeks out than one done now in December.
If you are going to split indoor and outdoor just do 20 minutes warm up, complete the intervals and do the rest of the ride outdoors. It’s all good!
(2 hours is already hurting 