Its very individual, but I don't find a need for a "week off"
A few easy days every few weeks should be sufficient and on a more macro level really easy week (only recovery workouts) every few months to catch up some rest

Oh. Interesting. I have not thought of that approach. I am not sure I really need an entire easy week but maybe a few days would suffice.

I do 3/1. And on the off week, it's generally just easier M-F and then ramp back up over the weekend.

For people who don't recover as well (new athletes, older AGs, etc.), the 2/1 approach works great. It's also a bit more conservative and less likely to injure yourself in the process

Kat ...

Over the years, working with a variety of athletes I have grown to believe that if you need a full "down week" then the training you are doing for the 2 or 3 weeks is too much / too hard. I am finding better results in athletes with the following formats:
- 2 days VERY easy / 12 days "normal" or "On" ... and my very easy would be I.E. 20 - 30min light swim on day 1 / 30min Easy spin and 10min jog on day 2
- 3 days VERY easy / 11 days "normal" or "On"
- 3 days VERY easy / 14 days "normal" or "On"
... and the largest cycle I will use for more resilient / experienced athletes in key training periods is
- 3-4 days VERY EASY to EASY / 17-18 days "normal or "On"

My experience has resulted in athletes being mentally fresher, physically more resilient, LESS INJURIES, and accumulating more consistent, healthy training that coincides with more load & fitness over a given period (and the long term)

I have not scripted a 3/1 week in over 15 years and though I see how you have better quality in your 2/1 format, 1 week at 50% seems excessive. You may consider cycling 14 days / 3 days on a rolling schedule and taking those easy 3 days regardless of where they fall in the cycle.

Good Luck

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Dave Latourette
http://www.TTENation.com

Excellent information!

I've bounced back and forth between 3/1 and 2/1 depending on what I'm doing.

I bought a track cycling plan last August that is based on the 3/1 cycle. In late November and mid December I was failing on my third week's workouts so I changed to 2/1 and can accomplish the goals two weeks at a time and not waste the third week. I'm on the second cycle of that and feel much better.

If I was just riding to ride and not doing intensity I'd probably never take a week off. If I was doing 80/20 I'd probably be doing the 3/1.

KK,

I have found my best results by making my weekly microcycle easier and then I do not need a full recovery week every 2 or 3 weeks. I believe for age groupers it is more important to keep the ball rolling with their ~10 hours/week rather than to chop down training volume every third week. I would start by making your weekly training lighter/easier and then see how your body handles it repeatedly without down weeks.

For athletes I coach this will obviously depend on their work/life schedule but I actually like to do a modified 2 week on / 1 week "down". But the down isn't as much of a "down" as you would think, because I use a schedule that includes 2 "easy" days (M/Fri) and uses those 2 days as "breaks" every week anyways. Tue/Wed/Thur are building days with each day a specific "set" and then weekend sets. I'm pretty much a creature of habit. Every day has a specific set that doesn't deviate pretty much 48 weeks of the year minus race weeks. But even race weeks each day's structure is the same. I find the more consistent and "routine" you can keep it, the easier it is on the person and gets them in a training "groove".

So for example if an avg AG'er will come in w/ 14 hours on the "build" weeks, I'll drop it down to 11-11.5 hours on the "down" week. The "weekend intensity" will usually be pretty close to other weeks, but through the "work week" I'll drop some volume/intensity. What I have found is that if I can give them a few days of single day workouts, that helps the mental boost + recovery from always having to do double workout days.

(Again this is more geared towards FOP AG athletes....if your a "completer" the schedule isn't as daunting).

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

I train 5 days on 2 days off; (5 double days and 2 no workout days). Harder days on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday; easier days Tuesday and Friday; weekends no training. I find I get really good consistency with this and it means I am able to be 100% focused on my family at the weekend. Downside is that finding time for a workout longer than 90 minutes is pretty challenging, so as I get nearer to race season and need to ride for longer than that I will figure out a longer training slot for the weekend that fits around my family commitments.

As I aged up, I adopted more of a steady as it goes type workouts. Whatever kept me motivated type workouts to stay healthy and energized. I weaved in and out of various time focus on swim, bike, and run workouts. When the authorities forced the pool closures, then more on running and biking. Sometimes I wanted to ride longer because of great weather, sometimes needed to run more because of a weekend getaway. And when the pools reopened I made of for some lost laps in the pool.

If not training for specific events, then minimal speed workouts done. Unless I felt motivated to go fast for a rogue workout once or twice a month. The workouts never tired me; however, if short of rest or calories, then the body felt heavy and tired. Once I dialed into the proper nutrition levels or sleep needs, then the workouts never impaired the body. Once I targeted a race or string of races, then set up a 2-3 week build, followed by a 1 week recovery period on distance. Then repeated the cadence of build/rest weeks while increasing endurance distance, and tossed in some speed to peak distance weeks. Followed peak week with a taper of distance to more speed focus for 2-3 weeks, then backed into easy resting workouts during the final week to the first race. If multiple races over a 1-5 week period, I held a balance of endurance/speed/recovery between races. The races were the motivation to build endurance and speed. Those go together like wine and chocolate. I added in the active rest days during race week to peak for the events.

Kept this pattern into retirement over the past couple of seasons/years so as to not over train, over strain, or over rest the body.

https://www.palmtreesahead.com/
https://www.palmtreesahead.com/coach-selfcoach

I'm currently self coached and giving the 3:1 cycle in the trainingpeaks ATP I built for myself. Right now i'm in an easy week, took two days for recovery, today was a build, Thursday and Friday are power testing, and saturday/Sunday i'm building back into the next block. Only two blocks in and I like it so far. Its interesting because i'm training with both higher volume and consistency than any other time in my life (15-20 hours in my on weeks, probably more this summer) but I also feel like i'm recovering more than ever before as well