I’m targeting later season races next year (IM Wales and IM Portugal) both in September.
Nearly finished sustained power build MV having done ssb1 and ssb2 before that. Ftp is up at 283 from 260.
Will returning to ssb1 reduce my fitness due to a lack of VO2 work. I’ve tried the tri plans which plan builder suggests but just prefer shorter, sharper training than the full distance plans encourage.
Hoping to repeat ssb1, ssb2 and spb again before specializing for final 10 weeks up to IM Wales.
I doubt returning to SSB1 will diminish your fitness. Maybe a tiny bit of the higher abilities but nothing you won’t easily get back when you hit build again. In fact, I’ve cycled through base 1, 2 build then base 1 again, as you mentioned, with a lot of success and increase in fitness, even higher power ability. BTW, I heavily modify specialized as it’s too many and too much hard efforts and puts me into overreaching.
Maybe have some interim early season races to aim for early season to put your fitness to good use - maybe an Olympic tri in May/June and a half IM in July as build up races - or join the CTT and do some longer 50m/100m time trials as part of your training. Also 2 IM races in a month is going to sting a bit!
If you handled the volume increase in sustained build then SSBI might be a petty large drop in TSS. But it is the exact type of fitness you want for a steady effort like an Ironman with the sweet spot and muscular endurance efforts. Also, remember that even though the TSS will drop you will be doing it with a higher FTP so you will be doing more work than the first time you went through it.
Awesome replies, thank you. I’ll go ahead and repeat ssb1&2 and spb. Great to have some experience and reassurance, especially when considering a drop in tss.
Two IM in a month isn’t ideal I know… booked Wales and then girlfriend fancied Portugal 3 weeks after so figured I’d join her… it worked for Cam Wurf this year so why not
