In 2007, I wanted to do time trials on a local course for fun and get into the best shape I could be. I read some of the classic books on training and quite frankly found them confusing or at least too many variables and inconsistent terms to link the workouts together in a meaningful way. However, I was highly motivated.
I hired a coach and had a lot of fun learning how to train and race and I have been using a coach ever since. Typically, I workout on the bike 4 to 5 times per week and in the gym almost daily but the gym work is the equivalent of two solid strength sessions spread over a week with a lot of recovery / stretching ideas making up the rest of the time.
My current workouts are put together in weekly blocks and divided into endurance, threshold and power. As competition approaches, the focus is speed.
So an endurance block will contain 2 to 3 hour rides with maybe some jumps or accelerations. Threshold will feature a couple of days of either 30 minute blocks at threshold or a 2 sets of 3x10(30"on30"off). Power is about sprints, jumps and variations of the 30on30off work that is higher in force but less duration.
Speed work is about motor pacing. It is about going faster than one is used to going at race power. It is as much a mental thing as physical. I am going to race next week, I want to ride fast but also, I do not want to tire myself out. A way to simulate a motor pace session is to ride slightly downhill or have a moderate wind at your back.
I do not know if you have read Hoy's other books. Hoy was a puker. IMO, when he talks about capacity efforts, those are puke intervals. The goal is to build anaerobic capacity. Below is a video of one of my friends on a Wattbike doing a capacity effort - build anaerobic capacity. Note after the effort one of the guys brought over a bucket just in case. And one can define capacity in a number of ways.
I have done all the workouts either on the road, on the trainer or at the track. However, the road is the easiest with the trainer being the hardest and the track somewhere in between. The Wattbike is brutal. A Wattbike workout is extremely fatiguing.
My advice is to find a coach or a program that is geared to the time you have available that has defined terms and follow it. In general, rookies cannot take a lot of capacity training such as Nate is doing.