I’ve done some training this winter but consistency has been a bit of a problem. I need to bite the bullet and commit to a proper structured plan. I don’t race but have some big rides planned this spring/summer, so TB MV looks to be perfect. I really can’t get excited about TB MV1 though … the rides are the same each week and I know I can easily complete them. I understand Z2 is supposed to be easy, and these help get you used to spending more time in the saddle, but I’m wondering if there’s an alternative that might be more engaging.
I really want to do 12 weeks of base since that lines up nicely with the first charity century ride I’ve signed up for. I’m worried SSB MV 1/2 might be less volume but more intensity than I want (or can realistically handle) right now. I can ride 8-10 hours per week but I’m worried about burn out. TB MV2 and 3 look great. Would it make sense to do TB MV2 twice? I’m worried that might not give the required increase in stress/TSS to progress, but maybe it would if I got a bit of an FTP bump. Maybe some low SS, high tempo rides with heart rate caps like discussed in the Steve Neal thread? I’m a little stuck and any advice would be appreciated.
well “the rides are the same each week” shouldn’t be the reason, TB-1 and TB-2 follow the same basic pattern of mostly endurance rides. They are equally boring IMHO.
If you are currently doing a lot of upper Zone2 right now, or are capable of doing ~8 hours/week of upper Zone2 without fatigue and low aerobic decoupling, then I can see skipping TB-1 unless you need a break from intensity.
Lets compare the 3-week progression of TB-1 and TB-2:
mid-week cap workouts at 2 hours, no progression of time
weekends increment time in both workouts by 15 minutes
Coming off a long break I would just do a block of MID zone2 (TB-1) and then move on to increasing intensity with a mix of MID/UPPER zone2 and a bit of tempo (TB-2).
You could try mixing in rides from the LV and HV plans if it’s a matter of not doing the same ride all week (even though the effort is the same)–I did this just based on available time during the week/weekend and had good results. It’s “boring” either way, but I still think it’s worthwhile to go through it especially tracking your HR response as you work your way through–hopefully you’ll end up riding the same power for longer with a lower HR/RPE by the end like a lot of people tend to observe. It’s also only 4 weeks so it’s pretty quick to get through before getting a little more variety in Base 2 and 3.
and like I said above, if you can’t do back-to-back MID zone2 rides (TB-1 weekends) with no aerobic decoupling then you should be doing TB-1 in my humble opinion.
Haha, not quite that far to the one of the poles, but just the Canadian prairie in Saskatchewan in February. Here’s what the next week is looking like, with dips below -50 with the windchill.
Consider LV and add outdoor rides if possible or pick different workouts with some variety. End of the day if you want the benefits of low and slow, you have to be willing to churn out the boring rides. What’s working for me (a whopping one week in) is using TBLV and supplementing outdoor rides and adding time and variety to the indoor variants when I can. I’m going to get a TV and a new saddle. I’m also learning to look ahead at the long session and cue up good entertainment.
I am currently at last loading week of TBHV2 with 3:30 Z2 ride. I don’t think I could have made this far without TBHV1 that progressed weekend rides from 2h.
This is a very good suggestion! I’ve stayed away from TB1 and jumped right into the next phase just because it looks so boring. I’m gonna replace one of the workouts with either a SST or VO2 of similar TSS and see how it works for me.
Okay, maybe I do live in Antarctica… This is the “fun” temperature where it’s -40 in Celsius and Fahrenheit. I’ve started watching Snowpiercer on Netflix during this cold snap, seems legit.
