Training
Today
Training
Today
Three sessions. Under four hours. No filler.
When training time drops below four hours a week, the usual advice — build a base, then build on it — stops working, because there is not enough volume to build a base out of. The answer is to raise the density instead: fewer sessions, almost all of them with intensity in them, and no junk miles at all.
This plan runs three rides a week for six weeks. Two carry hard work — microbursts and sweet spot or threshold intervals — and one is aerobic. The recovery week at week four is not optional; at this intensity density it is what keeps the last two weeks productive.
It will not build the endurance for a five-hour event. It will keep and grow your sustainable power through a busy stretch, which is usually the actual problem.
Every session below is a real workout you can open and ride right now, with or without the plan. Applying the plan puts them on your calendar on the days you choose.
| Week | Focus and sessions | Load |
|---|---|---|
1 week | Set the density Week 1: microbursts and 2×15 sweet spot. Short, sharp, and finished before you would normally have warmed up. | 2.9 hours |
2 week |
Yes, up to a point. On low volume, intensity does the work that time normally would, so most of the sessions carry hard efforts. The ceiling is lower than on high volume, but the improvement in the first block is often substantial.
Very short efforts — typically 15 to 30 seconds — well above threshold, with equally short recoveries, repeated for several minutes. They accumulate a lot of time at high oxygen uptake in a session that fits inside 45 minutes.
Because the intensity density is much higher than in a normal plan. Three hard-ish sessions a week for three weeks running produces real fatigue even when the total hours are small.
Training works in blocks. These plans pick up where this one leaves off.
Eight weeks aimed squarely at threshold power, bookended by two identical 20-minute FTP tests so the result is measured rather than felt.
Eight weeks of sweet spot work at 88–94% of FTP, progressing 2×15 → 3×20 minutes, wrapped in enough Zone 2 to keep it sustainable.
Week 2: five more minutes of microbursts, five more of sweet spot. Small steps, taken every week.
3.4 hours |
3 week | VO2 and threshold Week 3: the VO2 pyramid and a threshold session. The hardest week before the break. | 3 hours |
|---|
4 recovery | Recovery week Week 4: recovery. Yes, in a six-week plan. Three weeks at this density has cost you more than the hours suggest. | 2.3 hours |
|---|
5 week | Biggest week Week 5: 40 minutes of microbursts and 3×15 sweet spot. The peak of the plan. | 3.6 hours |
|---|
6 week | Finish and test Week 6: one last microburst session, an easy spin, then the ramp test. Short protocol, honest number. | 1.9 hours |
|---|
Applying the plan schedules all 18 sessions from your chosen start date. You pick which days of the week you ride.
Start Time-Crunched 6-Week