I did a FTP test today in prep for the start of the plan. I knew I was about 260 and it came in at 264. I could have bet good money that I was between 258 and 265 and so it turned out.
I used the Kolie Moore protocol which went well.
I will do the ramp test on Monday but I will not be adjusting my numbers based on the result. It doesn’t really suit me as I tend to quit a bit too easily and I dont do much at the top end as far as training goes.
264 is my highest ever, which puts me at 3.3 w/kg. Quite happy with that aged 64.
There is method in the madness of doing 60-65%, like petit. Just because you haven’t done it, don’t like it etc, is no reason to work around it. As an example:
When I’m out doing an endurance zone type ride, I find it extremely difficult to keep my energy level low, it is more difficult than going for it. When the road rises, or another rider overtakes, and you have to force yourself not push harder, not to chase and draft, instead, get into an easier gear and spin.
It is a pacing discipline!
How will you know if Polarised works if you don’t stick to the exercise intensities.
Extending the hours is altogether different, provided you stick to the intensity.
I don’t intend to do the longer rides, so will replace then with either 2 shorter rides, or modifications of the planned to retain the plan. Depending on the weather I’ll do most of the Endurance rides outside, have already noticed that some, but confusingly not all, are longer outside than indoors?
I’m delighted that the TR team intend to use the data from these experimental plans. Although concerned that the outside rides with Wahoo, may not give them the feedback they hope for?
The first threshold workout today. Capitan. 4 * 8’ @ 100% 2 mins rest.
Doable but the last effort was hard. Not looking forward to 4 * 16’ @ 102% in a few weeks time.
Just starting the first week, did my ramp test and now Sheep Mountain (4x8’ @ 100%) 4m rest, total of 80" of riding. Should be interesting since i haven’t done proper intensity in a while
Took today off. Might do a writeup when I’m done, think I’m quite a bit ahead of everyone else here as I pre-empted the launch and started POL training a couple weeks before official launch.
Think next week will be the end of my HV 8 week build POL plan. Have quite a few observations to date, but really need to test after some recovery and see if it’s been worth the hours I’ve put in which have been… rather hefty.
Time for an update on the first 8 week block of HV POL. I stopped after 5 weeks as I had a bad accident on my bike causing me to have an immediate hip replacement and a broken collarbone.
However I had come to some conclusions based on the time spent following the plan.
Polarised is easy to follow.
Two hard sessions a week is enough for me at aged 64 but it was also enjoyable and not too taxing.
I had a real difficulty in keeping in Seiler Z1 based on power but on HR it was quite easy. I think that was my overall issue with the block and it was nothing to do with TR plan, rather the vagueness of Seiler’s advice.
It is a plan that is ideally suited to a Masters athlete in my view.
I cannot advise on the efficacy of the block I did but I felt I was putting good time and good effort in over each weekly period.
I do not see it as good for the TR business model if a lot of users took up these plans. This is for two reasons
a) The Z1 efforts are quite boring on TR. Great if you are outside or on Zwift etc but really there is not much you can do with 2 hours at 70% of threshold
b) After a couple of weeks of following the plan you realise that actually you do not need a training plan. Polarised is a very simple method to manage yourself and I suspect that eventually those following a POL plan would not need to use TR at all.
In summary, once I get back to base level fitness I will continue following a polarised model but I doubt that I would follow a TR plan
Sorry to hear… and i do agree with you that z1 (or z1-z2 coggan) are boring on the trainer. But theyre also ‘easier’ to do on the trainer for maximum benefit (0% coasting for better adaptations, avoids accidents … get well soon by the way, keeps you honest and on target the whole time, can even allow to multitask with podcast or watching shows, as a parent it also lets you spend more time with the family)
Unless you have the perfect settings and roads, its quite hard to have a continuous 2-hour on the trainer be equal to 2-hours outside as you’re bound to stop outside.
And when you have 6 months of winter like i do, riding inside might be way more enjoyable.
Also these plans will help avoid burnout, so it might keep users coming back instead of just saying “this is too hard” and quitting altogether
This had been my experience as well. Trainer road threw in some proper easy rides that i had never done before when riding outside. I think the endurance rides are quite easy to handle since i just plop on a movie and watch that or some new series that i only mildly care about.
Long easy rides are a lot harder on my butt though, so i do stop and stand up and stretch every 15 minutes. Im also on rollers so this is pretty helpful for those longer rides, as standing is quite hard to pull off.
I started the MV pol plan the week after it released.
The VO2 workouts were great, every one felt challenging but doable.
Threshold not so much. My guess is that’s due to an overzealous ramp test result putting me too high above real FTP, but the longer 16m threshold workouts were just not doable for me at 100% TR FTP. After the second failed workout in a row on those, I subbed some lighter workouts that felt more accomplishable, but still struggled (mental, at least partly, but also noticed way higher HR than.
I put both Z2 workouts on the weekends as outdoor rides, and generally stuck to them or even longer rides. Loved this part of polarized (no 2hr SS workouts was fantastic). Definitely could feel my endurance getting better too; it was easy to notice where I started dropping off when my HR started climbing.
End result was an FTP drop of -3 (264 → 261). I’m not too concerned about that, it’s a 1% drop. I am currently doing the 6 week block again, but swapped my threshold workouts for an easier progression (3x10, 4x10, 3x15, 4x15, 3x20 in the 95-99% FTP range) in the hopes of successfully completing them. If that fails again, I think I’d probably try dropping my ramp test FTP by a couple % points.
My understanding is that I shouldn’t necessarily see an FTP increase with the pol plans, but better TTE on lower / middle efforts. Still, it’s hard to resist the urge to go back to SSB / SPB plans (albeit maybe a LV one with added Z2 rides) where I did see more gains.
I do wish AT would work for the polarized plans too (not that I’m currently in the beta). It’d be nice to not have to figure out replacement workouts myself. Now that workout levels are released, I do think it should be a bit easier for me though.
My take on the easy rides is to use hr and breathing rate as the primary metrics while watching power.
For hard days, maximize power over ALL of the intervals and watch for hr response and RPE to line up with the effort.
Simple in theory, the challenge is in the execution!
As for needing a plan, if one is inclined to evaluate their goals, current situation, and an idea/plan of how to go about progressing. Then no, a tr plan isn’t NEEDED. I have found enough free content on training principles to increase my understanding and comfort taking control of my training. If one isn’t interested, then a tr plan or plan from some other business would be better.
For #2 - just curious if you’ve done something like a SSB LV or one of the LV builds and only did two of the planned workouts but substituted aerobic endurance rides? If you have, how would you compare to the TR POL?
For #6b - What kind of build or follow up to HV POL does TR recommend? Or do you have to pick or design your own progression? I think if TR can handle the long-term progression / periodization that includes as part or all a POL plan people would be interested in that
