I have noticed if I extend the rest interval by back pedaling or just stop pedaling and complete the workout at the prescribed power, I get credit in Progression Levels for the workout.
However, if I keep going and turn the intensity down, I do not get any improvement to my Progression Levels.
Is the correct take away that you should extend or rest as much as you need to to complete the workout at the prescribed power level vs lowering the intensity and doing the workout in the prescribed time/rest periods?
I would think either would promote some training stimulus.
Here is my simplistic understanding of things, I’m sure somebody will correct possible mistakes here:
Short answer for Z4 specifically: extend rest, try to hold power to train intended energy system, gather prescribed time in zone.
Long, “it depends” answer:
Z2: go by RPE, gather total time
Z3/SS/Z4: it is ok to go at lower side of zone, you are still training same system, only stimulus strength varies and how much you can do it plus how easy is to recover from it
there is special case for 40k TT: you actually might want to train balancing at lactate production/consumption border
VO2max: don’t go too low, but no need for maximal power either, you can achieve maximal oxygen consumption with high cadence as well
if you do long intervals (5min+), rest until ready to go again for whole prescribed interval duration. It is ok to vary power as long as HR remains high
for on/off kind of intervals, do not extend off part and keep pedaling, moving from interval to interval with continuously increasing HR is the goal. It is ok to take longer rest between sets.
If the workout has you doing intervals at 100% of FTP, try to find an alternate with the same structure but at 98% of FTP.
As a general rule, doing FTP intervals at 98% of what you think your FTP is costs you almost nothing in adaptations and ensures you’re not working over your actual FTP (hopefully)
Either of those options would certainly trigger a training stimulus.
I think the approach you take depends on your goals.
If you need to train to hold high power for longer periods or back-to-back efforts (think 2 big climbs in a row), then limiting your rest may be the better option.
If absolute power is the goal, then taking extra rest and trying to hit the power at 100% of the target would be the way to go.
Ideally, however, try to complete the workout as prescribed if possible.
Turning intensity down should impact your PL changes, so that makes sense to see. Extending rest/pause time should as well – though slight pauses won’t have as much of an effect (we anticipate athletes needing to hop off the bike between intervals to stretch/get bottles/etc.).
If your extra pauses during rest intervals become quite long (think minutes beyond what was initially prescribed), make sure to reflect that in your Post-Workout Surveys. We’d call those kinds of workouts “Very Hard” or even “All Out” if you’re needing extra rest. That info on the Post-Workout Surveys will help Adaptive Training dial in your future workouts for you.
Hitting 100%, while nice, is absolutely not mandatory for adaptations. There are many reasons why you may or may not be able to hold exactly 100% on a given day.
With respect to TR and PL - what’s the breakdown? At what state does it fail to give you a PL improvement (1%, 2%, etc)?
