So lately I have been struggling to complete my workouts. I’ve taken some time off the bike to try to let myself recover however that has not helped. I recently just had an FTP increase from 245 to 249 Woo hoo! lol it’s starting to get cold now in my area and I’ve been doing my workouts more inside versus outside. I’m thinking that I should try doing my workouts without the ERG mode and try doing more resistance. I’m thinking that this should help me to complete my workout, but I’m not sure I’m gonna try this out on Thursday to see. If you have any advice, I am open to any suggestions.
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Depends a bit on what workout.
Recently I had a bit of motivation dip because I also struggled to finish workouts. But now I let TR adjust my FTP (from 260 back to 247 according to AI) and it’s fine again. With the following caveat;
-Sweet spot type intervals should never be an issue honestly. Unless you are ill or FTP is set wrong.
- For VO2 / anaerobic type intervals I tend to do them more in resistance mode or in Zwift with virtual shifting, because those type of efforts feel unnatural for me to do in ERG and I really struggled with those workouts before. In resistance I might not always hold the target for 3 minutes but it prevents me from death spiralling and at least gets me to complete the workouts.
- Sometimes the same for treshold intervals, if I feel I’m struggling I switch to zwift virtual shifting or in trainerroad to resistance mode and try to hold whateverI I can thats close to the goal
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yeah my legs are always my limiter.
I feel like my heart and lungs can handle so much more…but my legs are not up to the task. they don’t hit a wall but kinda get wet-noodly-weak and they are my limiter.
I dunno…no advice but looking forward to hearing what others say.
(I do wanna get faster and all but overall I’m still pretty happy that my heart and lungs are working pretty good…just in general in life).
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@DaHump I’m taking a shot in the dark here but for the next couple weeks pay super close attention to your nutritional macros. Make sure you get 1g/kg protein every day. Two to three hours before your workout make sure you take down 150g of carbohydrate…if that seems like a lot, well, there you go.
Maybe that will help. Whenever my legs feel dead but my respiration feels like it’s got plenty left, that usually means my nutrition is lagging.
Not a guaranteed fix, but something to try.
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I find sometimes it is my legs that give way; sometimes my breathing or HR gives way and sometimes my mind gives way.
It is useful to monitor if there is a consistent pattern to this.
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Do you do any strength training? I was a pretty hardcore weight lifter from 2002-2018, and did almost no cardio. Then I added running from around 2018-2023, then changed over to biking. I have maintained pretty frequent strength training during the addition of cardio. During my 4-5 years of running, around 20-30 miles per week, my heart and lungs always felt limiting. Legs have been crazy strong. Finally after a ton of biking have my legs started to weaken before my heart/lungs, which is typical.
If you aren’t already, my suggestion would be adding strength training. If it’s a foreign area, do your research, maybe hire a trainer that works either cyclists and to learn good form, etc. I’ve been working on increasing my squat and deadlift this year to help specifically.
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probably multifactorial. Sometimes you are not overtrained but rather under recovered. Could be intensity, volume, sleep, macros especially protein and total calories, outside life factors etc. Ive also dug myself into holes mid season from all of the above and drastically reduced my power output/FTP. You could try reevaluating your threshold power via ramp test or something easily reproducable. Good luck