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October 1, 2025 14 mins

OVERVIEW
Following a training plan is better than training haphazardly, but how closely do you need to follow the letter of the plan? In Episode 274 of "The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast", Coach Adam Pulford discusses the benefits and necessity of not following the plan to a T, when that’s ok, when it’s not, and how to adjust daily training sessions based on how you're feeling while still sticking to the vision and progression of a bigger plan.

TOPICS COVERED

  • What flexibility means in endurance training
  • Examples: hard day planned and don't feel great
  • Example: easy day planned and feel great
  • Example: had day planned and feel great
  • Should you push through a hard workout if you don't feel good?
  • How to modify your workouts on any given day
  • Autonomy of training

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HOST
Adam Pulford has been a CTS Coach for nearly two decades and holds a B.S. in Exercise Physiology. He's participated in and coached hundreds of athletes for endurance events all around the world.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:06):
From the team at CTS, this is the Time Crunch
Cyclist Podcast, our showdedicated to answering your
training questions and providingactionable advice to help you
improve your performance, evenif yours job for time.
I'm your host, Coach AdamPulford, and I'm one of the over
50 professional coaches who makeup the team at CTS.

(00:27):
In each episode, I draw on ourteam's collective knowledge,
other coaches, and experts inthe field to provide you with
the practical ways to get themost out of your training and
ultimately become the bestcyclist that you can be.
Now, on to our show.

(00:57):
Because there are times when itreally matters to hit the right
training on the right day.
And then there's times wheredoing the work is just what
matters most.
I'm your host, Coach AdamPulford, and today I'm going to
encourage you to scribbleoutside the lines when it comes
to your training program.
First, what the heck does thatmean?
Well, it just means be flexible.

(01:20):
And you want to be flexiblebecause the way endurance
training works is you need to doa bunch of it now or in some
given time period in order tohave some sort of adaptation
later when you specifically needit most.
That's for the race, the keyevent, or some key time period
where you'll be testing yourlimits.
But for the majority of thetime, it's the broader strokes

(01:42):
that matter more than the thin,precise details.
Athletes' lives are dynamic andcan be chaotic, especially for
all of you listening,time-crunched athletes.
Y'all have jobs, family,relationships, and you have your
performance goals.
Most of everyone listening couldlikely benefit from allowing
themselves a bit moreflexibility in their lives when

(02:04):
it comes to training because ofthis.
Having a dynamic training plan,one that can change a bit day to
day or week to week withinreason, is far better than a
static one or a static mindsetthat can bog athletes down,
thinking they need to hit theseintervals on this day,
otherwise, they've failed.
So that brings us back to thequestion of you know, why follow

(02:27):
a training program at all ifyou're not gonna hit the hard
days when they're prescribed,right?
Well, a good program is the bigpicture that keeps us on the
road toward accomplishing ourgoals.
Following a plan versus notfollowing a plan delivers better
results time and time again.
I've linked to several studieson this in our show notes to

(02:47):
illustrate the point.
I'm not gonna go into a ton ofdetails there, but that is a
definitely a known thing.
But like I said, many athletesthink they need to perfectly hit
each workout as planned toaccomplish the goal, but that's
a misconception.
There's a time and place forthat.
And one of the most importanttimes is six to eight weeks out
from a main event.

(03:08):
Then the details start to mattera lot more.
But that's specificity oftraining, and that's a principle
of training that shouldn't beoverlooked in any good program.
For all my athletes, I encouragethem to add a little bit more or
a little less on any given daybased on how they feel, so long
as it fits the goals of thecurrent phase that we're in and
keeps us heading toward that bigpicture goal.

(03:30):
Let's look at some examples.
Hard day planned and don't feelgreat.
Use the warm-up rule, thenadjust as needed.
I've gone over what the warm-uprule is on this uh uh podcast
before, but basically you rideeasy, then endurance, a couple
openers, and then you decidewhether you uh hit the main set
or if you change to somethingdifferent.

(03:51):
So if you if you continue onwith the main set, determine
that, yeah, I guess I'm not asbad as I thought.
What you want to do is probablyjust hug the low end of the
range on the prescribed workoutintervals and get through it,
you know, because typicallyafter a good warm-up, I find
that most people, it's like, ohyeah, I do feel uh better than
anticipated.
I'm gonna carry on.
Or what you could do is skip themain set altogether because you

(04:14):
don't feel great.
You've confirmed that with agood warm-up.
Maybe just ride some enduranceand head home, saving that key
workout for another day when youdo feel better.
Another example is an easy dayplan, but you feel great.
What should you do then?
Uh my advice to my athletes isgo hit a hard group ride, or uh
maybe there's a hard workoutscheduled for later in the week.

