Last week I test my FTP at 155 up from 131. Since then I can’t do workouts at prescribed wattage, I need to tone them down and even then, I bailed out of Donner yesterday. My legs burn like hell on Taku, and my HR shoots to 1 40 just from the warm-up. My resting HR is 10-15 beats above what it should be. My legs burn from walking up 10-15 stairs. And I’m gasping for air just by standing. I just done SSBLV1. I doubt it’s over training as I did not add any volume. What’s going on?
calibrate your pm / trainer, make sure your brakes aren’t stuck on. How were you feeling leading into taku, hows life, stressful or normal, any other changes between now and last week?
Looking at your history, it seems unlikely that you could complete kaweah and not taku even with a large bump in ftp without some external factor being at play. HR is also the same which is a further indication (but by no means a guarantee as it can fluctuate a lot.)
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I’d say run, don’t walk, to your doctor, but…might be safer if you Uber.
Seriously. Doctor.
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What were your exercise habits before starting TR in terms of intensity, duration, and frequency? Any health issues?
Too much too soon?
You might be getting a cold or something like that. Have a couple of days off training, see if you feel better. If it keeps getting worse, go the doc.
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Yup, this, more than anything else is a sign of injury or sickness. Taku is a full on “recovery” ride (as opposed to an endurance ride like Pettit) and it should be a walk in the park.
You need to take a few days, possibly the rest of the week off, and restart the week, when you feel better. Good luck!
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(I think you’re misreading OP’s ramp test. The FTP line says 142, but the 1-minute power from that test is 206, which does work out to a 155 FTP.)
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Got myself checked today. Echo, ECG and blood test. All good. Stress and fatigue are the most likely culprits.
As for the ramp test I took what the trainerroad app told me which was 155 watts for max heart rate I usually reach over 180 on those 169 looked very low to me.
Toned down Taylor -2 because it quickly became clear I wasn’t able to push 183 watts. Did it at 167 and 171 for the last set. Did 10 minutes of Taku afterwards.
Then the following day I did Taku. I thought it was harder than it should have been but completed it nonetheless.
Donner I had to bail out. And taku today I was heavily breathing and my legs were burning at 77 watts. I called it a day posted here and went to get myself checked.
So my plan is to take the weekend off. Calibrate the trainer. Get my nutrition dialed and enforce a no waking up dad at 5 in the morning policy for my three kids. Do a full week of recovery week six of SSBLV1. I was sick when it hapenned it was scheduled because I got 4 vaccines on monday did 3 days of fever that week. Get my nutrition dialed and enforce a no waking up dad policy for my three kids.
Now from there I’m toying with two possiblities redo weeks 4-5 of SSBLV1 at new FTP continue with weeks 1-2 of SSBLV2 replacing de ramp test by Taylor-2. Do a recovery week and then continue with SSBLV2.
OR
Restarting SSBLV2 completely at my new FTP but toning down the first week 5%.
I think that with the medication I take which is an imune-suppressor I might juts need more recovery than what the SSB plan prescribes.
What got me really freaking out is when I took the little one to school this morning my legs were burning after a 10 steps stair in the metro. Then I was heavily brathing trying to follow my 6 years old who was casually walking. When I got home my HR shot to 120BPM just for changing and placing my bike and by the time I did 2-3 minutes at 77 watts my Hr was at 140 and my legs were burning.
Legs burning from walking up stairs is normal because most of the time you do it when you’re cold.
Think about it in watts.
Power = Weight * Elevation_gain * Gravity / Time
= 65 kg * 2.5m * 9.8m/s^2 / 5s
= 318w
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Same! I went back through my own ramps, and line shows the new FTP for every one except the first. 
You might be right about the FTP which I probably overtested. Though the 142 FTP it’s me that changed it manually before the ramp test at that gave me 155 which really surprised me. I decided to resest a second time that week when I realised my first test was done with the rear brake on. Which was true for Ebbetts also. I realised it for Kaweah, which naturally became super easy. And decided to retest.
As for compliance I was as compliant health would alow me. On the plan really the only workout I skipped was Palissade because I felt like I was fighting something. And then recovery week. I got vaccinated 4 shots on the same day. Had 3 days of fever afterwards and resumed the following week With week 1 of SSBLV2.
Granted my FTP is probably set to high. But that doesn’t explain struggling on Taku.
I’m not caught at 155 FTP because a test told me so. It’s clearly too high for Treshold VO2max work.
Anyway I’ll do a full recovery week at 142 FTP. Redo weeks 4-5 of SSBLV1 adding some low intensity volume. Continue on SSBLV2 for the firts two week do a recovery week and retest.
One of the thing seems that I clearly lack a strong base. Pre-build work looks like way to much intensity too soon. And I might need more recovery than what the plans allow. 3 to one ratio as opposed to 5 to one.
As a side note I redid a calibration with the tacx app. And trainerroad in parallel. And everything was ok. 70 watts felt like 70. 90 like 90. And I was still coasting at 120 watts. HR was normal recovery was normal. It’s really a matter of fatigue. I’ll take a break. Do a full recovery and resume with weeks 4-5 of SSBLV1.
Thanks all.
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Nothing like a little bit of physics to put things into perspective.
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Yep. Loved that, so simple, and yet I never thought about it that way. Nice way of quantifying my stairs runs in work
Not a doctor, don’t know what you’re *taking, but I think this could definitely be a significant variable. The immune system is significantly implicated in healing and recovery processes.
I’d definitely look into the side effects of this medication.
It’s much more of an anti-inflammatory than an immunosupressant. The immunosuppressant part is a side effect. Any way I think inflammation is also part of the recovery process but I don’t know how it would affect recovery. Though it seems the medication I take improved the VO2max of a sample of people with a history of cardiac disease by 25%. Though from the numbers those VO2max were rock bottom low median was 12.3 and went to 15.1 .
Yeah, inflammation is definitely part of the recovery process. They’ve talked about it & the effects of antiinflammatories in some of the podcasts, might be able to find something in the archives.
Stop looking for advice on a forum when you’re gasping for air by just standing up. Get to a doctor ASAP. In the words of Lance Armstrong, “not normal.” EDIT: glad you got to the doctor! I’m glad your EKG turned normal
@didierbr I just thought of this…do you have a wife/significant other you live with? Ask him/her if you snore. I have sleep apnea, and there was a time (where I was a fatty fat) where it was debilitating if I didn’t use my mask. Something to look into. How is this diagnosed? Sleep study.
Yeah I’m scheduled for a test in two weeks. I’m a bit overweight 5-6 kg.