Introducing polarized TR plan

Tuesday baxter
Wednesday baxter
Thursday kaiser
Saturday baxter
Sunday kaiser

Bet you get faster

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thought polarized was supposed to be: 80% of workouts endurance and 20% of workouts VO2 max intervals… so if you do 5 workouts per week, 4 of them should be endurance and the 5th would be the VO2 max intervals?

Was going by time. More of a tongue in cheek plan anyway

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Just need a good logo for it.

Here’s some inspiration:

I would change 2 of those Baxter’s to Big Mountain. That would work

In all seriousness, is Baxter easy enough to be considered easy for the polarized model? The easy stuff is supposed to be below LT1 if I recall, and Baxter has a bunch of time over that for me.

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I think baxter at 0.67 is only slightly too hard technically. But it’s more fun to have a plan with baxter 3 times a week

that is called the Nate plan :slight_smile: Baxter is one of my go to rides as well.

I would take Jacks +1 instead of Kaiser and if you would do the first block with a 1 minute @MAP you will have more then 20 minutes @vo2max (90%max heartrate).

To make it harder, take 2 minutes rest instead of 4 minutes rest between blocks :wink:

Depends… for me 80% is spot on lt1. So there’s only about 5 minutes above 75%

Btw, i basically do this for my current training. Pick one or two of the hard planned workouts per week and fill in the rest with ez aerobic. Not quite polarized but usually about 80% z1 and z2.

I got excited when I saw the topic title…

I’ve been doing a self designed polarized schedule to start the offseason training, and now that I’ve done the first six week block will start to sprinkle in more threshold work but not all the way to a TR sweet spot plan.

I had a lactate test (along with a VO2max ramp test) done at a local sport lab to try to pinpoint my LT1. I came out at 154bpm and about 75% of FTP depending on what FTP test. (I did the sport lab Ramp test and the TR ramp test and a full 60min test and got different numbers: 230W lab ramp, 236W TR ramp, 220W 60min TT). So for the endurance work I’m doing a HR range of 140-150. I adjust up or down the TR workout intensity to stay in the range. Usually adjusting up quite a bit right now. My HR drift is zero at least on trainer rides up to 2.5hrs so far.

For the endurance rides I’m doing bald knob, Townsend, polar bear -3, Warren+1, MacLure adjusted to about 73%. For the VO2 rides which I do once a week I’m doing Jobs-1, Jobs, Ainslie+3, Jacks etc. I only have ~7hrs a week for the trainer but i supplement that work commuting (45min/d) which I try to keep in Z2 and gym sessions 2-3/wk.

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That helmet isn’t UCI approved …

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Kaiser should really be completed after the rest day as you are at your freshest.

I’ve started planning my own 8 week block today after feeling completely worn out following the 6 week mid volume plan.

I know Seiler has seen the greatest improvements with 4 by 8’s, however I’m going to periodize my training. I’m using 30/15 VO2 workouts once a week and u/o’s once a week for the first 3 weeks followed by recovery week.

The second 4 week block will increase VO2 intervals from 1m to 2m over the three weeks. The 2nd hard session being 6-8 minute 105% ftp workouts.

I’m not being regimental with the 90/10 split. For me it’s simply reducing the high intensity to two sessions per week and having the rest of the time in zone 1/2.

I’ll reassess at the end of the 8 weeks before planning the next block.

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I will be doing a VO2 block polarized style starting in about a week and a half.

I’m a triathlete, so only planning one intensity session per sport/week.

Bike progression will be: Anslie +2, Mansfield +1, Washington, rest week, Washington, Dicks -2, Dicks -2 rest

So only 2 of the 8 weeks will have 4x8 minute intervals. There’s definitely something to be said about the need to change up your stimulus every 4-6 weeks, so I’m alternating SS with VO2 blocks until final race prep will combine the two and then do some more of the shorter duration higher intensity intervals to get used to race power.

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Wanted to follow up to see how alternating the VO2 and SS blocks has gone for you. I’m also a triathlete considering incorporating a polarized approach on the bike. I’ve done SS many times but FTP has been stagnant (and well below potential) for way too long…

I would say I probably need to focus more on SS right now and just enough VO2 work to try and maintain what I’ve got there. Right now I think my ramp test is about 10 watts off of my PB I’ve had there, but I am getting personal bests from some of my local strava segments. My ftp is actually “lower” than in previous seasons, but I’m now using my 1 hour ability to set my steady state workouts.

So in the past few weeks I’ve done 3x20 min at 90%, and 2x25 min at 94% without a huge physiological stress. I’d like to get my tri bike adjusted a bit to fit me better, but have been really busy this year and with no racing, have just been riding my roubaix instead.

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