mkmartin

For me, I just ride. Sometimes I wake up and say, 'today im going to hammer (that climb)' or 'im going to ride 70+ miles today' but other than that, I just like to ride sort of hard every time I ride. This has worked well for my 1st two years of cycling, but I think as I'm getting better I need some actual intervals to get better. Or, to up my weekly mileage...

gregf83 

I have available a weekly crit on Thur night, a time trial on Wed night, an easy group ride on Thur and a hard group ride on Sat. I usually schedule my workouts around those events. For example I'll do sprint intervals on Tue and threshold intervals on Mon, Fri is usually an easy ride and Sunday can be long but not generally hard. That's about as structured as I get.

ericm979

If you want to race, you need to go hard when its time to go hard and easier when its time to go easy. If you're just doing centuries there's no need to do intervals unless you enjoy them. They hurt.

I plan out a season at the beginning of my season (November), with a couple peaks for A races. The plan can change, as in this spring when my early A race was moved a month. The training changes too, depending on the race I'm aiming for. I don't plan out every workout, just what I'll generally do each week.

DataJunkie

I have a plan. Started racing this year and having that plan has helped quite a bit. It really hasn't done anything for my crappy race tactics but at least I have a decent engine. Of course it could always use some improvement. With young kids at home I have to make the most out of what time I have.
As a side note, having something to train for is just the sort of incentive I needed to keep my interest up in regards to cycling.
Endurance cycling was starting to bore the heck out of me and I have been becoming more and more competitive as of late. It is good to have an outlet for that instead of pretending I am king of the MUP.

Carbonfiberboy 

Just riding works well for just riding. If you have some goal, or want to be more competitive in the local hammerfest or race, a training plan works better.

koffee brown

Ditto. I just ride to ride- no pressure, just enjoy what you're doing, zone out, and focus on the feeling. But- yes, if you're actually training for competition, the training plan is paramount for you to have success in competing. I've seen so many times where people just go out and ride and ride and ride, then show up for a bike race, and then have the race blow up for them. Really, it's all about periodization....

koffee

moppeddler

I read Time Crunched Cyclist and was going to follow the plan, but the MS150 is only about 9 weeks away. That, and I have to find about 2 mile stretch that's relatively falt or slightly uphill to do the field test, which is not easy to find around here. Then there's the record heat wave and the work schedule to get around. I may try it at some point, I'm sure it would help.

DataJunkie

I don't find training or racing to be stressful. It's just another way to enjoy cycling. Still love my family rides and recovery rides.