Legs Are Wrecked One Week Into First Build Phase

Training
1

Finished the first 2 base phases strong.

The Tuesday when I was supposed to do a ramp test, I did a 4.3 vo2 workout instead. My last vo2 workout of base2 was also 4.3 but I did this one at my new adjusted FTP.

Traveled on Thursday (6 hour drive).
Friday: easy spin
Saturday: no structure, but I chased a PB on long climb.

Details:

             Total time         = 43 min
             Total avg pow      = 97% new FTP

             Split                 = 8 min at 100% new FTP
                                     45 sec recovery
                                     5 min at 102%
                                     2:20 at 72%
                                     30 min at 98%

Took Sunday off, traveled home Monday and was too tired to ride after work Tuesday or Wednesday.

Tried to do a 4.4 Threshold Thursday. Failed halfway through.
Tried to redo the same 4.4 Threshold Saturday. Failed a little earlier than on Thursday.

As I am writing this post, I noticed that my last threshold of Base2 was a 4.3, so I had an increased FTP and didn’t drop my PL as would normally happen. Maybe it’s normal that I’m suddenly unable to complete my workouts.

I was unsure which of my many mistakes was killing me.

  1. missed workouts and exhaustion from travel
  2. going too deep on Saturday’s ride.
  3. not eating or sleeping well on the road

I’m sure they all made an impact but maybe I just needed the post FTP adjustment PL decrease. Will try that now. If you’re wondering why TR didn’t do that automatically, it probably tried. I look back and I think I saw some recommended adjustments after missing my Thu workout (travel) and ignored them thinking it was reacting to that.

2

It sounds like you’re tired alright. Might be worth taking a couple of easy days before taking another crack at it. That being said it likely being compounded by getting the wrong workouts

How much did your FTP improve by? The PLs should have adjusted, you’d then get prompted to accept adaptations for the plan. So your threshold session should have been appropriate for you. You should have gotten a fail questionnaire (after failing to complete) and another prompt to adjust you plan so that you would drop to an easier threshold session the following week.

I think there is a way to accept some adaptations but not all. I’d dial back the next few threshold workouts until you figure out what an appropriate PL is - pick an easier alternate workout from the drop down.

If you are looking to catch up on a failed threshold session in future (as on the Saturday), you might be better off looking forward a week and doing the adjusted, more appropriate, workout suggested.

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3

If you’re cooked after one week, your diet is way off. Probably not sleeping enough either, but you can dig a hole there for longer than a week before you fall apart.

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