Long time Progress

[AJS914]

@hoeni2000

think my Training Stress is to high for me (average TSS last 12 month over 800 a week; 4 Little children, being a general practitioner ) So after the last trail-running competitions in November, i will give it a try with more fokus on bike-Training starting with SSB.

Wowza. Sounds like quite the load!

What plans do you follow? Is this mid or high volume? How much do you ride outside? Do you race? Despite the FTP not increasing have you improved in other ways?

[hoeni2000]

I improved in long lasting events ( Ultra trailrunning for over 50k and riding bike longer than 200k). But I think I cannot get faster and run/bike longer the same time. I thought reducing swimming would give me enough space, but the muscular stress in biking and running is more similar than in swimming and therefor it doesn’t worked for me.

[Cleanneon98]

First year I tested 268w at the start of the plan and 290 at the end
Second year I tested 300 at the start of the plan and 310 at the end

Third year is coming up soon, not expecting big gains of any, but just because FTP stays the same doesn’t mean you’re not improving in other aspects like endurance or changing your power curve around

[truep]

Well, now I’m not so impressed with myself! I also have 4 small children at home (oldest is six) and I hover around 400-500 TSS per week. It just proves how if you are committed, you will find the time. Good job!

[grawp]

A different way of looking at it: I’ve spent the last few years trying to maintain a decent ftp with as little training as possible. Have been soaking up information on recovery and nutrition, and the introduction of Amber to the podcast has been really useful.
Tested at 4.2w/kg last weekend after a year of bikepacking trips about once every 3weeks (10-20hrs duration each), plenty of nice easy general bike riding, say 150-250tss a week then 3 higher intensity interval workouts (60tss each) in the two weeks prior to the test.
Now fit enough to race cx this weekend and no stress or suffering involved.

[grawp]

For context, I did the whole 800tss/week interval training thing for 3 years. Got me to about 4.5w/kg at times but left me broken, exhausted, and dreading racing which is a high price to pay for a few places up the results sheet.

[djhnz]

if you’ve only been training 1-2yrs and are not making gains, something is wrong.

Same stimulus = same results, Something needs to change, whether thats time, intensity etc.

800 tss a week seems like a lot, i think your ftp is just set too low. Are you training 10-14hrs a week? thats the sort of volume you would typically expect for 800 tss.

[codybraithwaite7]

Most likely not the TSS that left you broken, but the intensity. Just saying.

[cartsman]

Been using TR for 4 years, and had pretty decent bike fitness for a couple of decades before that but just didn’t have a PM or smart trainer to measure it. Still improving, though the improvements are smaller and less frequent and there are downs as well as ups. I would also say that just following TR plans hasn’t been enough to drive continued improvement over this timeframe (though might have been if I was starting from ground zero), it’s a journey of constantly adapting and fine tuning things. Figuring out how to adapt the plans to get the most from them. Listening to the podcast and trying things out and fine tuning things both on and off the bike including sleep, nutrition, off season, strength training. And just being consistent, year in, year out.

In my case I would also say that a big factor has been continually being challenged in terms of the people I ride with and race against. I’m lucky to live in a place, and be part of a club, where there are quite a few different ride options depending how strong you are and what you’re after. As I got stronger from using TR and training with power, that meant I could either ride with stronger groups and/or be a stronger rider within the rides I was already doing. For me that’s been a virtuous circle that really helped with continuous improvement. Riding with stronger people is good training as it pushes you harder (as long as you don’t overdo it and get smashed multiple times a week). It’s good learning as you pick up tips and ideas from how fast people train and live. And having regular rides where you know you’re going to be challenged is great motivation to make the right training, nutrition and recovery choices. TR helps me know what those choices should be, putting myself in an environment where I know I’m going to get my butt kicked helps me to actually make the correct choice most of the time! Whether that’s gutting through a tough session, going to bed a bit earlier, not opening that second bottle of wine, etc.