cloy26 wrote:
Chad,
I've been battling with patellar tendinitis for about two months, so running hasn't been an option for me, but I've taken that time and put it all on the bike and pool. With that said, I'm on the bike seven days a week, currently doing the Olympic Base plan and adding in additional rides where there are off days. But, what workouts should I add on those days?
Right now, the plan has Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. I put 60 mins of Z2 on Monday and Wednesday (Pettit) with a recovery ride (lazy mountain) on Sunday. Is that sufficient or should I switch up the plan or jump plans all together to a cycling specific plan? I'm balancing this with rehab/strength and conditioning(3x/wk) and swimming.
Hey there,
With your issue being P-T, I'm not sure I'd recommend any more volume than you're doing at the moment. If, however, you feel like you can tolerate more workload and everything is progressing as expected (e.g. FTP on a steady rise, successful completion of intervals, etc), you could increase either your more endurance-nature rides a bit. More intensity sounds risky both in terms of overreaching too far as well as with respect to your knee issue, but you might be able to get away with longer stretches done at <75% FTP.
With all that said, your current approach already sounds like an ample training load (but
perhaps not enough volume relative to previous years; that is, I'm not sure what sort of volume you need to keep progressing your fitness - maybe you're accustomed to really high volume) and I think you'd be best off by playing things a bit cautiously until you're fully healed.
Head Coach at TrainerRoad
Co-host of the Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast