How Much Do You Need to Ride to Get Faster? The Science 

I've got training plans available here: www.trainingpeaks.com/coach/dylanjohnsontraining#trainingplans

I just simply look at what volume dylan is doing on strava and then do 1 hr more than him per week. Then i am guaranteed to beat him in every race.

Can't wait to see you race against Evenepole in BWR Kansas, good luck man.

How do i know when I've hit that volume? It's when my wife gives me that look.

Great vid. As an older rider (50) I find a reduced training week every 5-6 weeks before ramping back up again really helps my body recover and consolidate any gains I have made. As most gains are made during recovery reducing milage and intensity every so often helps me maintain my training without succumbing to overtraining. Thanks again for a very informative video.

I am Re-Learning these principles at age 59, usually by mistakes. One of the challenges is that most of us interpret your body's signals of overtraining as "weakness" and the same grit that helps us compete, takes us to a bad place in training.

86500 miles per year is 237 miles per day. At an average speed of 20 mph thats 11.8 hours per day. Literally wtf

We need a #blame my epigenetics t-shirt by BHD

My coach never increases volume by more than 5 miles per week. Week 1: 40 miles, week 2:4 5 miles etc. Im training for triathlon so its usually 3 rides per week: Long ride, interval ride (constantly switching between 30 second intervals, 1 minute intervals, 5-10 minute intervals at zone 4-5 pace), and a cruise ride (usually 20 miles at race pace). Then every 2-3 weeks he'll schedule a "recovery week" to try and absorb the training; basically all the volume drops significantly for that week and then ramps right back to where we were the following week. Over the last 2 years Ive seen my riding really improve from racing around 160 watts to around 220 watts now. Im sure theres different methods out there- this seems to be working for me at least. As a side note- I noticed the single biggest jump Ive ever had in cycling performance was by simply getting a professional bike fit.

Like drinking from the fire hose, Dylan! Excellent content, as usual, and loads of information. Definitely will be watching it a few more times. Thanks for everything!

Man, I just wanted to thank you for all your content and dedication. You found that sweet spot between personal experience and science-based data with a bit of good sense of humor. Wish you all the good luck in your future endeavours.

Absolutely love your channel. I learn loads everyday.

Thanks for posting , always picking up something new... Learning never ends. Keep peddling .....

Thanks Dillon - although it is depressing to be constantly reminded that not only am I limited due to my genetics but that things are only going down hill each year.... #OldGit

After taking a few weeks off the bike (advice from a previous video), this was perfectly timed for a restart. Thanks

Very informative video and very glad there was a backward hat Dylan Strava reference 😀 👍

BHD always cracks me up!

A good overview of training principles, but one very important factor (for amateurs) has been left out: Time! Intensity is less time consuming and should therefore often be favoured. Few people that can physically train 20-30 hours a week, will actually have the time to do so.

Thanks for this, exactly the questions that have been rolling around my head lately!

Great video as always 👍

“…i’m sorry to disappoint, but you’re not gonna get that…” gimme the magic bullet Dylan!!!! Lol love watching your very informative vids! Thanks!

I always do decoupling sessions and when I can go longer power for the same heart rate then I start to increase, that's at VT1 and VT2 power and rate zones. Very important decoupling sessions, especially for Ironman.

This is awesome, best video I’ve seen so far explaining this. Thank you!

As always Dylan, excellent training information. Taking time to record specific training type sessions is important along with how long is needed for adequate recovery from the sessions, is very important with respect to age or pre-existing fitness base.

One of the best training videos I’ve seen. Excellent explanation. You answered a lot of my questions about balancing volume and intensity. Great job! Love the content. 👍

Thanks for the video, that explains why I failed my past two interval sessions.

I'm somewhat new to cycling, having been a swimmer for around five years now. I find that I actually max out on volume much quicker than intensity in cycling. I think that since I swim short events, usually the 100, 200 and 500 short course yards, I,m used to the cardiovascular load of intensity, but my body just still isn't used to the long-term stress of hours of biking. I just don't do those kinds of high volume workouts when I swim, so for me, too many long endurance rides will leave me fatigued.

