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Is "Time Crunched" cycling training effective?
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Background: I'm 58 years old and my strength is TT/Triathlon cycling efforts -- long, steady, lactate threshold races. My racing "season" of late has worked pretty well for two peaks -- one in late May/early June and the other in late August/early September. Historically, I've trained year 'round and my total mileage has been between 8,000 and 10,000 miles per year. Traditional training plan -- massive amounts of base but my peak power levels are nothing to be proud of.

I would like to reduce the amount of time I spend on the bike, but I don't want to stop being competitive in TT's / Triathlons where the bike race is around 1 hour in duration. (I still compete pretty well with the young guys -- generally top 3 overall on the bike -- but those days are probably numbered.)

Is the "Time Crunched Cycling" training plan effective in doing what I want to do? Switching over will almost certainly cost me some aerobic fitness -- maybe forever. But will it keep me competitive in races of about 1 hour? Has anyone here used the Time Crunched method? How old are you? How did it go?

Thanks for your input!
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Re: Is "Time Crunched" cycling training effective? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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Chris Carmichael?
https://humancyclist.wordpress.com/...me-crunched-cycling/

Personally it looks like a lot of indoor riding which I don't enjoy, but it does seem to be a good plan
When I'm short on time I bike to work with lots of short interval sprints, works for me

res, non verba
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Re: Is "Time Crunched" cycling training effective? [RoYe] [ In reply to ]
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I think it looks like a lot of indoor only because that guy did his program in the dead of winter with no race scheduled. The trainer isn't part of the plan. Like most plans, "Time Crunched" can be done indoors or outdoors.

Since the idea is to hit the program hard about 8 to 10 weeks before your "A" race, I wouldn't be starting until late March -- when the trainer has become lonely again (I hope) and training rides are outdoors.
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Re: Is "Time Crunched" cycling training effective? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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Yes, it works, but maybe not as reliably as traditional high-volume training. You can get the same race-day performance if you hit all the time-crunched workouts just right, but the lower volume means there's more risk of not peaking at the right time. If you get sick or injured, it can be difficult to get race-ready on the right date. By contrast, a massive aerobic base takes less of a hit if you're out of commission for a week or two.

I read Carmichael's book about 10 years ago, and I'm coached by a CTS guy. It works for me, a 50-ish guy without a lot of free time, to stay competitive in state-level tri's. Note: I'm not a top-notch cyclist even by local standards.

I also do similar training for running, and I've gotten much stronger with time-crunched than with traditional high-volume plans. I don't hold up well to running more than every other day, so I got much faster by staying healthier when I stopped running 5 days a week.

BTW, there's nothing about the time-crunched or CTS programs that encourage indoor over outdoor training.


<The Dew Abides>
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Re: Is "Time Crunched" cycling training effective? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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I would say this-

"Time Crunched Cycling works better than nothing", especially for people who come from "just doing bike rides".
It also works for the truly time crunched- As it is better than "just doing bike rides", and also is "better than doing nothing".
It does not work as well as a well-rounded, well thought out, and well executed training program for those who have the time to do this well executed program.

Do you want to follow this because you think it would make you faster? Or more because you no longer have the desire to train more hours?

Make a list of your strengths and limiters- Go from there.
A limiter for you might be motivation to train.

Or maybe you just need a better cycling program than what you currently follow?
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Re: Is "Time Crunched" cycling training effective? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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I used it to train for BWR. I had 6 weeks. 2 tapering off a marathon and 2 while traveling to Europe (hotel spin bikes - suck).

Yes it works. But you have to be willing to suffer and be smart about recovery.

I would hammer the intervals on the trainer in a way that if I was on the road it wouldn’t have been safe.

Riding more is easier and more enjoyable. Doing these programs and not hammering IMO won’t get you there.

I ride less than half the miles you do and am time crunched. If not for that, I would much prefer 8k miles per year.
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Re: Is "Time Crunched" cycling training effective? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the input! It sounds pretty much as Carmichael describes it. Here's my take. Correct me if I'm wrong . . . "Time Crunched" is really just an intensive plan for Build Phase training -- the last 8 weeks or so, plus race week. And it doesn't really say anything about the time that traditionally was used for Base Phase -- except that it assumes you're only riding 6 to 8 hours per week all year long. If you do "Time Crunched" for your last 8 weeks, there's nothing keeping you from building a base in the traditional way . . . it's just that the TCTP won't help you maintain that base. Is that the bottom line?

