New to TR - Workouts Barely Going Over FTP, Too Easy - Doing Plan Builder Wrong?

[kvwesely]

@ellotheth

Ok I don’t have a Kickr but I’ve had “don’t calibrate until after ten minutes” drilled into my brain from multiple sources, including TR. Does the Kickr not need to warm up first?

I’ll be sure to re-calibrate, AFTER warming it up, before my next workout!

@ellotheth

Can you describe this more? Were you nose-breathing? Was your breathing elevated but you could carry on a conversation? Was there a disconnect between how your legs felt and how your lungs felt? Using a Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale like the one below, short (below 10-ish minutes) sweet spot intervals usually sit around 6-7 for me:

Based on the RPE scale, I’d put the effort at 4-5. So maybe I’m right on. My legs felt more worked than my lungs, which follows what happened in my ramp test, though I did some strength training for the first time in a while on Friday evening, about 16 hours before this workout. My legs still had no difficulty keeping up, but it was more difficult than it would have been without the soreness.

@Johnnyvee

Some people have got really solid gains from repeating sweet spot base over and over and if you compare that to trad base you’ll see that those workouts are way longer but at a very low intensity.

Get the consistency in there and go for it. If you feel fresh trying doing a plus version of the workout to add in another interval. But none of these workouts should have you gasping for air. Instead of questioning the process give it a fair try.

Taking the conversation a little different direction…I have until around Feb. 15th before my time becomes constricted to ~30-45 minutes a day max Mon-Fri, and ~60 minutes/day max Sat/Sun. I set the current plan to end Feb. 15th with the intention to change to the time constricted plan until my time frees up again after April 15th.

Do I just set the time constricted plan based on the time I have, and let it ride? Or is there some customization I should be doing with it, given that I’m doing SSB1 now?

Thanks again…

[bobw]

I’m 61, max HR is around 185bpm, can usually get to mid 170s for a minute or so on sustained steep climbs. Looking at the last time I did Monitor my HR topped out at 148bpm and an average of 141bpm for the last interval.

Based on that, I’d say your FTP isn’t far off.

If you’ve “suffered” from overtraining or holding yourself back then maybe actually sticking to a plan no matter how it feels might be what you need. Not every workout needs to be all out, in fact even during hard intensity focussed weeks you’ll only do one or two such workouts.