So For this year i decided to go with a low volume plan as I like to ski(4-5 a week, alpine). During the summer I was crushing a mid volume plan + a bit of commuting. But now I’m failing at least one work out a week in my build phase (threshold specifically) and this has been going on for about 4 weeks and is very frustrating.
Is this a growing pain, I’ve had some periods where I was failing a lot but they never lasted more than a week? Is the ski volume stifling my gains on the bike? Its only my second season and I really enjoy getting out on the slopes and heard it was decent cross training for cyclists.
What is the duration and intensity of your weekly skiing?
If you went from 6-hours a week of physical activity in the summer… to (5+ hours of skiing + 4-hours a week of biking) 9+ hours a week of physical activity…
Yes you are going to be tired. You have increased your physical activity by 150% at least.
Otherwise:
Is your FTP set properly - have you performed an FTP test recently?
The 3 MV mid week wo see 2 HIIT session bookending a Endurance workout. LV plans however have 3 HIIT sessions during the week which is more intense. I found that a little too much so I substitute the middle LV HIIT workout for an endurance one. After plan builder has run I add time off annotations for the midweek and when it comes do a Train Now workout (usually an endurance one).
The title is sort of misleading; i think juggling 4-5 days a week of skiing and 3 intense workouts on low volume plan is too much.
Depends if your body is accustomed to it but that seems like a lot. Even an “easy” day of snowboarding my legs feel like I did a hard day at the gym. Also, If you have a heart rate monitor on while skiing you might notice your heart rate spikes a lot. I’m not sure but it seems to me you’re burning the candle at both ends.
If I was in your shoes I’d do 1 maybe 2 intense bike workouts and 1 endurance ride a week. All
Depends how intense those skiing days are but for me snowboarding is tiring. I’d usually do what I mentioned above just to maintain some fitness in the winter.
Same thing happened to me when I dropped off the mid volume plan. Took almost a month to get acclimated to pounding the sweet spot three times a week. I went from a lot of broken workouts to a more consistent continuous effort for each session. I’m still not perfect but I’m better off than I was a few weeks prior.
New to just about any sport means a higher level of demand even for the “easy” stuff, especially so if you really see this as “cross training”. I’d guess you are straining yourself notably on those alpine days which is not allowing you to work hard on the bike.
LV TR isn’t the problem, it’s too much water in the bucket that you’re trying to haul. Likely time to reevaluate your priorities and make some adjustments to your activities to meet those priorities.