For my purposes, I'm thinking of doing a hybrid plan. Friel's "Fast After 50" plan adds HIIT throughout an annual plan in order to help old guys (like me) keep and build power -- better than we would in a purely traditional long-slow-duration Base Phase format. I'm thinking of continuing my high-volume Base Phase training, incorporating the HIIT workouts from "Fast After 50" but, then, when Build Phase kicks in, switch over to a modified "Time Crunched" plan that incorporates an aerobic threshold "maintenance" workout now and then. Does that make sense?
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Re: Is "Time Crunched" cycling training effective? [bootsie_cat] [ In reply to ]
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Do you need a power meter to follow the program? I am working on a mine site with old school exercise bikes - no screen. The only way to measure my effort is HR.
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Re: Is "Time Crunched" cycling training effective? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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Absolutely for shorter events, I did my best 20k tt on 3.5 hours a week TrainerRoad, over 4w/kg and <30min
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Re: Is "Time Crunched" cycling training effective? [TriguyBlue] [ In reply to ]
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I’ve used those Carmichael plans from that book almost exclusively for a year and a half.

This year I’ll see about 5 hours a week average for counting everything. Some weeks 2 hours of only hiit and a few weeks of 10 hours of “base”.

I started at 180 lbs and 180w for 20min. Now I’m at 300w and 150 lbs for 20min. Almost 4.4w/kg. Recently I did an honest workout hour at a 4.0w/kg.

It works, the workouts are just really difficult.

I ride hammer rides with guys who don’t do intervals but ride 2x as much as I do.

I can still smoke em. They don’t ever ride THAT hard for that long, then repeat it.

So, if you’re short on hours, try it. You won’t have that “all day” fitness for something like full IM. But you’ll be snappy.
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Re: Is "Time Crunched" cycling training effective? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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The Time Crunched book is fine and has some good ideas, but it’s not the best use of 5-8 hours a week. Canned plans from trainerroad, TrainingPeaks, fastcat or, better yet, a custom plan from a coach will make better use of your time.
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Re: Is "Time Crunched" cycling training effective? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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I really don't see much value to doing a ton of miles when you are racing for only 1-2 hours. If you have been competing for a number of years you can probably "wing it" if you have to for shorter races. I can pull the occasional 50-100 mile effort out of my butt riding about 5 hours a week. Just be really careful with hydration and nutrition. You will just be pretty devasted for a few days after the race, compared to if you had a huge base. something like 2x20 at FTP is an hour long workout that targets exactly the type of effort you will use for racing.
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Re: Is "Time Crunched" cycling training effective? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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FlashBazbo wrote:
Background: I'm 58 years old and my strength is TT/Triathlon cycling efforts -- long, steady, lactate threshold races. My racing "season" of late has worked pretty well for two peaks -- one in late May/early June and the other in late August/early September. Historically, I've trained year 'round and my total mileage has been between 8,000 and 10,000 miles per year. Traditional training plan -- massive amounts of base but my peak power levels are nothing to be proud of.

I would like to reduce the amount of time I spend on the bike, but I don't want to stop being competitive in TT's / Triathlons where the bike race is around 1 hour in duration. (I still compete pretty well with the young guys -- generally top 3 overall on the bike -- but those days are probably numbered.)

Is the "Time Crunched Cycling" training plan effective in doing what I want to do? Switching over will almost certainly cost me some aerobic fitness -- maybe forever. But will it keep me competitive in races of about 1 hour? Has anyone here used the Time Crunched method? How old are you? How did it go?

Thanks for your input!

The highest FTP I ever recorded was after ~6 months of nothing other than 1min and 2min intervals, guided by heart rate. Five minute warmup, 2min interval, 60sec soft pedal, repeat x 10 or so. A caveat is that I also appear to require this approach for running performance (1 and 2 mile repeats), which is completely contrary to the conventional guidelines. In other words, after warmup, I'm never operating below ~90% effort (for bike and run). Quick but difficult workouts.

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