Hey, I am new to using Trainer Road but had been using Sufferfest/SYSTM before. I have found that in my current plan the SS intervals are excessively difficult for me. I haven’t been having any issues with VO2 Max intervals I’ve done so far - in fact, those feel very easy to me. For example, the workout I did today was Mount Goode -4 and on the second interval, I had to backpedal for a minute and on the final interval, I took 2 breaks, one where I stopped pedaling, and one where I backpedaled for a minute. In each of the intervals, my HR surpassed my LTHR of 185 and peaked at 196. My max is 205. What could the issue be? I haven’t actually done any SS training prior - last season on sufferfest my training was entirely HIIT coupled with long 3-4 hours weekend rides so maybe I’m just not used to these longer intervals?
Not a direct answer, but this question has come up more than once and you may find worthwhile info in the existing topics:
I think Mount Goode -4 is 3x12 at 94% which is a threshold effort (or sweet spot). If you are confident about LTHR of 185 based on some long threshold efforts like time trials or similar, then one of several possibilities: a) your FTP is too high, or b) you just came back from an off-season or time off, or c) you trained in higher heat than you normally do, or d) you are getting sick. There are other reasons, but those are the first off the top of my head, based on having a reliable and repeatable LTHR in normal conditions.
Trying to compare “vo2” work to threshold work is not the best idea. Also, being new to TR you might find some of the TR vo2max intervals are very basic (I’m thinking 1-min or 2-min intervals) and not that hard.
Yeah, I’m fairly confident in the LTHR. Its from the 4DP test from systm and it lines up with my time trial HRs. I haven’t done structured training since March though. That could be a possibility.
Ding ding ding…. Just dial the power back some. Threshold (or all types of) power varies from day to day.
