I was mulling this over, maybe its confirmation bias, but I appear to be seeing more threads about working harder, dropping weight at the same time, and maxing out workouts during recovery. Maybe it’s a January thing.
A thread on best practice for recovery and how crucial it is might be a good thing?
I had the same, my comment was more as a counter to the “we told you so”, perhaps something positive that Cap could take away from this experience and help him recover a bit quicker even if it has just a marginal effect.
And I think most of us know he doesn’t really blames TR for the crack, he knows that it was his own experiment that did it, he just choose TR as the tool 
I would think that would be a good idea, I think a lot of good comments are scattered across various threads and a central place/topic would be helpful to people.
I am also guessing that a big portion of us are now somewhere in the build phase of the schedule.
Either ending Base/starting or halfway build and that some doubt on the plan might creep in or thinking that you can handle much more at this point.
I think it is good advice in this particular case, but also good advice in general (not necessarily everyone).
My point is that too often we see people land in TR, look at the plans and pick something that is likely over their ability. They think about how often they currently ride outside, or other plans inside, and pick an “equivalent” of time. They fail to see the difference and increased stress that comes from these plans and workouts, and end up overstepping their capabilities.
That is one reason TR firmly recommends starting at a plan volume below what they are already doing elsewhere. Picking the Low Volume is a rubber stamp recommendation that is safe, even though it is likely too low for some people. I agree that approach is better to under-shoot and then add to a plan, rather than bite of more than you can chew. It’s much easier to add on more than crash and recover.
Then we go beyond pure plan selection into plan modification. Again, here we see people get a bit aggressive at times and overstep. I made the same mistake in my first year by using the Mid Vol plans and grabbing extra or swapping in workouts from the High Vol plans. It was the wrong choice and I would have been better served to simply follow the MV plan to the tee.
There are established protocols for adding stress (start with using the + versions, then move on to adding whole workouts) that are easy to apply and people just need to know about them.
My overall point is that the “better safe than sorry” approach is the right one, IMHO, and seems to be how TR sets up their recommendations.
He flew too close to the sun and the wax melted off.
WHO AMONG US HAS NOT???
So… you caught that doughnut hanging out in front of you? 
I agree with the recommendations to do nothing on the bike for the next week. Personally I’ve been unable to do anything other than 2-3 endurance 45 minute spins the last couple of weeks due to an issue with a cyst. My “exercise” has been one hour walks (along with strength training). Talk about torture! I’d rather do a 12 hour double century than these boring walks! Brutal.
Give that a try and if that doesn’t cure your boredom on the trainer, nothing will. 
Good luck 
Ime, tss needs to go down after build. More than just the rest week. Like several weeks afterwards is when you really reap the benefits of those highest tss weeks.
Admittedly this saga has reminded me of a local triathlete who’s pretty good, not great, but deals with constant nagging overuse injuries. On at least a half-dozen occasions when he’s bragged on social media about his monthly volume, followed by a lament about some new niggling injury or underperformance on race day, I’ve encouraged him to take some recovery time and try tapering before key events. After the third or fourth time where he literally said “Tapers are stupid” and “I don’t need recovery”, I and most of his other acquaintances just stopped trying. It’s reallly sad, though. He’s in his late 30s, and he’s gotten worse since I met him and now looks like many 70 year olds I’ve seen running in terms of form, albeit still somewhat faster.
TL;DR: Some folks just aren’t going to listen.
Just take a rest week. No riding. You’ll bounce back.
When you do get back on take a rest(aerobic) week every fourth week and chug along. SS is demanding, but shouldn’t destroy you. You’ve just found the line and crossed it.
I will add that a primarily 80/20 plan may be a good antidote for all the SS work, but only after you rest up.
What are you doing while riding? I have my iphone doing TR BUT I have my ipad doing Netflix and my large screen tv doing something else. Passes the time nicely but if ur only doing trainer road full time for 2+ hours and 4-5 times a week uurrmm…
Very similar to my setup: TR on the phone. Something on the TV like XCO, crit racing, cx, etc, and music.
hmmm… was hoping for some thoughtful commentary from the the Captain by now. Judging from the initial post, I’m not sure he really feels he “flew too close to the sun.” More like TR all of a sudden got boring.
Some interesting comments in the last 24 hours!
(and just for you, Crunchy! )
I should clear up a couple of things:
I am not burned out, over-trained, exhausted, etc.
Physically and mentally I’m fine – no weird heart rates, no sleeping or eating issues, no DOMS, no crankiness (beyond my normal sparkling personality). Yes, my experimental Monster Month was a tough one, but I enjoyed it, and took a week of actual Z1 recovery after the fact (vs the TR Endurance “recovery” week).
I’m good to go.
