I am doing the following for base this year (no idea if it’s a good idea, but I felt like I would have benefited from lots more zone 2 last year): TB1 HV->SSB1 MV->SSB2 MV. Instead of the Sunday workouts, I’ll do the suggested endurance replacements.
Nonetheless, that still leaves me with a significant drop in TSS from TB1 HV to SSB1 MV. What’s a good way to adjust that? I have a slight preference for adding endurance rather than intensity. What do others do? Some options:
- In addition to the Sunday endurance substitute, add a 2h+ endurance ride on Fridays.
- Significantly prolong the Wednesday endurance workout.
- Add 30-60 minutes of endurance to the tailend of high-intensity workouts.
What have others done in the past? Suggestions? What kinds of modifications might I carry into build as well?
I’d say don’t adjust it. The TB TSS is comprised of volume; the SSB TSS is comprised of intensity. As the saying goes, not all TSS is the same. Leave it alone & see how you react & adapt to the plan. Besides, it’s only a drop of 25 TSS/wk…not like it’s putting you on the couch!
Of your three proposed options, I’d say go with #2 — extending the Wed Endurance ride. It’s the easiest to do, doesn’t mess with the structure of the other workouts, and doesn’t eliminate a rest day (which you might find you’ll need as you get further into the plan).
SSB2 is about as good as you can get to prep for Build. No need to alter things there.
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Hm. Last full week of TB1 HV is 444 TSS, first full week of SSB1 (2nd week) is 364 TSS…
EDIT: But I take your point on the intensity. I’ll just pick a slightly longer endurance ride on Sundays as suggested and then do Baxter on Wednesdays. 
Yup. As stated, it’s more intensity based TSS in SSB. By the end of SSB2 you’ll be doing 473 TSS @.90IF of intensity vs 444 TSS @.63IF of volume in TB. I really wouldn’t worry about losing fitness et al with that deceptive drop in TSS.
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I guess I have another question about the Sunday rides. So it makes sense to me to substitute Sunday in SSB1 for zone 2 as suggested in the weekly tips. But what just occured to me is that with SSB2, swapping in zone 2 for sweet spot on Sundays means that there is no sweet spot training at all in that plan. Would you say that that substitution is generally a bad idea?
It has been noted before that SSB2 isn’t really a SS plan at all, but a pre-Build plan. At this point, more Z2 work instead of SS work might be a hinderance going into Build.
Suggestions:
- Stick with adding Z2 volume on Tues.
- Swap the Sunday SS workout with a SS/Z2 combo workout (e.g. Tray Mountain +2; search the Workout Library).