Failing workouts

Training
1

Background
I came from another platform, and started with SSBMV1 in mid-February. Completed that without any failed workouts, and saw an FTP increase of about 5%. Was initially planning to do SSBMV2 afer that, but due to winter ending early this year, I opted to continue with SSBLV2.

Went on a cycling trip after that, which was a 1200 TSS week. Not that many super-hard efforts, but the rides were long. Went hard up the hills, and the longest one were around 30 minutes, with slightly above FTP averages. Many breaks/stops during the rides.

Got a cold after that, and had 2 easy weeks. The 2nd week I did some easier workouts, like Pettit -1, Birch, and towards the end some of the easier sweetspot workouts (Carson -4 and Monitor).

Next week: Mostly outdoor rides, easy-ish with some efforts. Improved PRs up the local climbs by a lot and felt great. Outdoor rides were not structured at all, just “for fun” and going hard up hills. Complemented with Taylor -3 and Geiger +1, TSS:601

I was planning to start with SSBLV2 the week after that, but due to great weather I didn’t really. Lots of outdoor riding (not structured) w/hard efforts up hills. Only finished one of the TR workouts, Ebbets. TSS:736

Then we come to this week:

  • Tuesday: 3 hr moderate intensity group ride
  • Wednesday: Did Taylor-2. Felt great during this workout, and upped the intensity on the last couple of 30s intervals. Regreted not doing it earlier.
  • Thursday: Attempted Donner. First interval felt a lot harder than I thought it would, but was able to hold ~95RPM and on power target (ERG) for the entire interval. Second interval felt brutal from the getgo. Was able to hold my usual cadence from the start, but it was slowly sliding towards <~90RPM. Brain was screaming stop. About 8 minutes into I was cooked. Tried to stand for a bit, but eventually had to stop. Took a few minutes breather and tried to keep going, but no dice. At this point I just decided to spin the legs out easy for a bit and abort.

What to do next?
Should I not have tried to do Taylor-2 and Donner back-to-back days, and at least had an easy day between them?

Failing to complete “Donner” felt really demotivating, as I have been able to push harder than that for longer stretches earlier.

Form is on an all-time high after all the training during the winter, so the outdoor riding is really additive. But am I maybe overreaching the volume/efforts with outdoor riding + the workouts from SSBLV2 plan?

Next scheduled workout (today) is Clark. Really not looking forward to hopping on the trainer again, and the fear of failing again is there… even though on paper it should be fairly “easy” :slight_smile:

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

2

I don’t think Taylor and Donner back to back is a massive issue. I think it’s the two back to back after a moderate 3 hour ride the day before, and after doing over 3 times the expected TSS of SSBLV2 week 1 (736 vs 212) the week before.

You probably need to start thinking a little more “either / or”. If the weather’s good, go outside, but don’t then try to complete all your workouts that week too. Aim for a realistic total TSS that you can sustain week after week.

Also, consider trying to replicate the workouts, or at least some of the elements of them, on your outdoor rides. Get some low cadence sweetspot intervals in, for example. Some of the workouts now have outdoor suggestions too.

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3

If you followed SSBMV1 prior to those big weeks, then you had a pretty huge jump in TSS (could be other factors too of course, but not surprising you got sick after the 1200TSS week).

Regarding this week:
3hr group ride, Taylor -2, Donner - falling on consecutive days. Taylor feels “easy” to me, many others have said similar, but that doesn’t mean it won’t leave you with some fatigue - is Donner a problem right after that? Probably not, but put those two days after a 3hr group ride, and I’m not so sure anymore. That’s likely what led to Donner feeling so hard.

I’d take a look back at your previous weeks of training, compare the TSS, and see how those 600+ TSS weeks stand out. I always prioritize the key workouts in the plan, in LV that’s all of them, then I supplement with other riding as I can as you are doing now… keeping in mind the upcoming workouts as my priority though.
Knowing what you do now: likely you could have gone harder on the group ride (or tried to replicate a TR outdoors workout with it), then had a very easy day, then hit it hard on Thursday again with Donner.

You’ve had a rest day, Clarke is sweet spot with some sprints, it won’t be easy, but you’ll get it done.

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4

SSBMV1 tops out at about high 400TSS toward the end? You’ve now jumped to 1200, 600 and 700TSS weeks without any gradual build up to it. I think you’re just thrashing yourself and the end result is you’re crashing and burning.

5

You’re overreached. Listen to your body and back off.