This.
They seem obessessed with Seilers paper with the 4, 8 and 16 minutes intervals rather than designing a good effective plan.
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Surely this is at odds with designing the best plan that they could that adheres to the general principles of POL, which is to avoid workouts that are neither easy enough to be repeatable at volume nor not hard enough to elicit max response?
In any case, Iām thinking of replacing ssb mv2 with pol base but just making the threshold workout an over under of same pl.
This would be against doing ssb lv2 and adding 2 days of z2 (so essentially ssb mv 2 but swap second ss to z2).
To gain AT working on my z2 rather than winging it by adding sessionsā¦
Iām in the middle of MV Polarized Base now. The alternates workouts are all strict 4,8, and 16 min intervals. Does anyone know if you can delete the scheduled workout and replace with an over under threshold workout from the library with the same PL without an AT penalty?
A couple of points here:
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the POL plans are experimental. They specifically said we are doing a very rigid approach to an 80/20 polarized approach. They want to collect data to see how effective these plans are. So I would these plans are experimental and not optimized. @Jonathan actually said on a recent podcast, they need more people to do the plans (and not modify) to see how they work. Right now it doesnāt seem like they have a big enough dataset to analyze. So if you do POL and donāt modify it, you are helping out TR but it may not be the most effective for you
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my understanding is that instead of deleting out a workout, it is better to just add a new workout and leave the other workout as incomplete on your calendar. Or use alternates. @IvyAudrain correct me if Iām wrong on that.
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Iām basically doing thatā¦.subbing the scheduled intensity rides for other similar ones from the library. My take from what Iāve heard from various sources is that you should get the zone 4/5 intensity rides at an appropriate percentage, the exact type (only sustained affords) isnāt necessarily the point.
So I pick something at a similar progression level and insert that.
I think if TR made the polarized plans more appealing, they wouldnāt have people wanting to modify it most of the time.
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Thinking this is the best thread to add this question. Iām doing LV POL build - if iām going to add a workout should it always be endurance? LV POL build has 1 day of VO2 or Threshold per week.
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Whatās your definition of polarized? If itās 80/20 & train extremes than threshold is the no go zone. Adding intensity outside of that isnāt polarized but more pyramidā¦ which some define anything not endurance as hard. So it depends on what camp your in.
Personally I donāt think polarized was meant to be a training plan, but rather an observation of how these people who do TONS of volume at the top of the sport train. How a Dad in mid-40s with a full time job trains (often on limited time) is not going to be the same.
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Yes, Iād add only endurance workouts. Note that Iād give you the same answer if you were e. g. on the regular Build or Short Power Build block.
I prefer to be pragmatic, and to me the idea of polarized is more important than the actual implementation. E. g. Iād probably give the same advice of only adding endurance workouts no matter what kind of training plan @corrion2 were on.
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Not sure if thereās a better forum to ask this, but figured someone here might know more than I. Iām currently doing TRās polarized base and build plans (HV) this winter. So far, Iām enjoying it.
Hard to compare (at this time of year) what my performance differences/advantages are compared to previously doing SSB HV blocks over the winter. But my motivation is good. With that, I started to wonder what TR has planned for polarized training.
Has anyone heard anything to as to when TR might take these plans out of āexperimentalā or to next level ābetaā?
Based upon comments from Jonathon on the podcast, they are not getting a ton of people that are following the plans close enough for them to learn as much as theyād like. As such, my guess is that they still have a ways to go before unlocking these from the āexpā labeling.
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Deleting or skipping a workout will have the same result within Adaptive Training in addressing that missed work, and in adjusting to move you toward your goals. 
Chad is correct, yaāall. There are ongoing updates and data analysis that needs to take place for Polarized plans, so no fixed timeline at the moment for this.
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I did LV POL last summer following a typical Base, Build Specialty for an early Gravel A Race. I took a month off before starting. I FREAKING LOVED IT!! I did the LV POL base for 6 weeks and then used Plan Builder to build a plan for 8weeks leading up to my final big event of the year - BWR UT.
Iāve been using TR every month since JAN2018, targeting an A race early in the Spring and another A race in late SEPT/OCT. This was the first year that I didnāt feel SPENT going into the second A race.
Iām eager to try the POL base plans again, this time with MVā¦just to see if there is a difference. I put it on my calendar, and I can already see a difference with the prescribed workout. It doesnāt LOOK polarized. In fact, it looks like a typical TR Sweetspot/Threshold plan. 
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Yep, thatās my only issue with the mid-volume POL base plan: 2 hard rides and 2 endurance rides make it look like a traditional plan. Consequently, I stick with LV POL and add a fourth ride, typically endurance executed outside. This way, I can honestly say I adhered to TRās POL plan, and hope it contributes to their data collection while simultaneously meeting my needs.
I love the POL plans!! Iām 63, and I donāt feel beat up like the traditional (pre-AT) plans left me. This is my second round of POL. Last time I ran the 6-week POL base twice, followed with the 8-week POL build, and finished up with the rolling road race specialty. Same thing this time around, except Iāll try century specialty just for variety. I donāt race, I just like to stay in shape. Iād hate to see the POL plans go away, though I could probably cobble together something similar using Train Now.
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Can athletes make requests here? Iām currently doing a polarized block before starting with a Training Plan. (BTW, I noticed that stand-alone training blocks are adapted now 
)
- Can you make the warm-up a little more interesting. Polarized workouts always seem to have the exact same 15-minute warm-up. I donāt mind it every once in a while, but Iād really like a bit more variety.
- Ditto for post-workout blocks, I always have to noodle along at 50 % flat. If you have to do that for 15ā30 minutes every single time, it gets boring fast. Plus, I really dislike 50 % intensity: it is slightly too hard to be truly relaxing and too easy to be challenging. It is in no-personās land.
I know that these changes will likely make the training plans stray from the academic definition of polarized that TR used when creating these plans. (And IMHO that was a good choice.) Right now the workouts feel very clinical and a little more variation would make the workouts more fun. 
I swap out erg mode at the end of a workout and ride in resistance mode just to ride by feel. I just go where the numbers take me which tends to be slightly higher then if I stayed in erg mode. Wouldnt this be a better fit then sticking to this 50% intensity?
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Maybe. I use resistance mode a lot (I switch to it for anything beyond Z2). On the other hand, I get anxious not doing workouts as prescribed 
But Iāll give that a try, thanks!
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Thatās the challenge of indoor easy rides, no stimulus. Outdoor easy rides are full of external stimulus as well as the challenge of keeping it easy uphill. I think this is why outdoor easy rides you can do for hours, whilst indoors youād die of boredom, the difference in stimulus.
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THANK YOU!! Thank you for this response, confirmation, and personal approach. I am going to do the same and go back to LV POL for base. I simply do not want that big Threshold session in the week. And, like you, I want to add a group ride each week. I did a weekly group ride during my last LV POL base and it complemented everything VERY nicely. THANK YOU, brother!
All good, my friend. Glad to hear you got some positives out of my post. Safe riding.