I ended up taking 2 weeks off between SSB MV2 and SPB because I got a bit ill around my ramp test. I tried one ramp test on the originally prescribed day and bailed too early out of mental weakness. I then redid the ramp while still feeling a bit ill and got +20w from the start of SSB MV2 and +50w in total since starting SSB MV1, but I still didn’t think it was quite a max effort. I had another couple of goes and quit as soon as it got hard, so I decided to stick with the best result. I did my ramp tests with two power meters running - my old single sided gave 261 before SSB1, 293 before Ssb2 and then 311 at the end. I got some assiomas and they gave 322 on the ramp test that the single sided gave 311 on, so the numbers are going to be a bit higher but that should be fine as the assiomas are reputable and they are playing much more nicely with powermatch than my 4iiii.
Since those ramp test attempts, my A event has been arranged to a date I can’t make so I’m feeling a bit aimless.
In any case, I tried to start SPB this week, a week later than I should have, and avalanche spir was up first. I bailed on the 5th out 6 blocks and was annoyed as I could have pushed through. I lost a bit of mental edge in the time off. Lake +8 was up next and I bailed on the first block as it just felt impossible. I don’t know if I lost a bit of fitness, if I’m still ill or if I am just being mentally weak. In any case, there is no way I could’ve done that session yesterday. I’m looking at the SPB sessions and thinking I have no idea how I could possibly do them given I found avalanche spite so hard and that’s an easy over under session.
What I liked about SSB was the gradual progression that helped me build toughness. Starting SSB and immediately struggling so badly has left me feeling incredibly demotivated. My question therefore is: is there any harm in doing SSB2 again to try and build my base again from these new numbers? I got a decent gain from it last time and I doubt I have got as much from base training after doing ssb1 and 2 as I could ever hope to get. I would also like to drop some weight and base is better for that than build. The prospect of going through build with no goal and feeling generally demotivated just sounds awful to me.