Bailing on SPBHV - Bridging to New Block

Training
1

At a bit of a decision point so would appreciate any thoughts on the best route forwards.

I’m currently in week 7 of SPBHV and I’ve come to the conclusion I probably need to bail. Week 6 was tough, completed to power but with more low cadence time than ideal and my knees weren’t thanking me for it, Tuesday this week I bumped my ride (Monadnock+5) by a day because my knees were still aching and I was getting snuffly, completed it yesterday but with real issues sustaining cadence even at low power. Today I started Black Hawk +2 (down from +5) and in the second interval it was clear that if I continued I’d be back into a grind fest so I pulled the plug, in part to stop myself hurting my knees.

I’m not too worried about bailing, 7 weeks in and vo2max being my weak spot, and I’d expected hard (though if anyone thinks I’m being crazy just shout). My plan at this point is to knock the intensity right back, go back to SSBHV1 from the end of next week and do another round given it looks like my early season events are in doubt anyway.

So my specific questions are:

  1. Am I crazy/simply lacking in testicular fortitude?
  2. Assuming I’m not crazy, what’s the best way to bridge to the new block? I’m not going to be ready to go again by Monday, but the best part of two weeks of gentle endurance seems like a good way to go flat power wise and bore my socks off.

For context, I’m 38 and my tr profile is here : - TrainerRoad

Any thoughts welcome

2

No, you’re not crazy, this looks like a nightmare:

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image1307×314 33.8 KB

VO2max to suprathreshold to suprathreshold to threshold? No thank you, good grief. The plan puts easier days after harder days for a reason :laughing: (For what it’s worth, Black Hawk +2 is identical to +5 except for the stretch of endurance at the end, so you were not giving yourself any kind of break with that swap.)

You’re half-way through the last work week of the block, so you could start your recovery week now without much impact on your training. That would also give you time to figure out if you’re getting sick (in which case stop training). You’re going back to SSB anyway, so a couple extra days of endurance riding isn’t going to ruin your fitness, and preserving the integrity of your knees seems like a good priority.

That’s an image :rofl:

3

This!

4

No problems!..you got further than me - I managed 2 weeks of SPBHV 2 years back - then I got VERY ill - off the bike with flu for 2 weeks :grimacing:…weight crashed to 59kg from 62kg - couldn’t cope. That said I am 52 and was 50 then but I think you did well to get that far and probably got a massive fitness boost from the work you done…once you take a bit of recovery time - well done :grinning:

5

Thanks all, just wanted to check I wasn’t doing anything dumb. Been revisiting the overall plan today, think I’ll just do some endurance between now and the start of SSB, might even (shock horror) take the bike outside! :smiley:

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