Hello friends, I’m week 3 into my build part 2, low volume. I had been nailing my workouts, up until 2 days ago. I went up against Ansel Adams -2 and it completely wrecked me…I decided to count it as a loss, but figured it was just an anomaly, since I had done pretty well on Ansel Adams -3 the week prior. Today was Kaweah +1, and I was feeling confident since I did really well at Kaweah the week prior. Nope…noticed that my first interval, my HR was about +10 BPM faster on average, and only made it a few minutes into the second interval.
So I think its safe to say that I’m fatigued and my body isn’t responding well…I technically have another full week of training (glitch in the system when adding in events). I’m thinking that would be a massive mistake to keep trudging through. Any suggestions would be helpful!
Not saying your not overtrained, but don’t mistake failing workouts with being overtrained. The progressions are hard and if you are new to this, it will be hard and your may not progress as fast as the progressions. Part of this is the learning process of what it’s like to fail a workout and then how to adjust when you do fail a workout on what to do next. This is not a linear process. Trainerroad has recognized the current progressions kind of put you in a death spiral if you get to this point because as you point out, next week is gonna be harder than the week you are struggling with. Hopefully Adaptive Training will give you other options to not progress, but still do productive work in your final week. However, without Adaptive Training being there for you yet, you kind of have to figure it out on your own. Start your recovery week early if you are up for it, maybe do two weeks of it before going into your next block.
Also check calorie intake. Progression on a deficit gets hard to the point of failure, especially if it’s been going for weeks (or even months for some guys).
Thanks Russell, that is definitely a fair assessment, and a bitter pill to swallow. This is month 4 with trainer road for me. I had only encountered one workout that ate me alive, and I just downgraded the difficulty till I was in my sweetspot. It’s been a hot minute since I last quit a workout full bore…I think zwift plans, probably last summer. I’m definitely not progressing as quickly as I’d like, but that’s okay. As you said, it’s not linear.
I’ve got two days off already built into my normal schedule, so I will ease up, reassess, and maybe tackle something a bit lighter, maybe some sweetspot training before my real recovery week. I am REALLY looking forward to Adaptive Training.
One thing to also consider that Adaptive Training Scoring will definitely help point out is just because you are failing a type of workout, doesn’t mean you aren’t still progressing in other areas. Lots of folks that complain about not seeing an FTP bump also state that they “feel” stronger and like they can sustain power longer. Failing a hard threshold workout isn’t the same as not progressing at all, particularly if you felt better at sweetspot.
@sirmccarthy were you able to recover? I’ve hit the wall hard and thinking of leaving TR for a while for a polarized plan outside. It started with an over-estimated ramp test when I joined 8 weeks ago. The initial ramp test put me at 270ftp, but I was probably closer to 245 (Zwift had me at 244 at the time). My ego fell in love with the inflated number and I paid. After 3 weeks of slogging it out and failing most workouts, I lowered my ftp manually to 255w. A week later, after continuing to struggle, I lowered to 245w. This allowed me to mostly complete workouts and finish SSB1 mid.
After steadily training on TR for 8 weeks, I took the 20 min ftp test. I scored 212w – down 58 watts from my initial ramp test. I figured I just had a bad day so I took a day off, got 9 hours of sleep and tested again - 208 w. I really want to fight and work my way out of this… I don’t really feel overtrained, but not sure what else it could be. I’m 46 and I don’t think I recover quickly from all the high intensity. Probably didn’t help I started with 3 weeks of threshold that was supposed to be sweet spot.
I did, I ended up taking 4 days off in a row, and then dialed down the intensity of the remainder of my workouts. Not a ton, but definitely less. I am in my recovery week and things have been going well so far. I have my FTP test this upcoming Tuesday.
I’ll be honest, it sounds like you got hit with what was going on with me last year. I was at 268 with zwift…but tried to do a training plan through them with that number. It was way, way, way too hard and I kept failing. My FTP dropped considerably and when I came to TR, I got 215. I sucked it up, did the base phase that was sweetspot, and the month after I got a 14 watt improvement. I’ve pulled myself up to 237. About once every two months I’ll get hit by a workout that is just too tough…but that could be a myriad of reasons.
I would revisit your training plan, see if you should do your sweet spot all over again. That’s where I got the biggest boost, and my legs and lungs got used to the long hard efforts. You’ll get your gains back.
That’s really helpful to know you had a similar experience and have come through it. Thanks for sharing that. I feel more encouraged to rest and reset. Glad you’re back at it!
I had the same just happen to me. I’ve been an on & off TR user for a few years, a recreational rider who is building for longer rides and events. Decided to get serious about a training plan to get in shape. Got about 8 weeks in and started feeling like crap after the harder rides. Had to skip a couple to recover, finally had to take most of 2 weeks off. Feeling better, easing back into it. Dropped from Mid volume to Low, but will add in some recovery rides in between. Capping my FTP instead of allowing it to adjust up, to make sure I don’t repeat that cycle
I really wish I had a couple of more knobs in Plan Builder:
Set how many days per week I want to train. Low is 3, Mid is 5 – I want the option for 4.
Adjust the difficulty on days in the Plan Builder, tuning the intensity. I don’t necessarily want the big power spikes on my old knees, when I’m more focused endurance.
I’m a fan of TR regardless. I appreciate what it does. Just looking for a few more options for those of us that aren’t trying for a bunch of KOMs.
What plan is this? I was trying to see what the overall plan looks like, and can’t see any low-volume build plan with Kaweah and Ansel Adams. Ansel Adams is brutal, 6x6 sets of 50-seconds at 130% of FTP and 50 seconds recovery? Yuck.
Anyway - first, a bit a tough love here. Lots of workouts have tough parts. All athletes feel like bailing during tough workouts. ALL ATHLETES. So feeling like you want to bail on a workout – that’s always a temptation. Part of training is learning how to mentality deal with the discomfort.
Every time you bail on a workout, you’re a little more likely to bail on the next one…and the next one…etc.
Now – obviously if you can honestly say you’re really really done, get off the bike – but I’d say 99% of the time, that’s not the case. You’re in a tough workout and you want to stop. Kaweah, IIRC, is like 10-12mn intervals basically at FTP – yeah, that’s going to hurt.
Do whatever you can to get through a workout. Back-pedal for 30 seconds, maybe turn the intensity down 5%. Getting through the workout will make it that much easier to get through the next one…and the next one…
I’d also say - ignore heart rate. It can be higher – or lower – for any number of reasons, and you don’t want to convince yourself that your higher HR is a sign you’re fatigued. Maybe it’s higher because you’re tired. Or dehydrated. Or it’s warm. Or you’re fitter. I know that I’m getting fitter when I can get my HR higher during max efforts! What if I stopped when my HR got higher than normal because I was telling myself “I’m fatigued” instead of “I’m in the middle of a breakout performance”?
Ultimately you have to listen to your body - if you need a break, take a break, the bike will still be there.
But be honest with yourself, and make sure you’re not taking the easy way out (lord knows we’ve all been there…!) But all else equal - we don’t know what else is going on with your life (stress? lack of sleep? moving house? etc.) - week three of a low-volume plan simply doesn’t seem like a likely candidate for full-on fatigue.
OK, nothing there sounds remotely correct. Getting FTPs that are that all over the place is really weird, and losing 60 FTP (or even losing just 30 watts based on your ‘lower adjusted’ number) after eight weeks of training - of any kind, TR or otherwise - simply isn’t plausible.
So my first question would be, what equipment / set-up are you using?