Pre-forum days, I inquired on TR’s reddit about a suitable plan for my goal (TT) and framework (9 months). The TR guys recommended: Base-Build-Base-Build-Spec. I inquired once more on the this forum after it got rolling. Same recommendation. So that’s what I scheduled. Yes, I did mod the Build phase, but only by addition/subtraction, not substitution.
Thus, my cracking is not a matter of not being able to handle what TR is dishing out, it’s a matter of eating the same thing for months on end – doing relatively the same workout again and again ad nauseam. I think the average IF for HVBase is 0.80, for SPHVBuild it’s 0.85… That means I’m spending essentially 7 months within a very narrow band…and that, dear readers, is the issue.
For example, I was scheduled to do Hunter -1 tonight – 3x20min on (kind of)/9min off 88-92%. As I made my way through the (why so long?!) warm-up, I remembered this thread: 3 x 20 mins @ sweet spot = 60mins @ sweet spot?, and decided to screw the 2 hours of flapping around and just do 1x60 @ 90%. Done and dusted, thank you very much. Saved myself 30 minutes, could have saved another 20 or so by not doing the full 30 min warm-up.
I guess this is the crossroads where I as a rider and TR user come face to face with both my own limitations as well as the limitations of the product. It’s great for a general structure if you do only Base-Build-Spec, but if you require or want anything outside of that framework… I guess it’s good that TR plans and workouts are malleable in this sense.
I fully understand that training is hard work both physically and mentally, but I didn’t sign up for this:
I’m still struggling here. You seem to have dramatically flipped from
Everything is great, I’m killing the workouts, seeing gains and want to increase my volume
To
This is mental torture, I feel like I’m in a forced labour camp with no end in sight.
With only one race to aim for and 9 months to go, that you always planned on filling with HV work, and that you had already been specialising further within the build phase… do you think maybe your expectations were a little unrealistic if you thought it was going to be anything other than a long slog at times?
If It’s killing you mentally then make a change, and one that is better for your top two inches. Dial down the intensity, change to a plan that gives more variation, mix things up, ride outside way more. Or maybe just go into maintenance mode for a month or two and accept that having a slightly lower FTP on race day is actually more sustainable in the longer term.
Oh, dear lord, thank you for replying! I was about resigned to having to restart reading the “Is Road Riding Dead” thread and wasn’t looking forward to that one bit Really though, sounds like you’re bored. If the TSS isn’t an issue, but the monotony is, why not blow yourself up with a modified Mid-Volume plan?
Thanks for being a good sport Captain 
This has crossed my mind a few times, thinking what it will be like not when I do the same single workout again but when I do the same string of workouts in a row again.
I’ll probably just browse TR workouts for something similar but not the same to tell my brain it’s different and see if that keeps it spicy enough.
This seems to be controversial but I always believe the best training plan is the plan you’ll follow…you can always just choose a lower volume plan and either get outside the other days or just spin the TR roulette wheel for some wild indoor workout 
Maybe do a week of Disasters?
Really though, I took a wee break between base and build and did a VO2 max mini-camp. Mine was only short (a week) but others did up to a month. Might be a change of intensity and work different systems?
Sounds like boredom. I train a lot less that you, and the same happens to me.
I rode a workout (Tinker) this evening on my airdyne bike instead of the trainer just to mix things up.
Tomorrow I’ll do my strength training.
This weekend, I’ll get out on the fat bike and do some sweet spot intervals up a hill in the snow.
Then I’ll get back to doing a few rides on the trainer.
Might even go visit one of the new Zwift courses - I haven’t ridden Zwift in a while.
Point being, I’m not sure I could do workout after workout after workout on the trainer on TR.
Thanks to all for all the input. Grade A forum!
Being brand spanking new to professionally structured training (opposed to the bodge of a plan I put together last year…but it worked!), I really had no idea what to expect, I just went with it.
Now, with my exceptionally limited experience, I would organize my training differently if I had to do it all over again. The great thing is that it’s not yet over, I still have plenty of time to make plenty more mistakes! 
Live and learn!
While I don’t do anything near your volume or have similar goals… Back in December the combination of new baby, work, and structured training really got to me. Such that (a week before disaster day) I opened a zwift account to just ride around and have some unstructured time without losing a load of time off the bike. I just couldn’t face the idea of whatever structured workout I was supposed to do that weekend (probably under overs). I suppose I could have ridden outdoors…but December…in Ireland… No thanks.
One of the (many) hard things about SSBHV is the monotony - someone earlier suggested doing a plus sized version of SSBMV. That might be a really nice way to break up the slog you’re currently facing while still giving you all that TSS you crave.
There’s still plenty of time to switch things up - you’re months away from your event. Adapt now