Terrain versus the prescribed workout. In general, Coaches seem to be brain dead when it comes to merging where the athlete will be, the terrain and the prescribed workout. Generally, one can always do the prescribed workout on the trainer / rollers using some type of fudge factor for power and duration to equilibrate indoors V outdoors. But one is then on the trainer.
When my wife and I lived in NorCal, she could ride at lunch but the terrain was busy roads with traffic and lights / stop and she could ride up San Bruno Mountain and she could ride circuit race course but there was traffic and trucks and etc.
So the main option for sustained effort was San Bruno Mountain which was a 20 minute climb for her. So independent of what was prescribed for that day, she was climbing. And she could not necessarily just go any day as her work schedule took precedence. Attorneys can work all the time and work demands are difficult.
The bottom line was that we would have to look at the training plan for the week, work schedule and figure out terrain that would match the workouts. Sometimes it worked and other times not so well. No one has a perfect terrain situation to hit a plan perfectly.
In SoCal, we drive a lot to get specific terrain for TT workouts. Unless I am doing really short duration intervals on the TT bike, most terrain does not work and even short duration high power where I go fast does not work with a lot of cross traffic.
This is why, we ride Fiesta Island and Camp Pendleton. They offer constant power efforts at high speed that is about as safe as it gets for us and others for TT work. The velodrome MAY be good as well assuming there are not too many other racers at the track. One cannot dominate the pole lane of the track just to do TT work. However, there are work around at the track to accommodate longer sustained efforts.
When we ride Camp Pendleton to San Clemente, it is 15 minutes loading the car, 35 minutes to the start, 15 minutes unloading and getting ready and checked into the camp. 2 hours of TTT plus some stopping for bio breaks, eating turn around and etc. and then another hour to get back in the house bikes put away. There is 2 hours of non productive time. Hell, it is like playing 18 holes of golf. It takes an entire day.