These TR plans seem so heavy with intervals…it’s no surprise the story you’ve related here. While Z3/Z4 is very important, what it’s resting on is even MORE important, if you are talking about sustainable, long-term improvement.
The reason why more Z2 is better is because slow-twitch muscles fibers can be made stronger…but it takes much longer. The less power you can produce the more likely it is that you have to rely more on fast-twitch fibers to get the meat of the work done. But…imagine if slow-twitch fibers become an increasing percentage of that overall power. Now you are starting to get the picture…and I’m not just talking about simply doing 12 weeks of base then calling it a day and going back to Z3/Z4. Nope…Z2 has to be more important than Z3/Z4…IF you want to be stronger year-over-year…if you want to avoid falling back or plateauing. Moreover, I’m also talking about pushing AeT…tracking HR and power being produced at AeT. Also, having a progressive plan for Z2 as well…pushing on the edge of it to further stimulate it…in both time and intensity.
The putative standard for pro level U23 is 4 hrs at 4w/kg with less than 5% drift. Think about that. THAT is years of high mileage/hrs training…training that has made slow-twitch muscle fibers very powerful.
I do realize that the majority of riders will not be able to achieve anywhere near this level of slow-twitch mastery but imagine being able to do just 3w/kg for 4 hrs with minimal drift. Still some serious slow-twitch power I’d say.
I appreciate your response, coming back to an old thread.
I feel you. I am not totally sure about it, but I am more the type like you, doing well either long, slow or punching a huge power (sprinting or similar) for short time.
The TR I just love it, but the SS training brings my legs to a melt down. I am probably like many already said, dropping my ftp a little as well as accepting the ftp from a 20 min test rather than the ramp test.
If I once read it right, the polarized approach is for life. Meaning that tempo training as well as vo2max training will be always incorporated before the race season approaches. For instance, a 4 hrs long ride would be made out of 70% of Z2 (in the polarized scale) with 20%/30% sprinting. As the race approaches, more specific to the race training zones will be added as well as to the specific rider´s abilities, i.e climber, sprinter etc.
Again, the polirized as I understood is a forever ground of training, avoiding plateus as well burn outs…the problem remains for non professionals: time, enthusiasm, will power, sacrificing family time etc. I am 45 with two kids, I honestly find it hard to be on the bike 2-3 hours a day for achieving a great base. For this reason I am giving TR a shot with the SS plans.
Actually the general idea about POL is that you divide your sessions within a period time (for example a week) into 80/20, not one single session. This would mean for 5 sessions a week, 4 are easy, one is hard. As a rule of thumb…
You don´t have to. I would look for one longer ride per week (perhaps 3-4hours on Sunday). the other rides may be shorter. Should still be working fine as long as ou manageto do one long workout every 2 weeks. you could do 2 short and easy rides, one long easy ride and one hard ride. That´s as easy as it gets.
Oh cool, that sounds a doable thing then. I will dive further into the POL it might be my next bet.
How about specific training for the race? How are you understanding it? 8 Weeks before the race to add in race specific intervals while riding 80% at Z2?
I think that is higly dependent on your race. A general guideline is hard to give. Just become more specific to your goal event. If the decisive factor in your race is a 10min climb, try 10min intervals. If you get dropped on a short steep 1min hill, work on that.
For me, I would not invest more than 4-6 weeks for that. but again, that is where things become more colplicated.
If you are interested in the POL approach, there are many great threads in this forum. Or just search for “Stephen Seiler”.