Great Video and it does match with Professional training for marathon or long distance runners too. Up to 2 workout days a week is very common or two threshold days and one faster session when Training with the norwegian method like Ingebrigtsen.

Great information and you make the guidance easy to follow. I like the way you present the information as always.

Valuable information. Thanks for sharing.

Hi Dylan, you mentioned that people who cycle ultra distances might train more hours per week than some pros who focus on shorter distances but that they would hit a volume limit where their performance stopped improving. I was curious if you could touch on how to train for ultra endurance events (I'm thinking of 24 hour events and 200 miles currently but I'm very early on in my focused training). It would be interesting to me to know how to do the overnight training and long hours as a simulation. Thanks for all of the great content!

Great info DJ! Pullin for you bud! Hope you have a great 2022 race year!

top 5 best cycling channels on RU-vid. thx

Fantastic video, and thanks for sharing all those references!

Damn Dylan. You never seem to amaze me. Just when I’m in need of advice for something, you post a video answering my questions. Thanks 🙏 😊

Great video

Top video again Dylan 👍

Not sure if I should post here or not, but here goes: So Ive been struggling with plateauing, and kinda stuck on where to go next. After a big crash in 2014 and surgeries years ago and stressful life, I started getting back into cycling again. I started at 90kg, and am 1.70m in height, and 50 years old. In the first year, I lost around 8kg, and ended the year on 196w FTP. This year, I hit 78kg and around 230w FTP + 1000w sprint power with lots of threshold and tempo rides. And this is where the problems start. I seem to have gotten stuck. The weight loss has stopped (the target is my old race weight of 72kg), as has the power (my old target is 270w FTP), and sprint power has stubbornly refused to get any closer to my old 1300w power of 7 years ago when I used to race veledrone. Strangely, my fitness has been improving this whole time. Even as I complete my local routes faster, my RE has been dropping as well. My recovery rate is improving, both in ride, and day to day. But I still cant seem to climb any faster (typically 700VAM). Been trying to vary my routes to break out the muscle memory, but I think I need to do more. Am I doomed to spending winter on the turbo? Any way to do leg strength work without going to the Gym?

Bro you have a based information platform. Thanks and keep growing!

Most people ride as much as they can fit in when it comes to volume. Progressive increases in volume is a luxury of time.

Good job Dylan. Thanks.

Nice video Dylan

50 here... I actually love there fact that I know i HAVE to train less to be able to recover better. I used to go hard as hell all the time because I knew there were gains to be made. knowing that if I do that now actually hurts my gains makes it nice to take it easy and know im doing it right.

increase your milage slowly. Thank you so much for your great advice.

Your advice is for people training to race. For those of us training for long distance touring, it is a bit different. If you are training to tour, just like any other sport, specificity is the key. It is one thing to go all out in a four hour race and then take days off, because you can. When touring, you are on your bike six or more hours per day, every day, for weeks. An athlete well trained for another cycling discipline will adapt, but they may be a bit miserable for a while. It is definitely a different game when you are riding 60-100 miles per day on a bike that weighs 60 lbs. or more, and you have to get up tomorrow, and the day after and do it all again. Nutritional needs are different as well, but that is another topic.

This is such a good video! Thanks Dylan

Excellent video, as usual 👍

6.5hrs/wk this season and I can hold my own but the endurance is lacking. However, I don't like longer rides.

Able to break a chain under power but mostly able to catch diesel. Breathing in diesel means you are on form.

well done. I enjoyed it.

2:45 Keegan: “Hold my beer.”

Good stuff dude! 🤘🏻🤙🏻

Anyone else constantly waiting for when the first contribution from BHD will be each video?

Hello, Dylan. Could you please explain the folowing: How to continue train for bike ride when you completely away from bike? Even away from indoor cycle. How to schedule the out-of-bike week? Gym, running?

