Getting Whipped by Suprathreshold Intervals

I’ve found that in doing over unders - when at 105% I am usually up to 100 rpm and will count it out - 25 and then again. Every four counts is a minute.

The heat thing is definitely true.

Can hardly imagine what 8min at 108% feels like…

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It’s interesting, I was able to get through all the 6-min intervals counting down each minute and focusing on keeping cadence above 100.

Didn’t work so well for 8’s though :confused:

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Glad I read this. Tried Stromlo +3 today and was totally cooked had to bail before the last interval. Felt a bit down about but on reflection it just shows room for growth but also how to manage these sessions going forward.

Was probably a culmination of factors. Primarily I do my sessions in the morning so I wont be doing this one again fasted, a coffee before with a carb drink is definitely needed. Secondly need to invest in a fan and thirdly I was probably in need of a rest day. I retested my FTP at the start of this week which probably made it that step too far, carrying fatigue from Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

So lots of learning points! but great thread!

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I’m going into SPB in about a week (from SSB) but will be doing so coming off being sick for two weeks…so I might be back here begging for tips and tricks…or cheap on-board motor…:confused:

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PeterDee, because I’m a data junky I just took a look at ~100 Raymond +7 workouts. Looks like a lot of athletes struggle with that workout. If I count bailouts and workout downgrades (clicking the ‘-’ button or back pedalling frequently) as non-compliance…compliance for Raymond +7 is less than 60%. Toughest one I’ve seen yet.

I completely agree with your positive takeaway regarding room for growth. After my absolute fail on Raymond +7 and then Stromlo +3, despite managing Red Lake +8 fine, I felt totally down. The following week of training I was in a de-motivated cloud and skipped most of my workouts (I know, bad!). Should have reflected a bit more positively!

Knowing what those suprathresholds take out of me, I’ll definitely prepare a bit better regarding cooling, nutrition etc, next time they roll around. Hopefully I’ll be able to report good news early next year!

Ouch! I’m somewhat (horribly) satisfied to know that I’m not alone :wink:
Hopefully I’ll be able to get on the right side of that compliance ratio.

ok @PeterDee, I’m up for my inaugural dose of Raymond +7 this weekend. :scream:

Any tips? :smirk:

Fuel, cool, and get ready for the pool (of sweat). As I have yet to successfully complete Raymond +7 though, take my advice with a giant grain of salt :grin:

In any case, good luck. Hope you crush it!

I’m glad I’m not the only one. I’m only in week 2 of sustained power and it’s hit me like a freight train. Had no issues getting through SSB1 and SSB2 but these workouts look like 0.92-1.0 IF workouts “hidden” within stated 0.8x IF workouts.
I have Raymond +7 this Saturday and given I was barely able to make it through Red Lake +8’s 6min intervals at 108%, I’ve no idea how I’m going to complete it.

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I’m safe for awhile; back on SSB2 at the moment. But will be meeting those bad boys in March.
Hoping the colder weather here will negate some of the overheating issues I was having.

I believe the workout went from 105 to 102% of FTP. The last two interval were more painful than I expected. I thought to my self it’s a FTP test with rest. How hard could it be…

My legs are dead. At 105% of FTP, I definitely would have pained even more or perhaps failed.

I’ve cut my wine consumption back to near nothing
for the last 3 months. Today’s post recovery drink was a 4 oz glass of Chablis. Ok, it was a PNW merlot but nonetheless I earned it.

#stormon

Alcohol helps.
I find the prospect of a recovery beer helps the legs get over that extra 2-3% :wink:

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The sessions you are talking about are really tough. And you are pretty new to riding, only starting less that 1yr ago. Don’t get too worried about it. It may just be a type of effort that you are unprepared for and it’ll take time to build up the fitness to handle it.

FWIW, the kind of session I find the most difficult are the kind that you describe. I’ve learned to accept that they will hurt, and hurt a lot.

Temperature dips to below 25C!!! Those kind of temperatures are unheard of in my parts!! I suspect that you are overheating. (was 3C in my garage last night and I still had a fan blasting in my face!!)

Completed Raymond +7 this morning. It was as tough as expected, but definitely doable. I would be able to get to the 4min mark then I knew I could put my head down and suffer through the remaining 4. It was incredibly difficult to maintain a decent cadence on the final interval.

https://www.trainerroad.com/career/paulgrav/rides/47772152-raymond-7

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I searched for “108” and came across this thread.

I’m in the same boat for SPB MV.

Red Lake +8 Failed on 3rd Interval
Raymond +7 Finished but cadence dropped a bunch on last interval, had to get out of the saddle to make the final 30 seconds or so
Elephants +4 Failed on 5th Interval, had to finish final 2 at greatly reduced power

All of these were tough for me. I question my FTP settings but then again, I can do the anaerobic workouts and sweet spot workouts without feeling like my eyes are bleeding.

These are definitely an area that I had not worked this hard in the past. You can see the black line in the middle is this year, the bottom line is last year (no structured training just riding) and the blue line on top is my all time best. These workouts are pushing me very close to my all time bests but my FTP is still about 50 watts off of my peak.

Doing Sustained Power LV (after SSB 1&2 MV). Yesterday early morning was Washington +4, first suprathreshold interval workout of the Build coming in week 5. 5x7min @105% on 3min recovery. Made it through the first interval cleanly. Made it through the second interval with a backpedal at 3:30. Dialed the third interval down 5% (to FTP) and made it. Bailed on the rest. My legs were toast.

In retrospect, I’d ridden five consecutive days due to sliding training schedules around thanks to work and newborn, including 90 minutes outdoors with some bursts on Saturday, Truuli -2 Sunday, Ramp Test Monday (+7W FTP bump) with about 15min of extra SS work after, and Bald Knob Tuesday, all on interrupted sleep, of course.

I bailed early on my ramp test on Monday, and then bailed on Washington on Wednesday. I think I’m mentally fatigued as much as physically fatigued just with the accumulation of broken sleep nights. I haven’t been able to maintain my focus through suffering the past few workouts quite as well as I was before. Hopefully I can get my mojo back for Fish -2 tomorrow. If not, I’m just damn glad to be on the bike at all right now!

Mental fatigue is real! Just finished the first half of SPB MV and actually got through those soul-crushing suprathresholds—everything seemed fine, patted myself on the back for 3 weeks well-done.

Cue the Ramp Test starting week 5…and I bail at around 18:30. First time since joining TR that I felt like my mind gave up on an FTP test before my legs. Thought, what the heck, training’s been going good, let’s add 7 watts (about 3%) and update that FTP.

Cue Stromlo +3…finish 3 intervals and then bail.
Cue Palisade…finish 1 and a bit and bail.

Feeling particularly demotivated this week and stuck trying figure out what went wrong.

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Dude, that really sucks. Maybe take a recovery week and then try the ramp test, again? At the very worst, just set your FTP back to what it was before the ramp test and keep going.

Gonna take it easy tomorrow and do a “fun” ride on Sunday out in the hills with some mates.
Then likely knock my FTP back to what it was and continue on. If *fingers crossed workouts start to feel easier than they should I’ll up the intensity. If not, completely fine with working forward at the previous FTP.