In case you want to try different volumes, you can change them on the fly if you use Plan Builder: on the website, you need to go to the calendar and scroll to the beginning of the block whose volume you want to change, e. g. Base 1. Tap it/click Base 1 and then you can choose the volume and switch days around.
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Just to update after 5 weeks of high volume and adding on a bit extra on Sundays. Overall it seemed to work really well, the volume felt perfect for what I would typically target, actually still slightly less in terms of volume. I didn’t fail any workouts and even adjusted a couple up 4%. That said, I do now understand the hesitation to add more volume to a TR plan and if you don’t have fairly significant training depth, then I would certainly be careful.
The biggest takeaway from TR is how they can make something that seems easy on paper quite difficult by slowly dialing things up either in an individual workouts or the combination of workouts in a week. This is a bit more “steady pressure” than I am use to vs. my previous approach of “go hard, rest, go hard”. If you go a bit too deep it could be hard to get back on track. I had a Sunday or two, one in particular where it felt so great to be outside and my outside power always seems to feel much easier, so I caved to temptation and probably went too hard. I felt it that Tuesday & Thursday and the workouts were probably more miserable than intended.
Overall I really am liking TR and if I don’t see a decent bump in FTP I certainly can utilize a much higher % of my FTP. Today I threw caution to the wind since I am going into a rest week and got in a solid ride outside and was really surprised at what I can do even on tired legs.
Moving into the 2nd block I am going to continue to monitor my extra rides on the weekend and adjust if I can’t hit my workouts. The one thing that I am aware of is that my FTP was probably a bit low as I had a bit of time off and then never test well indoors, especially the first time riding inside in a while. I went with the ramp results not wanting to over do it right out of the gate. If I see a decent bump, back to where it typically is, then it really might change my ability to pile on more and still complete quality work.
I will be sure to update how this approach continues to go.
Yup, TR’s training plans are a slow burn and it is tempting to go a little harder when you feel like you can, forgetting about the ramp. That’s quite tricky for driven individuals like, well, most of us. Initially, I often felt “I could push a little harder here”, but if you overdo it, you’ll pay the tab.
I think the key is having the experience from having gotten it right over the years, but also having gotten it wrong. I am pretty good at listening to my body. I think someone with depth in training experience can definitely do it, but it takes discipline. That said, I don’t necessarily think “getting it wrong” with TR would lead to overtraining to the extent where it would totally derail a season, but it could certainly make TR less productive or even counter productive.
My racing goals though being very long endurance type races demand some longer days on the bike to focus in on aspects like fueling and endurance at pace, so I do feel the benefit of the longer days outweigh the potential risk.
Use cation in SSBHV2 as it’s more demanding, even with AT working and a modest 2% FTP bump from SSBHV1. I found SSBHV1 manageable and even used Alternates to increase my ramp rate. However in SSBHV2 I’ve already had a couple “Very Hard” workouts and I’m only entering week 3.
Thanks and definitely looking forward to something a bit harder! For me this will not really mean bagging my extra on Sunday, but will likely mean going easier during that extra and ALWAYS doing it after my prescribed workout. I really think the 4hr+ days are critical for a 7hr race. Since I am going to be doing 2 NUE events in the early season to help support my team a bit I will probably try to get on the MTB for those 2hrs and work on technique if weather allows.
I’m going for 4 NUE events this year for the first time (Cohutta, Mohican, Lumberjack, Shenandoah) to qualify for the series. I’m curious to see how that goes as the most MTB 100s I’ve done in a year has been 2 .
I did a similar lineup one year and had a really good LBJ going under 7hrs. Cohutta Ron Cattlin (one of your local “fast guys”) and I took a wrong turn and went from well inside the top 10 to like 15th. Then had an “average” Mohican. But LBJ I felt good and rode well.
This past year I just did Mohican as it is my local race. Had a decent result, but a bad day crashing at mile 10 and breaking my front brake a tweaking my back. Turns out being slowed up was a good thing because the race was WAY harder than anyone expected between mile 70-80 and I benefited from having a bit more left in me.
If Mohican is like it was last year with the same heat/course recovery will be important for LBJ, but not nearly as critical as last year since the dates were even closer.
Last year I did one MTB event and that was Mohican, the lack of practice cost me, so this year I will try to do Cohutta and then Mohican.
Just to update, my legs have not fallen off, I haven’t quit cycling and taken up golf. 2nd base block went as well as I could have asked for. I had 1 failed workout the 2nd week, but I attributed that to dealing with some power accuracy issues vs my training load. Again, I managed to tack on a bit extra on my Sundays, most of the time getting outside, which always makes things easier for me. I have been between 600-700 TSS most weeks and 10-12hrs.
Overall I am really impressed with adaptive training. My FTP is where it probably peaked at last year, but I am considerably stronger, 85-90% feels like a pace that I could do for as long as needed.
Minus rest weeks, I never really feel great on the bike, but all of my workouts are such that I can just get through them. This has resulted in a level of discomfort that isn’t so terrible I quit, but enough that I can feel myself adapting to a “new normal”. My two bits of advice for anyone so far would be one to roll with the recommended level of progression even if it feels easy at first, it will figure you out. Two, don’t expect to always feel great going into a workout, you always will have a level of fatigue, if you are feeling poorly at least start the workout and see how you feel you may be surprised. As mentioned, adapting to this discomfort has been one of the more notable aspects that this program has brought me. I personally would have a difficult time creating my own program that could do this without getting me to a point of failure, but somehow AT gets it just right.
2nd week of my build and so far so good. I will say that on paper my level 4/5 VO2 has seemed a bit easy, but I am carrying a bit more fatigue than I would typically have going into a VO2 workout, so they have really been just right. Naturally as I complete the workouts they are getting harder, so it will be interesting to see if I do reach a failure point.
Hope everyone else’s training is going well!!