Hi,
Should endurance workouts in particular, whether indoor or outdoor, be of the same length ?
I rode this today indoors.
That’s a pretty brutal workout for early season. We don’t have the perfect solution for indoor vs outdoor. Especially considering different people have different constraints. For sure it’s better to do longer outdoor and shorter indoor. I would design around a reduced schedule for indoor and then if you happen to go outdoors just go longer.
So I would both shorten your total weekly hours and I would change your ride feel to zone 2. Ideally 90 minutes is a better indoor length although if you really are willing to do more hours indoors we have a feature in coach jack to split it into 2 workouts per day as indoor in long duration is not ideal for your body physiologically because of the reduced amount of movement.
Hi Alex,
I am lucky in that I have a rocker plate and so find it a little easier or less fatiguing to do long turbo rides than would otherwise be the case.
That’s from the coach jack plan and was a tiny bit of hit and then z2;
https://app.trainerday.com/plans/bobs-stronger-rider-plan-8
I suppose I am a bit surprised the plan makes no allowance in time or intensity between indoor and outdoor rides. What should I change in the settings or the plan? This was 26 week Base++ into build.
Actually that is not as bad as I thought, I was seeing slightly wrong. Meaning 69% for 7 minute intervals should not be so bad and is zone 2. But what you find is different people function differently with both anaerobic work and sustained zone 2. For pros sustained zone 2 is actually not easy. In this case if you are using our app, I would just press the down arrow at about 50 minutes and drop the intensity while training to what feels more sustainable so you are not overly taxing yourself.
Yes rocker plate helps for sure, making 160 minutes healthier that it would be on stable trainer. If you don’t mind the duration then I would keep doing it. And eventually later and later into this plan you can stop pressing the down arrow for the secondary work.
Alex,
Thanks-I am reassured. I rode this as a WOD from TP into Zwift and used the companion app to drop the intensity by 5% after 90ish minutes. Then I lost erg and ended up riding somehwere between the two intensities but all good.
I do ask whether the duration or intensity of these long indoor rides, as set up within the coach jack plan, should be automatically lower than the equivalent outdoor rides. Winter is coming fast in the northern hemisphere and i can see having to do the indoor rides instead of out doors and perhaps not ideal for users to second guess duration and intensity ?
All that aside, loving the App and ease of use with TP and Zwift.
I would second guess everything 
Meaning training should be more dynamic in nature and you should keep making small adjustments along the way to make it right for you. I espcially think people should not over do intensity early in the season so don’t hesitate to back off. As you get to your peak race period then that last 4-8 weeks can start getting pretty hard and very focused and specific before a small race taper.
Hey Bobinski,
Great question and great work-out. There is not really an easy answer. The problem with indoor training is not the workout, it is the way we work out.
Indoors we have less distraction and thus more focus on the exact numbers. No trainingpartners, no wind, no corners that slow you down, no coffee stops, no nature to look at, no destination, etc, etc.
Just you, your bike and your power, right in your face.
Although this might not be the advice you’d expect from a coach, I say relax. Your first mission is to make use of as many training hours as you can. That means your body needs time to recover. If your bike is on a solid trainer, pushing you to do your watts every minute of the workout, the work-out will be harder and will take longer recovery than the same workout outdoors.
So, yes, your workout indoors should be made easier. There are many ways to do this. Your rockerplate is a good example. When you’re in a group on Zwift you an stop cycling for a few seconds and not lose that much speed, just like outdoors (although I hate the guys in the group who do this outside 
). For 3 hour indoor trainings I take a short mini break (a toilet stop for instance) after one and a half hours. I also make it a habit to get out of the saddle every 30 minutes and sit upright to loosen my arms and shoulders.
Besides that the work is the work as long as you keep track of your health and the effect the work has on your health. It is a good idea to adjust any workout when your body tells you, you need something else.
Have fun, Coach Robert
Thank you both for your replies.
I suppose what you are both saying is that the plan is not prescriptive, that if you do most of your training indoors then monitor the inevitable additional load and fatigue and adjust accordingly.
I get that. I still think there should be some guidance to that effect in the plan but see no harm in the process being more of a collaboration, an invitation to the rider to monitor and respond.
Can one of you remind me of the setting to split a long ride? I had and used it but now cannot see it- old man’s eyes and memory.
