AI might have downgraded my FTP too much after illness, Help!

Training
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Hi Crew,
I’m concerned about my training plan changes lately due to illness.
I’ve been sick for about 3 weeks, developing a nasty cough. During this time I only got a few workouts in and they were not very productive, averaging about 100tss / week. Once I was ready to train again this week, I had AI do a FTP update. It reduced my FTP 5%, which seemed reasonable. However, today I did the workout below and it felt easy. At the end of all the hard efforts it felt like I was just settling in and getting ready for the pain, but then it ended. So my questions are:
Should this workout be easy?
Did AI downgrade my FTP too much?
Should I be concerned as I’m in specialty and I feel like I need to hit my last 2 weeks of high end at the right level?
Should I up my FTP?

I have a stage race 2 weeks from tomorrow.
Thanks all!
The workout:
image

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  • Per the 2.0 Workout Level, relatively low 0.67 IF (even for a 90min workout) and the clear separation of the minimal efforts (8x after warm up) seen in the pic, I would expect that workout to feel easy in many use cases.
  • There is not enough info to really answer that. The workout shown is not a great baseline for evaluating FTP on any real level. Doing a workout more inline with actual Threshold or an actual FTP test are the better ways to try and answer that question.

  • Keep in mind that 2 weeks is barely enough to manifest any deep fitness. In a typical case heading into an A-race, you’d be tapering and actually dumping fatigue with shorter (but still intense) workouts. It’s unfortunate you are coming off 3 weeks sickness, but the reality is that you have minimal chance to make big changes in your fitness this close to your event.

  • You can surely train and gain something, but I’d wager the bigger risk is actually hitting it too hard upon recovery from your sickness and digging a new hole that could do more harm than good. I think you may want to evaluate your prior goals for the event in light of your current state and potentially play it safe, but that is an outside perspective with minimal info.

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Hey there!

@mcneese.chad already gave you some great advice here.

As he mentioned above, that VO2 Max workout you did was a Level 2.0 session, which, combined with the recent decrease in FTP, likely felt easy.

I wouldn’t recommend messing around with FTP too much at this time – instead, it might be worth looking for sessions around Workout Level 3.0-4.0 instead. They’re a bit tougher than the 2.X workouts, which may be more appropriate for you since you were training consistently before you got sick.

Again, like Chad mentioned, it’s worth keeping in mind that 2 weeks is, unfortunately, not a lot of time to build your fitness back up. I certainly think getting back at it consistently is the right idea, though! I’d just avoid hitting it too hard. I understand the temptation to do so, but too much intensity/volume this close to your stage race would probably leave you feeling fatigued/flat rather than rested and fresh.

I think it’d be worth checking out Workout Alternates or using our Workout Library to find some workouts that are a bit higher than the 2.X sessions you might be seeing now, but don’t go too crazy with it. The timing of all this is a bummer for sure, but it’s usually better to go into a race a little undertrained but fresh rather than run-down from a couple of weeks that were too hard!

Hope this helps – feel free to let us know if you have any other questions.

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Thanks for the input Chad,
Yes, the overall workout is easy. I’m more concerned that the short efforts felt easy, I guess that’s more what I’m asking. I know I can’t get much fitness in the last few workouts, I just wanted to make sure that at least I’m at the right level for the high efforts. Because I know I can get a slight bump in my VO2 and Anaerobic performance over the next week.
I’m on a pretty easy plan, low volume veteran or whatever it’s called. So I’m doing 2 harder efforts and one easy recovery during the week. And then on the weekend, I usually get in either a group ride, race or easy longer effort. I’m hoping to do that this week and next, then taper the week before the stage race.
Thank you for the reminder not to go too hard. That’s very tempting right now, I’ll try to restrain myself.

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Thanks for your input Zachery, I replied to Chad’s comment and I guess you at the same time.
Thank you for suggesting to up the workout level. I’ll try that on my next one and see how that feels.

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image - image - image

Sampled above are 3 of the intervals. As a percentage of FTP, along with rather short duration for those intensities, these would seem “easy” to me. That all parallels the 2.0 Level and other values mentioned above. This should not be a hard workout on a single interval level nor the whole one.

Related is the justifiably questionable link that is TR workouts set VO2Max as a percentage of FTP. The link to power may work for some while being well off for others. It is not a perfect system and could be a portion of the RPE question you have.

Sure, that is a possibility. But I think it’s important to realize that even with that a lack of foundation fitness will limit that growth as well as the likely ability to employ that in an event. Hard to say without more info on the specifics, but you mention stage race and a level of Endurance base seems a prerequisite that you are lacking at present and can’t gain in 2 weeks.

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OK, so they should be easy as well. Guess that answers my question. Just wish I had more time to figure it out.
As for my base, I’ve been on a plan since December, being pretty consistent. The illness has been on and off for maybe a touch over 3 weeks and I have gotten some rides in, so I would think my base fitness is still pretty good. So I think I can handle it. VO2 is also my jamb. I think I’ll not fret about the FTP and just stick to the plan. Getting sick for weeks right before your A event, really really stinks after 4 months of work. I’ll listen and not overdo it and just admit that I’ve lost some fitness. :cry:

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Since you were able to ride some, but not a full load, your legs probably got some much needed rest. I know mine feel pretty strong after a big push, followed by some active recovery.

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