Currently doing medium volume base 1 and am adding extra endurance volume to end of rides where I can and onto the weekend ride whether that be outside once I’ve done the workout or inside.
Am I right in thinking about adding an extra day of sweetspot (if I can handle the TSS etc and it’s consistently progressing each week). Something like Carson+1.
It basically creators a MV+ plan that I’ve seen people discuss. HV hours are just not possible for midweek training with work and family etc but I can add workouts by doing early morning ones before work/at the weekend. I know I can handle the workouts but didn’t know if that’s the best use of an extra workout or if it should be more endurance based.
So for this week I’ll have:
Carson +1
Antelope -4
Beech
Palisade
Carson +1
Eclipse +3 with an extra hour endurance bolted on at end.
I would start just by adding endurance to the end of existing rides if/when you have the time and endurance rides on one or two of the rest days. SSB-MV can look like a “build” plan with VO2, threshold, and sweet spot work four days a week, so be careful adding another sweet spot day - the recovery demands of three sweet spot days in a row (HV) plan are different than VO2-sweet spot-threshold.
I do a hybrid MV with SS Tue/wed/thr for 75mins - like Carson+1/Carillon +1/ Antelope-4 etc…then endurance for 75mins Friday - Collins then normal o/u Sat and SS Sunday. That is for base 1…for base 2 with the vo2 kicking in I change Wed to zone 2 like whorl and the same for Friday when things get er…more intense!
Similar here - I don’t do SS on a Wed but replace the 1hr z2 ride with a 90min version like Collins, and then instead of a Friday rest day I’ll do Townsend -1 which gets me another easy 90mins at no more than 60%, which leaves plenty in the tank for the weekend. One full rest day each week.
So that’s one rest day- 4 SS days, 1 over under day and 1 endurance? Sounds like my idea for base 1. I’ll follow you for base 2 and swap a SS for an endurance ride.
Highly individual as to how you will react to an increase in volume. The general recommendation is as some have pointed out already. Increase volume\tss by increasing the amount of z2 work.
What works well for me is:
Increase volume by adding z2 to existing ride days (T\W\T\S\S).
Increase the length of SS work on SS workout days. A 90 minute SS ride at the beginning of the year might be 4x10 at SS. Over time that will turn into 3x15, 2x20, 4x15, 3x20, 2x30, 4x20, 3x30, etc.
Thanks for that- I’ve already done 2x60 at 85-90% in the middle of a 3 hour outdoor ride so think it’s time to up the training to go to the next level. I’ve been really enjoying and responding well to the plan so far and in prep for spring summer want to get the quality and quantity in.
Extra Z2 bolted onto rides when possible plus either a extra SS workout or endurance depending on how things are feeling at the end of the week.
I can train every night - so I don’t mind 6 days/week…sometimes do 7 if I run on Monday - but I don’t have the time for lots of extra zone 2 at the end of workouts if I kept it at 5 days/week. Well maybe I do at the moment as I’m working from home but if we are to assume that pandemics are NOT going to be the new normal as they say then I don’t when I’m in at work
Haha I hear ya. I work in a school so that’s still happening but I’m pretty good at getting in workouts before leaving for work- so plan to up my training by doing that. Will see how it goes for the next two weeks and listen to the body!
For the sake of offering something slightly different.
I’m working through a version of SSB 1 MV that Plan Builder has given me. My week goes O/Us > SS > Endurance > Threshold/SS > Endurance > SS. Mondays are off the bike.
I’ve started adding a short V02 session (30 minutes) after my Thursday endurance workout. Being only 30 minutes means that it’s not too taxing and it keeps things interesting. My main reason for trying this is to help reduce the shock of the real VO2 work to come.
So far, I haven’t noticed any undesirable side effects and I look forward to knocking out a few short intervals.
One of the recent FasCat podcasts talked about doing some intensity during base training. TR’s MV plans already have some at threshold but not at VO2, which is what the FasCat crew was talking about. The 30-minute session @PusherMan talked about is in line with what they suggested.
The four week on, one week recovery plan has nice Friday SS/Threshold progression. The workouts are as follows: Glassy, Antelope, Eclipse and Galena. It’s never truly TR Threshold but by Friday, it’s close enough for me.
The VO2 has been limited to Short/Shorts. 30 seconds on, 15/30 seconds recovery. Gendarme -5 & -6 work well. Joe Devel -5 as well.
Ah great- I’m doing those too so that makes sense- I guess the %s are so narrow for specific sweetspot workouts they can look similar at first glance but the reality is they are very different! Early morning Carson was way tougher than afternoon antelope
I finished the “work” part of the SSB MV1 on Sunday. Consistently, comfortably with full compliance. I bumped the SS and thresholds to somewhat higher workout levels and had no issues with the SS90/90 2x 45 (WL 9.7) yesterday (this is the third time I am doing the MV progression on TR, with a grand fondo in mind)
The following week is recovery week.
I am contemplating upping the workout levels and intend to add a Gibraltar-3 in place of Petit tomorrow (this is a stretch workout because my progression level for endurance is at 3.8). And let the AI handle the rest.
Unless this is not advisable in recovery week, which is the reason for this post.
There’s no value and potential under-recovering by upping workouts during a recovery week. It’s supposed to feel easy. I’d let the recovery week go as planned and be fresh to tackle the next training block. If you typically feel like you’re not ready for a recovery week, then add volume and/or difficulty to your weeks just prior.