How should our volume fluctuate during the off-season?Maybe low to take a break in early winter, then high through the dead of winter and then start to reduce volume and increase intensity in spring? I'm having a hard time mentally reducing my intensity as winter is creeping in. It's more fun to chase backwards hat Dylan on Zwift than to grind out hours at low intensity. I'm doing it, but it's hard.

Excellent advice

great information!

This isn’t your typical upload but I think a video about how knowledge of cycling and training methods can be put to use in a career as well as other cycling related jobs and how people can get into them would be pretty cool

my question - you mention 2-3 intense sessions a week - i have to imagine that represents a certain % of overall hours? Have you looked at it like that? So during base phase, 10% of hours should be >=z4, build phase is X%, Race phase is X%? Then layer on that % increase decrease of overall volume during those phases? Just curious.

5:04 S/O seat slammed all the way forward gang

Thanks!

Hi Dylan, I wondered what you thought of a situation like that of Damien Clayton or Alexandar Richardson. Two pros who both tried cycling in their mid 20s, loved it so much that they did 1100+ hrs in their first year. Their subsequent annual training volume decreased as they became racers and eventually pros. Q: Do you think there's something to be said for dedicating an entire year to base volume, rather than a typical 'base phase' length, especially for someone just starting out? Kind of a Hail Mary but it seemed to pay off for these guys afterwards!

Video idea: People that want to improve year to year but dont race, not focussing specific peaks.

Could you make a video on the science of training your sprint, please?

I think 2-3 high quality 45 min hard sessions a week can get your faster and definitely maintain your FTP, with perhaps a couple of hours of lighter z2 work. It's worked for me as a time pressured parent anyway.

I suppose this explains why I feel like crap after completing a 31 Days of July challenge (1 hour, every day in July). While I've learned how to not completely murder myself doing this challenge and this year I ended the month not feeling too bad, but I still lost a lot of motivation to ride in the months since. I will definitely consider some of the Training Peaks courses.

It's been 15 minutes...Gawd it takes me so long to recover now!!!!

Good advice

According to my feeling i would say, nowdays my 71kg body tolerates burning total of 4500kcal per day completely without recoverydays in zone 2. But by adding intensity this looks completely different

Interesting stuff. As a straw poll I wonder what average volume people find works best for them? Personally I tend to be around 7-9 hours per week as a leisure rider trying to perform at his best (around the cat 2 level) with limited time. Interestingly those riders I know locally who are significantly stronger than me (firmly in the cat 1 bracket) tend to be at a similar volume. I have seen my best ever form when I could stretch my volume a little to the 10 hour+ mark but that seems to come with the risk of falling ill or becoming fatigued so, even if I had the time, it probably isn't sustainable for long. As you advocate, perhaps working at that volume earlier in the season before decreasing volume as intensity picks up would probably work best, life allowing.

Training volume is like engine size: It can't be replaced with anything, except more of it 😛. Intensity training is like the icing on a good volume base, similar to a turbocharger for an engine 😀.

Yeah. My bones remind me I need more recovery time than back in my youth.

more than last time

Thanks for the evidence. What about Sweetspot training for folks like me with less than 7 hours per week training?

Vo2max and vlamax rise fast at my Training even by doing just 10h per week. My ftp depends normaly very strongly on lowering the Vlamax. So it happens that i have a higher ftp at under 15h with the right key sessions like (40/20)s, K3 and some lowcarb than at 25h doing 85/15 polarised LIT/HIT

Comparing podcast from LtD (LSRF in Dutch) with your video there is a difference: reverse periodization vs normal. You seem to show 'normal periodization'. Whilst doing large volume in wintertime is extremely difficult for amateurs, and one cannot keep high volume + intensity towards events. I think working on weakness (anaerobic capacity) first and then cranking up the volume is a good alternative. But I'm no expert!!

Everyone’s definition of “intensity” varies a lot. Should I get to a certain metric?

All good info. My old body likes more time for recovery

Old fart here riding for fun. About 12 to 15 hours per week. Getting a power meter but i did recently start using a Heart rate monitor… very interesting. 3000 km so far this year. Expect to do 6000. These concepts apply to older more casual riders too

Super interesting video, thanks! One question, do you advise skipping interval training completely and only focussing on lots of base miles in the winter? Or is sprinkling an interval in here and there a good idea.

