Hello,
I try to get fitter on the bike to make my rides either easier or longer and faster.
Right now I’m doing
- 1-2 strength workouts per week (goal: keep mass/slightly more, but not maximum hypertrophy)
- 1-2 outdoor rides per week
Usually outdoor rides are 90-180min long, one of these rides is a group ride (most find it easy, I find it moderately hard)
I rode ~2500km outdoor (excluding ~1500km commuting) in 23/24 respectively, but just riding did not give me the fitness I wanted, so I bought a Kickr Core last November and experimented a little bit since then. I started with 175W FTP and am now at 180W… So experiment failed I guess lol
The things I tried:
- VO2Max block with wahoo systm - too hard/too much recovery needed to still be able to ride outdoors/do strength training at least once a week
- exclusively Z2 (limited to 60-90min max unfortunately) - I did not get fitter - if anything I lost fitness…
With 2 little kids and working 9-5 I do not want a complete scheduled plan, every week is different anyways. I do have 2-3 additional days of training, which are limited to 60-90m (mostly early in the morning before everyone wakes up), so:
Which type of workout would further support my fitness goals without taxing recovery too hard and still let me have enough energy for my kids?
Should it be just one type - sweetspot for example? Or different types? Or should I reconsider my priorities altogether 
Thanks and cheers from germany
Daniel
Keep the long outdoor ride as it is. Do progressing Tempo/Sweetspot/Threshold intervals on the second shorter one. First increase number of intervals, then duration and increase intensity when you feel adapted with the available time.
The reason’s for going this way:
- There’s not enough volume for strict Z2 training, not enough stimulus
- VO2 for someone with moderate base fitness is too hard to recover from, especially if you also do strength. But do keep strength training because it is important.
So just teach your body to work quite a bit harder, but not so hard that it hinders recovery.
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Thank you! That kinda confirms what I experienced with Z2 - I thought with the outdoor ride being the “hard part” I could get away with multiple Z2 rides as the easy part for a polarized approach.
SS is what I just began since its the only level of intensity I didnt try yet. One question though: with sweetspot I thought the progression above all is more tiz, but intervals should get longer and less, so from 3x10m to 1x30m and then increase tiz? You recommended progress with more intervals (so from 1x15m to 3x15m). I thought more intervals as progression is for intensity above threshold (like vo2m) or did I misunderstand something?
Depends on what you can handle now. If you already can handle 3 x 15 without accumulating to much fatigue, go ahead and increase interval duration.
If you can only handle 2 x 10, it’s better to increase TIZ by adding 1 or 2 extra intervals before increasing interval duration. Recovery between intervals can best be kept short, like max 5 min.
For the volume you’re doing, Polarized is probably not the way to go. Pyramidal or Threshold should yield better results. Just remember to adapt/modify when you have more time on hand. Even for a shorter period of a couple of weeks, reduce overall intensity if you increase volume significantly.
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Work out with the kids to equally wear them out. 
From what you say it seems you are interested in improving your power output more than anything. For that you have to spend some time above FTP really as far as I understand. For me personally my body does not cope super well with sustained power output or the longer over/under blocks but if a workout includes plenty of Z2/Z1 time, I can still have quite a bit of Z5+ time. Over the last 6 months or so, I’ve been creating my own little power builder workouts, they’re on Trainer Day (may require free registration)
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Thanks to both. I guess I’ll stick to SS first, build more of a base and do threshold/ftp work afterwards…