Hi Community,
I attemped the climbing road race first week and failed miserably.
Prior to that I completed the General Build 1, 2 and 3 and then Sustained Power Build.
I found the first workout in the Climbing Road Race “Tour De Nez” very challenging, I got through 21 of 28 rounds and then the workout I had 2 days later was 4 x 108% of FTP where I did 1.5 reps before quitting.
Is there a better way to build into this training plan?
Any help would be appreciated.
This is just my experience, but I’ve sometimes felt the progression levels on some of the “combo” workouts in specialty phases are a bit off, especially for workouts that mix Threshold/VO2/Anaerobic efforts.
TR have made it clear that you can’t compare PLs between workouts of different categories. So when a specialty phase combo workout mixes these energy systems, I think the simplistic PL scoring falls down a bit and can feed you a workout that’s too hard.
That said, it is also a phase that is meant to push you, so it may be OK to fail a few workouts. And when you do, the adaptive training should kick in and keep you on track. If you feel you “failed miserably” this week, I guess the upcoming workouts have adapted down a bit? I’d give it a chance and see how you go, or take the opportunity to choose your own alternates if it still seems out of whack. And don’t let a few failed workouts get you down!
Make sure to mark the efforts as all out and why you failed. Adaptive training should kick in and reduce the workout difficulty.
I’m sure a TR team member can take a look at your calendar and see what’s up as well
Thanks mate that’s great and good to know, makes sense about the PLs
Hey there and welcome to the TR community!
We love the tips that @jazir1979 posted above – as well as what @James_Sanderson said about making use of your Post-Workout Surveys.
It looks like you went from doing “Traditional” VO2 Max workouts during your Build Phase to “Attacking” VO2 Max workouts during your Specialty Phase. While they are both VO2 Max workouts, they are different types of VO2 Max workouts. As such, they can be loosely compared to each other, but it’s not an “apples to apples” comparison between the two workout types.
In case you come upon a situation like this again, Workout Alternates could be a great tool to use to find sessions that are relatively easier as you get into a new workout type.
We’d also recommend using Plan Builder instead of applying individual phases to your TR Calendar – it will take care of the smaller details like this stuff for you so you won’t have to worry about it. 
Hope that helps – feel free to let us know if you have any additional questions!