It’s the legs, not the heart. Terrible Threshold

I know some of this has been discussed before but I have a slightly different question. I’m 59 with a 260 FTP. I find that I can nail every VO2Max workout. Spanish Needle, Joe Devel, etc are no problem. My weakness is threshold workouts like Diamond with 4 9 minute intervals. The first couple are ok but in the third of fourth my legs die. Like the strength goes away. The other thing is that my heart rate also drops along with the power. So, it seems like I am muscle and not cardio limited. Other than just doing more threshold workouts is there anything else to increase long duration muscular endurance?

Likely not enough base - go through sweet spot base and pick out a bunch of the long sweet spot interval workouts and add those in. Takes time to build but will stay with you for a long time once you’ve built it up

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My exact shoes when I started TR – ton of VO2 ability, none of musc enduro ability.

Did the SSHV plan but built out the interval times to 40 minutes (race specific). Didn’t see any great FTP increase but my muscular endurance got a real boost. Keep at it, it’ll come. :muscle:

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I used to be able to hit the v02 max workouts but hated long threshold work. I needed a better base and committed to ssbmv 1 & 2. After completing them, I saw a substantial increase in ftp and Now I think I prefer t long steady state work to the higher intensity stuff. Basically my current ftp is where V02 max used to be, and the high intensity work is very hard again. Sounds like you could use some base training, and hope my perspective helps.

I am in a very similar spot right now. Fresh off the back of a few XCM races after roughly running a full course of low to mid volume. Afterwards I tried to jump back into the end of SSB 2 MV and my legs did not agree.
I believe there’s more to it than simply heading back to base. Unless you have the time that is.

In my case I’m back at GB MV now. My legs are coming back upto pace on the SS or threshold style workouts. I think there are enough long workouts of that nature in my build to keep pushing through the build plan.
Better to raise the intensity in the VO2 max sessions and enjoy the fact that you find them easy for now.
I was always felt like dying during VO2 work when doing my first round. Threshold work was easy. Now it’s not.

My experience is that my heart and lungs hold that high level of fitness a little longer than my legs. Truth be told they don’t exactly get much time out.
I’m sure coach Chad could quote plenty of studies that would confirm my opinion(or slap me upside the head). There is a load of info on losing fitness in one of the podcasts. I can’t recall the number, but it’s in the title on Soundcloud.
It’s depressing how quickly your FTP drops off.

Where are you at in your plan?

And to give my 2c on your question. More volume has helped me more than anything else. Not just more threshold work.

:+1:

:+1:

I am just finishing up the rolling road race MV plan after doing general build MV after SSBLV. Thanks for all the advice everyone.

I hope you did well in your race/s. I’m not due another until October and the bug has bitten hard.

I lost around 7.5% of my pre race FTP after two weeks. That’s a huge slap in the face when you still feel like a boss.
I was still training, but not fully structured.

Get back at it and I’m sure you’ll bounce back soon enough.