(04:36):
Let's just knock that out of thepark today and let's not waste
good legs.
Just make sure that that hardworkout fits within the current
plan, meaning if if we're tryingto increase FTP in some form or
fashion, you do a thresholdworkout and not a sprint
workout, something like that.
Another and third scenario isyou have a hard day planned and

(04:57):
you feel great.
Well, that's that's awesome.
You know, the stars havealigned.
But on that day, you can stilladjust, you can still scribble
outside the lines and see if youcan go a little bit more, right?
So on that, you want to hug theupper end of the prescribed
range if you're feeling good.
And if the goal is to increasethe time and zone, maybe you add
a little bit more time perinterval, or maybe you add a

(05:18):
whole other interval altogether.
If the goal is to intensifytraining or add more power, then
I would add five to ten whileit's on and and try to see where
that limit is.
Again, don't waste the good legsif you got it.
Play outside the lines and getthe full benefit on that
session.
So, what about pushing through ahard workout when you don't feel

(05:40):
as good?
Isn't there any value in that?
Yeah, there is, but there'sgreater value in learning how to
adjust for your needs on thatday.
I'm not saying skip everyworkout if you don't feel great
or perfect.
Rather, be open and aware ofyourself and don't push through
when you feel terrible.
Learn that even like shiftingthe day or two, that's not going

(06:01):
to ruin anything.
It will likely only help.
The day will come for sure whenyou have to push through, you
know, a hard day or a race or agroup ride because not all the
stars have aligned.
But learning to read yourselfwill actually help predict good
sensations and performances asyou go.
More on that in a minute.

(06:23):
But here's a little how-to ofhow to scribble outside the
lines within reason on any givenday.
General rule of thumb for me ison the on the volume aspect, be
within 10 to 20 percent of theprescribed.
So, for example, if there's along ride uh being prescribed
and say it's three hours long,add 20%, that's about three and

(06:44):
a half hours or so, and thatkeeps things on track.
You can go a little bit more,but then definitely either
communicate with the coach ormaybe you uh change on the back
side of things if it ends upbeing like some epic ride.
But again, uh within 10 to 20percent, that's within reason.
Also, if you're a training peaksuser and you see that some days
are green, some days are uhyellow, some days are orange,

(07:05):
that plays into the colorcoordination side of things.
If you're within, I think 25% onthe prescribed volume or TSS,
it's gonna be a green day.
So that's a little bit of how togauge that um from a training
standpoint uh with scribblingoutside the lines.
Now, training ranges forintervals, we have a high and a

(07:26):
low end for each interval.
And these ranges, they havehighs and low ends for a reason.
Okay.
Our physiology, it's not superprecise, but if we stay within
those high and low limits, we'restill gonna hit the marks for
the day.
Not every day has to be at thevery top.
Please hear me on that.
I think all of my athletes needto hear that uh time and time

(07:48):
again, and you likely do too.
So you can hug the middle or thelow end and still reap the
benefits of tempo or thresholdor VO2.
Uh it's that's why ranges arethere.
Now you can also read thedescription uh from the coach
because typically, if if a coachis making a workout, they're
also going to tell you of howyou should feel or maybe how to

(08:11):
adjust on the given day, andmaybe there's a little wiggle
room there.
When you're feeling good, don'twaste good legs.
I've said that before.
Pick a hard workout that may bedown the road, and so long as it
fits into the big picture, nailit.
And that's also going to kind offall within that scribbling
outside the lines.
Just flex days, uh, flex theworkouts a little bit here, a

(08:32):
little bit there.
Now, all of this leads toautonomy of training, and this
is very important because itgives you ownership of getting
it done.
It also increases engagement andcommunication with you and your
coach, or just that engagementto the program itself.
Because that engagement ofdetermining what went well and
what didn't, and should I dothis workout on this day based

(08:53):
on how I feel helps you tochange things next time or
change things over time.
This increases awareness.
And this is probably the mostimportant aspect, actually, of
this flexibility of training orscribbling outside the lines.
Knowing how and when to shiftthe workouts to bring yourself
into a key day really helps youand the coach learn what you

(09:14):
need to freshen up to have agreat day.
Now, this is critical during ataper phase or being fresh for a
big key day.
And sometimes you won't learnthis unless you have the
autonomy to change some workoutsaround.
So being flexible can not onlyhelp lead you into better key
days, but it can also help tominimize bad days, making

(09:34):
performance more predictable.
And that is the art of coaching.
Which again swings back a littlebit to what I said about pushing
through a hard day when youdon't feel great.
My point here is like if youlearn how to bring yourself into
a you know a key day or hard dayor a race, you will likely deal
with having to push through abad day much less frequently.

