There is no right or wrong answer or perfect solution. If you want to adjust the plan to put in the odd higher intensity session then only change one session per 7 - 10 days. A safe bet (as you suggested) is the same TSS, so it will be a shorter session if that is the case.
If wanting to be more conservative than what I suggested originally, swap out a session every 10 - 14 days.
If sticking to the TB plan of all Z2, pick a similar Z2 session TSS and IF and replace it. The TR calendar & TR workout library makes this kind of self coaching adjustment really easy, without having to stress and get the calculator out, or a spreadsheet working for you.
Happy to help out if youād like someone to look over your adjustments should you choose to make any.
I mocked up TB 1,2,3 MV and made some tweaks to 1 and 2, not 3 yet. I went with someoneās thought of changing one a week to SS/Threshold and one every 4 weeks to VO2, check out my calendar below
Can always dial it back a little, or change the harder day to a different day completely
edit: i only made one tweak to TB3 which was adding a short ride after the initial ramp test just to keep the TSS growth the same. Then when I add Short Power Build, the weekly TSS drops off a bit again, which I donāt know if its a good or bad thing
My n=1: came out of CX last year with a sinus infection, felt pretty blah in Dec and Jan workouts. FTP peak was around 330 and I manually dropped it to 295 for offseason (not tested, but worked well the prior year). Decided I just couldnāt stomach a bunch of SSB already and tried TBMV. I skipped 1 because it looks dumb. I planned on only doing TBMV2 before switching to SSB, but I liked it so much I proceeded onto TBMV3 (skipped the ftp retest and left it at 295). When I finally retested end of march I got a legit 320-ish. Almost back to my peak from ~4months prior.
After doing a lot more Z2 this summer, my HR is down quite a bit from for some of the same workouts I did in TB despite being done at a higher power. I think this is the real win in the TB plan. It also flips a switch in your brain where a 2+ hour trainer ride now seems like no big thing. My legs felt a new kind of exhaustion fatigue, as opposed to the rest of me just feeling trashed from intensity all the time (maybe not an issue for the young, but at my middle age, ugh, recovery is clearly the limiter).
I scanned up and didnāt any reference to your current load in terms of hours/TSS/CTL. Some gains are harder to measure, like a shift in lactate curve and increased use of fat as fuel.
True about the +2h rides on the trainer. I think i finally have dialed my stuff in.good way for bikefit stuff aswel, since you spend a lot of time on the bike you can finetune it.
Also i incorporated some standing sessions, to get used to the position. Then i set myself a goal to ride 2min out of the saddle 1min in the Saddle and so on for like 10 to 15 min
I now did 2.5 weeks of TBHV and i am already a lot better at tolerating the long rides.
I didnāt follow the TB plans, but added a ton more endurance work this past season. I wasnāt quite polarized, doing mostly threshold work instead of VO2 for my two hard sessions per week. Given no racing in 2020, this was a great way to build out my base and experiment with different approaches.
I gained the ability to do 5 hour centuries at my endurance pace and did somewhere between 15-20 of them this season (not racing really frees up a ton of time), all at an endurance pace.
This combination saw my FTP creep up slowly throughout the season. Without racing I was rarely doing maximal efforts, so my 2020 power curve doesnāt compare favorably to prior years for efforts short of 60 or 90 minutes. However, I was able to redraw a decent portion of the further reaches of the power curve.
I also saw some significant decreases in HR at same power when compared to 2019, as shown here
Overall I enjoyed the base training and the reduction of hard days per week from 3 to 2. Iām planning on continuing with this approach into 2021 to see how it treats me as a base to build into shorter VO2 efforts that are more race appropriate
Yeah, I like that new intervals.icu chart. Mine is very similar: more power, lower HR than this time last year. It starts to equalize near the high end.
This was my experience as well last year. I had minor surgery towards the end of cross season, and had a month off the bikeā¦longer before I did anything besides easy recovery level rides. I dropped 40 watts, and then got nearly all of it back during traditional base.
I am about to go into TB again starting next week, so weāll see if I can grow FTP a bit, rather than gaining back lost fitness. I train year round, aside from a brief offseason reset, and IMO, going through 11-11.5 months of all higher intensity work is just too much. Maybe itās ageā¦Iām 41. But I think I can say with certainty that my compliance would not be great if I ONLY rode sweet spot and above plans all year.
Alsoā¦this is a far, FAR kinder plan for those of us who are up at 5am to get on the bike before kids are up out of bed. Getting on the bike for VO2, or over-unders at 5-6am straight out of bed is somewhat less than pleasantā¦ TB when I did it I actually looked forward to it. Pick out a movie to watch the night beforeā¦hop on the trainer without having to endure pain. I actually really enjoyed it.
I decided to see what would happen if I threw TB MV 1,2,3 on the schedule starting next week. The chart is a bit worrisome because it makes it look like Iām just going to spend TB1 losing fitness and FTP, Iāve always done SSB and looking to try TB1 this year but concerned Iāll regress. Iāve been PMing with another super helpful member here, just looking for some feedback from those who have been through the same kind of SSB to TB conversion and how your results have been
Also not understanding what this ātransitionā zone is, intervals.icu forum is not super active for help
Your CTL is 71, MV SSB is 347 tss/wk so simply is it way lower than your current training load. Transition is when your training stress is not sufficient to mantain your current load so you are fresh like a daisy
To the left is just free-riding in the summer, I feel fine as usual, maybe a bit tired but this year has been a mental struggle so im sure some of that is mental and not physical. I took off 2 days in a row this week, normally I ride 4-5 days a week. I havenāt taken a week off inā¦ever? No target events, just trying to build some more fitness this winter to have more fun outside next year. Iām not a racer and not trying to peak for a certain event or anything like that, just looking to bump my FTP from 310 (this was in the spring so may be +/-5w now) to around 325w next spring. Goals? To be able to compete with the guys who race, at the practice event, and to smash more Strava segments, and do some big rides and log a lot of miles next year
Maybe Iām wrong in thinking that if I take TB MV 1 which is 4 weeks of seemingly doing nothing, Iāll just lose fitness from not having any real intensity, probably lose FTP as well, and then have to work more later to make up for the losses.
Then again I understand FTP is only one number, I am just not sure if Traditional Base MV has enough volume to make up for the lack of intensity, definitely does not in the first stage, 2 and 3 seem a bit more balanced, but 1 seems like something for a new cyclist or someone with an injury as the TB description states
It seems with either your end up at a CTL around 65?
Iād give TB a go if you have the time and can handle it mentally. I would be amazed if it didnāt give you a better base and was easier in regards to fatigue and general stress but that is assuming you can get your head around less engaging sessions. Plus side is you can watch Youtube videos and educate yourself (on not) or Netflix. My point is you can take more in Z2 training and make duel use of your time.
Hereās what Iāve learned: doing TR SS plans has programmed you to think in terms of FTP, almost exclusively. Switching to a Z2-centric base phase requires you to also switch up your mindset. TB is not about building FTP (even polarized/80-20 wonāt super-size your FTP).
TB is about building endurance and all the stuff which surrounds those endurance capabilities. Itās not about building power. TB is also very low on the stress scale, itās actually āhealthyā exercise; meaning you can do endless hours of it without suffering burnout (you might get bored but youāll never physically burnout). Maybe most of us should do a couple months of TB considering all the stresses of 2020.
TB is also more of a lifestyle/multi-season/career vector than part of a season-to-season training arc. It can take literally years for all that TB to really kick in and shine, so you really have to think about why you want to pursue TB and what itās going to do for you.
