Skipping Base phase with lots of experience riding, but none with structured training

Training
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Two weeks into my first structured training block with TR. The base phase it has me working uncomfortably lower than my usual weekly effort load.

I consider myself relatively fit and accomplished cyclist, and have been exceptionally enthusiastic for the last year or so, going from hardly keeping up with B-group on my local club rides, to contending for something other than last place with A-Group, and hanging on to P12 for most of the route.

I have not ever done structured workouts in the way that TR is built, and instead had my rides broken up into discipline per ride (Sunday was three hours of hills, Tuesday was spirited recovery, Wednesday = B -race pace, Friday try to keep up with p12’s, and Saturday was a wild card with what ever I felt like).

I am also noticing my heart rate has yet to get out of heart rate zone three (0-132, 132-151, 152-171, 172-191, 192+). This is interesting to me as I have had a power meter for some time, but mostly focused on Heart Rate when “training”.

Is this a case of trust the process? Should I be approaching the structured workouts differently?

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I went thru this also. My solution was to add my outdoor rides to add more training stress TSS. After my first few weeks I started a mid volume training plan in “plan builder”. This gave my body more stress like it was used to doing. Be careful not to do to much, as stress can accumulate. You need enough to see gains but those gains will only happen during recovery.

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I just posted this comment on another thread. Think it applies here too:

I think it’s better to do “slightly” easier workouts relative to your intended zone than too hard. And then ramp from there. And I think people WAY over analyze training programs and think there is some perfect plan that will be magic. The reality is you need to train consistently, don’t overtrain, and get enough rest. Oh and use you head to make minor modifications if necessary. Over time you will get faster.

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Hey there! Welcome to the TR community! :smiley:

I checked out your TR Calendar, and to me, it looks like this is indeed a case of “trust the process.”

Since you’re new to structured training, Adaptive Training is currently serving you workouts that may be a little easier than you’d like for now, but as you move through your training plan, your Progression Levels will increase, and your workouts will become more difficult.

Adaptive Training will analyze your TR workouts and use your subjective input from Post-Workout Surveys to dial you into appropriately challenging workouts as you continue to train.

We’d encourage you to stick with it – we think it’ll make you faster. :wink:

Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions!

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Thanks Zackery. I just wanna be pretty ok at bikes!

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2 weeks is really too early to say with any certainty, and ultimately the only way you can know If it works for you is experience. I would expect to get some more challenging workouts as the plan progresses and the system adapts to your capabilities- early stages of base shouldn’t be your highest weekly loads anyway, and usually the really ‘hard’ stuff comes along during build.

R.E. heart rate…those may or may not be suitable/expected based upon the kind of workouts you’re doing. If you’re doing SS work and have a decent base of riding behind you it’s pretty common to have the heart rate in z3, but for longer v02 intervals I think most would see higher numbers- ultimately it comes down to the purpose of the session, but I’d caution against viewing higher heart rates as being inherently ‘better’/more effective training without any other context, especially if you’re training to power (the zones for each don’t always line up, for a number of reasons.)

All that said, there are a couple of modifications you can make if you prefer higher volume and some flexibiilty to include other riding- low volume with additional endurance work and/or subbing one of the workouts for a hard group ride is a popular approach if you like having some other stuff there, but caveat that it does require some more input from you on fatigue management, so again I think it benefits from experience and sometimes a bit of trial and error.

Congratulations on the progress so far- those are big improvements for a year of riding!

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Thanks! I started riding with purpose after lockdown eased and i got with a group. I used to race BMX as a kid, and the bug never left me.

As to the trust the process bit, i just unlocked AI FTP detection and it has me at +6 to 227. So it looks like I will be trusting the process and mixing in some more outdoor work when the temps cool down.

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