I’m in week 10 of my plan builder and have realised I really struggle with under/overs. Especially on the couple of weeks leading up to a rest week, I almost never finish an under/overs work out.
So my question is do I accept this weakness and just continue with my plan knowing overall my FTP will go up and all round improvements will come. Or do I alter my plan and add some under/over workouts each week but aim to keep the same TSS? I’m worried about altering my plan and that I may not get the longterm gains as I’m just addressing this weakness and missing out on the substituted workouts.
Thought welcome
Which type of event did you choose in plan plan builder, and what are your goals? It really depends.
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Over/Unders are among the best workouts in the library for driving up your physical and psychological capabilities. Accepting them as a weakness isn’t the way to go, but a plan change may not be needed either. Need to know what plan you’re on and what your goals are to assess that.
I would stick with the plan. If it’s just the over unders you’re struggling with and can do the above threshold workouts (e.g. VO2) and below threshold workouts (e.g. SS) ok, then it would seem your FTP is correct and that you’re not unduly skewed to either the aerobic or anaerobic end of the power curve. Which means the reasons you’re struggling with over unders are unlikely to be physiological weakness and more just that you haven’t figured out how to nail them yet. Maybe that’s pacing or cadence, maybe it’s nutrition, maybe you need to move your workouts around a bit too be slightly fresher for them, maybe it’s just getting used to the uniquely painful nature of them!
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Working towards a planned week long trip in August which includes mountain climbs. A Haute Route esque type trip.
In plan builder in in Sweet Spot Base II. Penultimate week before recovery week.
Yeh I think my FTP is in the right ballpark.
Perhaps your right. I get to the final interval on Mary Austin and my legs just dont have enough. All other workout I can complete just seems to be the longer over unders. Could just be psychological or just marginally longer breaks between intervals needed.
But thats kind of my point, Im wondering if it might just be best to improve overall. And know that one day I can improve this one aspect. Or maybe reduce the intensity of that last interval
Yeh I appreciate they are really good, I’m still planning to attack them everytime they crop up on my plan and will try and so a bit better each time. Although its the age old saying it never gets easier you just get faster.
So as long as my FTP is about right they’ll always feel brutal but the amount of power each time might be higher. So still improving albeit just not with full compliance
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They’re hard workouts, last interval is always tough, particularly at the end of a block when the fatigue is high. I would reduce the intensity a few % to get through the last interval if you need to, that’s more beneficial than stopping early. But wouldn’t change the plan otherwise.
What Build plan are you planning to do?
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Will give this a go next time. General Build is next up in a few weeks time.
Perhaps might reduce the intensity by a few percentage in the second interval to try and leave something in the legs for the last one. Just finding after the second one my legs are so buried they are just dead!