I’ve hit a hard plateau recently with my MV SSB → Build → Repeat cycle. After excellent gains the first 2-3 times through, more recently I’ve had a hard time even maintaining FTP, let alone building it. By the time I reach weeks 4-5, I’ve put myself in a psychological and physiological hole which results in a disappointing Ramp Test. So… I’m looking to mix things up and considering a lengthy traditional base period (no events on the immediate horizon). My hesitation is twofold:
I have little to no experience with rides over 2 hours. Will the reduction in intensity be enough to offset the dramatic increase in duration? How are the folks who’ve made this transition making out?
Where is the tipping point where traditional base makes sense from a “hours per week” perspective? Does it take 10-12 hours per week for traditional base or Z2 rides to make sense? I’m going to be pushing it to find 8-9hrs/wk, so would I be better off sticking to the SS plans? Is the MV traditional base plan pretty comparable to MV SSB in terms of effectiveness?
Mix things up and give it a try. Give a look at Full Distance Triathlon Base in addition to Traditional Base. I’ve only done TB 1 and 2, really liked it. The full Tri plan cuts hours a little bit and adds some vo2 work.
I’ve seen results from 8 hours/week traditional base, and I’ll just say commit to the tempo rides and ignore the polarized rhetoric. At 8-10 hours a week (TB mid volume) you really need to follow the plan and ratchet up intensity over each 4-week block. I’m currently following a sweet spot plan with 3-6 hours mid-week, and long weekend rides to push volume up to ~10 hours a week (heavily weighted with zone2 work). Feel great and loving it, just like TR’s TB1 and TB2.
I have the same question, and my situation is very similar. I’m looking into traditional base 1/2/3 mid volume this winter, as the usual SSB cycles have had me plateaued or declining the past year.
In my research, one thing confuses me: why do people criticize traditional base as being “too low intensity”? Sure it’s 4 weeks endurance, but then it’s 4 weeks of SS/tempo/endurance, then 4 weeks Threshhold/SS/endurance.
Any takers on the polarized plans?
I am currently finishing the 6 week base block of polarized.
When I could not do a 2 hour endurance ride at once for example I have broken the ride into 2 parts, 2, 1 hour rides either both on the same day, morning and evening, or moved one ride to the following day.
I am also riding 5-6 days per week instead of just 4.
I plan to do the same for the 8 week build block next.
We’ll see what happens.
Curious what AI FTP detection will tell me in a week or so.
I am doing this as I am subscribing to the Inigo San Millan philosophy and trying to get as close as I can with no technical testing, just trying to get close enough.
After doing the LV climbing road race plan + 3 Z2 rides a week I’m going to mix it up. This season I’m considering something like; Dropping all SS workouts. Keep the Z2 outdoor rides and do a gradual build from threshold - Vo2 - anaerobic. Not sure how I’ll do it just yet but it may be 8 weeks of base Z2 with one threshold workout a week. Then intro a vo2 workout for the next 8 weeks (along with the threshold) and then the Z6 stuff in The last 4 weeks.
For me having one or two longer rides a week is super important but doing the 3 intensity workouts on top of that was too much.
I’ve been doing them. I’m on my second round of six week polarized base mid volume. I’m adding in more endurance rides to increase to total of 10 hours a week.
For me, I see two big changes. First, knowing that I’m only going hard twice a week is much easier mentally. I know that on Tuesday and Saturday it’s going to hurt. The rest of the week, I’m going long, I’m relaxed and everyday I come off my bike and I feel better than when I got on. I also appreciate that I don’t have to worry about ordering workouts as much. I can put in a two hour endurance ride the day before the hard workouts and it’s no issue.
The second change is I’m able to do more volume and recover from it. I have a greater margin for error. With SS, I couldn’t add any more volume and I frequently missed the Wednesday easy ride. I was going hard all the time. That extended to my outside rides. I just wanted to go hard all the time, which further dug the hole d
Z2, mostly but tossing in a little Z3 is good too.
Don’t be afraid to do these rides unstructured….just get on Zwift and ride around. Or join one of the Pace Partner rides that would match up with your target zones. Or if it is warm enough, ride outside.
Ride as much as you can, as long as you can. Set one day of the week to be a “long” ride and start moving beyond those 2 hours you are used to. Start at 2.5 hours, then go to 3, etc.
Sweetspot Base is really a made up term. It’s not base, it’s Sweetspot. Very different.
If you have the time there is a ton of value in incorporating Z2 training and doing a Z2 base block. You will get very different adaptations over time versus doing Sweetspot work.
I linked this in a different thread, but this is a good video with Pogacar’s coach talking about the benefits of Z2 work.
