Extending Sustained Power Build: ideas for extra week

Hi there - i know i’d find some greta input on this topic on here so thought i’d see what everyone thinks …

I am off on holiday the week after my SPB Mid Volume finishes.

Ideally i’d like to add in 1 extra week of training to make it a 4 on / 1 rec (so my recovery week is holiday week.) as atm it is when i am supposed to start specialty.

I did this (add an extra week) for the 1st half of sustained power build as well - i had some travel with work - so added a 4th week and i just did the workouts UP (+1’s 2’s etc) from the week prior and felt fine then recovery week was whilst travelling so ez to manage.

Would the same approach be viable for adding this extra week to the 2nd half. (eg Stromlo +4 becomes +5 etc) or is this simply too much?

I had looked at using the ‘peak’ week of the high volume plan but the sessions look v different to what i have done? hmmm

any thoughts/input wisdom would be v v welcome

thank you!!

The week on week TSS-ramp seems to be about 15-20 so I would try to keep close to that.

Keep in touch with how you feel though… Do less if you feel totally buried, a bit more over the weekend if you still feel great.
If you overdo it one week of recovery might not be enough and you risk derailing your speciality phase.

Hey @sandilandscycles!

I am actually finishing up an article on methods of extending your Training Plan, but here is an excerpt relevant to your current situation:

If your goal is to build further fitness leading up to your “A” events, then adding additional Build Phase is the best way to do this.

It should be noted that the Build Phases are the most physically demanding of all TrainerRoad phases, so adding additional Build should be done with caution. Spending more time in the Build Phase than your body is able to effectively recover from can lead to fatigue and possible overtraining. As always, be sure to listen carefully to the messages your body is sending, and take extra time to recover when needed.

(1-2 Weeks) Repeat Single Weeks

If you only want to extend your Build Phase by a few weeks, then repeating single weeks in the Build Phase is a great way to do that. The Build Phase, by default, consists of two training “blocks”. Each one of these blocks contains three work weeks followed by a rest week. When we are looking to extend the Build Phase, this ratio will become 4 work weeks to one rest week.

The way we will do this is by repeating the week immediately preceding the rest week. In other words, you will repeat Week 3 or Week 7 depending on which half of Build you are looking to extend. This will continue to increase your 6 week avg. TSS before dropping you into your rest week. When adding a week in this manner, your weekly schedule will be:

Week 1 → Week 2 -> Week 3 -> Week 3 -> Week 4 (Recovery)

You may do this adjustment during either, or both, halves of Base depending on how much time you need to extend your plan by.

It should be noted that increasing your work to rest ratio will increase the difficulty of your training by increasing your work to recovery ratio, and you should only consider this option if you have been successfully completing your planned training up to that point.

I hope this helps!

3 Likes

Bryce thank you so much this is the perfect response …

1 question: shouldn’t the TSS increase slightly in the extension week or are you saying the very fact you are extending a week is stimulus enough over a 6wk average?

I did wk 1 / 2 / 3 / 3 (+1’s versions) / 4 (rec) … in the 1st half and it worked well … but maybe i shouldn’t try the +1’s ? I guess this week i am in (wk 7) will be instructive in deciding that …

awesome post btw thanks!

Alex

if you’re adding a 4th week and not used to it, listen to your body, and not the plan. You could get a lot of benefit from a hard ride Tues and Thurs to bump up the training stress, but if you aren’t feeling strong, DON’T do it…

Tues: Vo2max
Wed: Endurance
Thu: Threshold
Fri OFF
Sa/Su normal endurance weekend rides

Enjoy vacation!!!

Let us know what you decide to do and how it goes!

1 Like

While you can choose to do the +1 versions of the rides on the last, hardest week, you are already reducing your ratio of recovery to work, so listen to you body and do what you think is best.

If you think about it, your 6 Week average is still increasing with a simple repeat of the last week, it is just not increasing at quite the same rate as before :+1: