Originally Posted by
PeteHski
I think you may be trying to read too much into it. He's talking about riders who typically back off on all their intensity during the winter months and only do LSD rides, typically long, steady weekend rides. I know loads of club guys who take this kind of approach, so maybe I found it easy to relate to. Henderson is just saying that if you take that approach then you need a lot more volume than you might think to gain an advantage over someone following a lower volume plan with some degree of intensity. He was saying that around 16 hours per week of LSD is the minimum required to gain a significant advantage over someone following a structured interval plan. He also alludes to the fact that you can't do everything i.e. high volume and lots of intensity.
I agree with that. A couple years ago or so, I tried to go Polarized in October/November, did nothing but sit on my rollers just below VT1, put is as many hours of that as I could stomach. Didn't work as well as my usual plan. No energy for strength training, no hiking. The percentage of Z5 that worked out to wasn't enough to do anything.
My trad plan gradually introduces Z3, until by April every ride will have Z3 in it, then it goes to Z4 but there's still a lot of VT1 in it. The gradual introduction of intensity works for me. So I think we agree.