Looking at the strava stats for my cycling groups, I notice that the guys are riding way more hours. All the training materials I’ve found online are prescribing 10-15 hours for a mid-volume plan, but it seems completely unattainable for me without essentially riding Z1 all the time. In particular, any anaerobic efforts result in my muscles requiring an extended period of recovery.
I feel like I’m not doing enough, but then it appears that all the serious female riders in my group also do fewer hours, closer to 6-10 approximately. I’d love some advice from the ladies, and coaches who’ve worked with both sexes!
If you are doing 6 - 10 hours now and have the time to increase to 10 - 15, the key is to do it slowly, over, say, 6 - 8 weeks. i.e. add 1 hour per week.
If you aren’t training 6 days per week, add extra days. Initially Z2 / Z1 rides only.
If you are already training 6 days per week, add extra Z2 / Z1 volume to your existing workouts to build your overall volume.
Once you are established at the new volume then consider increasing the proportion of higher intensity work (in line with the requirements of the events you are training for). It is common that there are only 2 or 3 high intensity workouts per week. Specific blocks of training may have more, but for most people 3 hard sessions in a week is plenty.
Rest and recovery becomes more important as you up the workload.