(09:58):
So even those listening who youknow they live a life where it's
fully dialed and you cannormally just generally hit
every workout as planned, that'sgreat.
Keep that up.
And I've even encouraged you togo a little off script sometimes
because on those long days orhard days, uh, maybe you can get
a little bit more out ofyourself if you push a little

(10:20):
bit more and find your limit.
And then additionally to that,play around with how you
actually like taper or freshenup best because that can
definitely help bring out a peakperformance when you want it.
So a quick recap on how and whento scribble and follow.
When to scribble.
That's the majority of the year,actually.
Okay.
Base, build, prep phases.

(10:42):
I have my athletes beingflexible throughout all those
time periods.
It's more about getting the workdone within a week or a month
rather than a specific day.
Now, there are some key daysthat need to be hit within those
time periods.
Don't miss those, but it can beflexible on timing.
When to follow, this is yourspecific race prep, generally

(11:03):
referred to as a specializationphase, six to eight weeks out
from competition.
This is also in the taper phaseas well.
You want to hit the workouts onthe given day.
There's still flexibility inthere, but there's a big timing
component to bringing out thesharpness when needed.
So I would generally stick tothe guns there.
If you do a good job though,with the base build prep phases

(11:25):
and flexibility, I would saythat if you're right in your own
training or if your coach ispaying attention, it should
minimize a lot of bad dayswithin that six to eight week
time window, and everythingshould be pretty predictable
going into the race.
And like I said, that's part ofthe art of it.
So finally, you know, do wetrain by a plan or by vibes,
right?

(11:45):
Uh well, those who fail to plan,plan to fail, in my opinion.
Uh, those who ride by vibes,meaning you just kind of pick
and choose whatever you'refeeling on the given day,
letting feelings be the onlything guiding you.
Well, people who train likethat, even though it may be fun
in the moment, and there is atime and place for that, but you
rarely peak for performance orstay motivated for long periods

(12:08):
of time.
This is why having a trainingprogram uh does prevail if you
want results.
And even if you follow a mediumgood plan, this is generally
better than following no plan atall.
Structured workouts provide aroadmap, consistency,
progressive challenges, andsense of accomplishments.
Randomly choosing workouts canlead to stagnation, burnout,

(12:30):
plateaus, decreased motivation,and poor timing of peak
performance.
So, in summary, I'd say that thelonger I coach, the more I
realize that this flexibility oftraining is wildly important for
everyone, especiallytime-crunched athletes whose
lives are just more chaotic anddynamic than someone who may
have more time to train.

(12:51):
In either case, I encourage allof my athletes and all of you
listening here to scribbleoutside the lines and be more
flexible with your training inorder to get full benefits of
the training program and makeyour performance more
predictable come race day.
That's it.
That's our show for today.
Thanks for listening.
And if you liked what you heard,please share it with a friend or

(13:11):
a training partner, as that'sthe best way to grow the show
and make sure you keep gettingcontent streamed over to you
like this.
If this has spurred on anyquestions in your head, please
ask away.
All you need to do is head overto trainwrite.com backslash
podcast, click on ask a trainingquestion, fill out the form
there, and submit it over to meand our team, and we'll do our

(13:32):
best to answer it on an upcomingepisode.
Thanks again for listening, andmake sure to come back next week
for more training tips for aTime Crunch Life.
Thanks for joining us on theTime Crunch Cyclist Podcast.
We hope you enjoyed the show.
If you want even more actionabletraining advice, head over to
trainwright.com backslashnewsletter and subscribe to our

(13:54):
free weekly publication.
Each week you'll get in depthtraining content that goes
beyond what we cover here on thepodcast that'll help you take
your training to the next level.
That's all for now.
Until next time, train hard,train smart, train right.
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