Timing of adaptations in a 12 week training plan

[Andrew]

A question for the coaches and physiologically knowledgable.

In the course of a 12 week plan, say the Intermediate All Purpose Road Indoor for instance, when do the bulk of the athlete’s training adaptations occur?

In the rest weeks is of course the answer, but now that we have Half Monty in the middle of the plans and can get some usable data, I am curious whether the bulk of the adaptations will occur in the first half or second half of the program?

My guess is that less trained cyclists will experience the bulk of their gains in the first half; whilst more trained cyclists will see fewer gains in the first half because they need the more intensive stimulus of the latter weeks to yield adaptations.

My alternate guess is that all cyclists will see greater gains in the second half, but the split will be more even for less trained cyclists.

No particular reason for my question. Just curious.

Cheers

Sir Andrew, KoS

[spoons52]

Great Post.
I’m in week 11 of Metric century and am curious to know having the frightening Tool Shed tomorrow then very easy week and a half to the end of plan, is that when all the muscle recovery and strengthening takes place?

[Calvin_Crawford]

I’m curious why we have a Half Monty mid plan… I mean if we expect gains after 8 weeks, why not end the plan at that point and start a new one?

[Coach.Rupert.H]

Great question! I talked abit more bout adaptations and responding to stimulus on this topic:

From the Coaches: Are you training with accurate 4DP targets?

I have noticed a few topics in the forum recently discussing a workout being too hard, a plan too easy and athletes questioning their 4DP profile. Although workouts and plans are tailored to your rider type and 4DP profiles, the app can only work with what it knows, meaning it is up to the athlete to make sure they are revisiting these numbers on a regular (every 3months) basis. Testing your 4DP numbers regularly ensures you are working with SMART goals. More often than not we see people using …

I would say it depends on the rider when they respond to a stimulus but by week 6 of the plan they will have gone through 2 cycles of work:rest so there will definitely be some gains, the reason we put HM there is to avoid the plateau by shifting the stimulus to keep you working towards the targets.
Mentally, it can also be really beneficial to do the ramp mid-way and see some small gains as this will help keep your motivation going all the way to the end of the 12 weeks and leave you wanting to build even more