I'd like to see a video on fitness metrics by Strava (Fitness, Freshness, Fatigue) and TrainingPeaks (CTL, ATL, TSB). Do these metrics have any science behind them? Zone2 Rides don't seem to affect them much, and I've heard people say that they're specifically doing Sweetspot Training to up their CTL quickly. That seems to go against your whole ethos

That’s Strava notification from Jeremiah Bishop 😂

What about training on a large flat empty parking lot at a constant sustainable cadence doing ovals around it? And gradually increasing distance?

Hi Dylan, I started of as a competitive swimmer and we trained using USRTP. Is there an equivalent in cycling?

Dylan I am excited for kansas evenepoel will Go there. Whoa h this will be fun. Just let him pull, that jid is impatient 🤪🤪

Its kinda complicated, since if you have to apply progressive overload, you will automatically be pushing yourself into higher heart zones. But researchers and scientest recommend that training most of the time in zone 2 is the most efficient?

This vid was great and all with good points. Does anyone know whether previous endurance training has a major effect on tolerating high volume training in other sports? I used to run and my peak volume was 12-13h a week and after 7 weeks of cycling im already pretty comfort able at 15+ hours but my cap is around 18h plus 2 gym sessions. All of those hours are logged on the indoor trainer as i currently dont own a bike. Last ftp test 3 weeks ago i tested 225w from my 20min test giving me ftp of ≈211 at 60 kilos. Thinking next week that 240w or 4w per kilo should already be attainable. Have i found a sport where im actually good at or is it all thanks to these great in depth training vids? I wonder when my progression will hit that wall. What do yall think.

(backwards hat on) Lachlan Morton bikes 24 hours a day 7 days a week that's the perfect volume for me to go pro

About 30 is where most pros seem to draw the line. So if that’s what you can handle, then th at seems to be the limit.

If you are not a pro and have a life then around 14 hours a week is enough. With the right genetics and intense intervals and hill training 2-3 times a week you will be competitive. .

Thanks for the video. Sweet Spot and Lactate Threshold also refer to in high intensity?

I'm 8 weeks recovered from covid. Week 1 I had lost about 75% of my fitness anaerobic capacity. Weeks later with progressive overload my baseline Fitness has returned - I'm at moderate progressive overload and making nice improvements. Hyper resting and getting adequate high quality nutrition has made a huge difference

I’ve had good success with 4-6 grams of beta alinine per day, 4-6 week preload period, and enduro bites beta red beet juice concentrate. Let’s you train longer and harder.

thanks for sharing. what would you say that is a good way to mesure, besides feeling? using CTL to measure the workload and fatigue? i basically ride for the fun (or adiction:P) and i just want to be sure that im not doing too much. too less is not happening anyways :P. thanks

@Dylan, could it be a good idea to explore and compare what is better to improve, online racing vs structured plan ? I'm more of a structured training guy, but a friend is arguing online racing is better overall. Is there some science on that ? Thank you

Any more than 10 hrs a week on the bike is flat out toxic for me, wiping me out for weeks afterwards. But intensity 4 times a week (+ strength training) is no problem at all, and I'm old. Probably why I've always sucked at endurance stuff. So much for simple formulas.

speed ≠ endurace

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. As a runner starting to cycle more I have a lot to learn and your videos are very helpful. I'm curious if you've researched the difference in performance between a carbon fiber gravel bike versus a bike with an aluminum frame for endurance events?

So basically I want to stay within the upper end of my Garmin training effect guardrails.

I know that you say in the intro that you can’t give specific prescriptions in terms of number of hours because “it depends” but the video ends up with few new takeaways because of it that you haven’t already covered in other videos unfortunately. I do enjoy your channel and please don’t take this as a criticism but I felt there wasn’t much new here but more just a different “slant”/angle on the same information that you’ve already presented in earlier videos.