Potential Polarized Plan

[earena]

Would anyone more knowledgeable than me care to weigh in on a block of training I’m contemplating doing over the next month? Mid Volume Sustained power build broke me. I took a few days off, and am looking to restart with something a bit more humane. Note this is all meant for on the trainer in bad weather. In the next month or two, hopefully I’ll be outside…and a couple of the endurance rides can be turned into 2+hr outdoor rides to work in the morning, with a 45 min return trip in the evening. The sunday Gibbs workout will be replaced by a 50-60 mile group ride. I may skip or turn the Wed and Saturday endurance rides into easy recovery spins if needed.

Thoughts?

[rkoswald]

Based on my very little reading into polarized training it looks good to me. Check out one I made based on SusPB-MV. Here

[earena]

Ahh got it thanks. Yea I think I noticed that a couple days ago. I honestly probably would have just used that, except I generally can’t/won’t get more than 90 minutes at a time for rides until I incorporate them into my commute…and I’m not doing that with 2 feet of snow on the ground/20F outside lol.

[Joelrivera]

Looks good…
Im doing something similar… but instead of another vo2 i added reps at ss…

Tuesday looks like your Thursdays
My Thursday its a 85-95% ftp…
Saturday we are experimenting…last week was a force wo (ss reps @ slow cadence)
the rest looks like that…
with one LR (3hr) @.7-.75 on zwift.

[HMG]

For my N=1, I enjoyed a polarized training block a lot, but using a Ramp Test to determine FTP led me to decrease the intensity for my “easy” rides. The Ramp Test estimated my VO2max intensity really well, but the endurance rides were pushing the limits of “easy.” I decreased them initially by 8% then 10% and really noticed a huge difference/improvement.

[Joelrivera]

There is a thread that’s talks about the ramp test MIGH be high for some…
the creator of the ramp test said that 72% of MAP probably better than 75% for some users.

[earena]

Yea, I’ve purposely picked out the easier endurance rides that I know I can generally ride without issue or any kind of excessive effort. Stuff I can normally watch and focus on a movie without ‘clockwatching.’ I’d like to make my training plan, dare I say…enjoyable.

[HMG]

The aerobic rides (Townsend, Gibbs, Ptarmigan, etc) are traditionally the same for me as you described (watch TV and not have to focus much), but if you’re doing it everyday and for hours a week, it needs to be really really easy. Like IF 0.55 easy. I’d strongly suggest bumping down the intensity unless you’ve been doing it a long time. I found it very easy to do too much, “This is easy, I’ll just tack on a few hours per week.” Not smart.

Again, just my N=1

[PhilW]

During the endurance sessions do the talk / sing test. If you can’t string a few sentences together without pausing for breath or sing something like Bohemian Rhapsody chorus. Then you are probably working too hard. Keep an eye on your HR it should be holding fairly steady after you’ve been riding a few minutes. It should then climb toward the end. But as you get fitter the HR will be flat for a a flat power endurance workout.

[danielrsharp]

If you are to get the best out of a polarised model, I would suggest you look at extending the duration of your longer rides.

[earena]

Yep. That was something I’d considered already. Frankly though…I’m just not willing to sit on the trainer for 3 hrs. Plus time constraints keep me from doing that anyway.

The weather will turn soon though. At that point, a coupe endurance rides for the week will turn into 2.5 hr bike commutes in the morning, plus 45 back in the evening. And I’ve been contemplating getting some early work in sunday mornings, turning my 55 mile group ride into a 75 mile ride weekly. Frankly a lot of that depends on how I hold up for this initial indoor phase…

[rkoswald]

@danielrsharp

I would suggest you look at extending the duration of your longer rides.

@earena

I’m just not willing to sit on the trainer for 3 hrs

Isn’t that the major point of POL, to have at least one POL Z1 ride at 3+ hours? Based on my limited reading and understanding, this seems (to me) to be a major go / no go criteria. Otherwise, sweet spot is the “better” option to get the aerobic adaptations. What am I missing?

[danielrsharp]

Sounds good. What I found worked for me was just riding as much as I could but really easy, and if you are not used to riding easy, it is quite slow. No sense of aiming for any power or intensity. Then the interval sessions were just as hard as I could. Built up the intervals and the duration of my longest rides steadily.

[earena]

Hrmm. From the bit I’ve read…it seems it is valid training even at lower volumes/ride times…but it is certainly possible I’m wrong. If so…Perhaps I should sub out 1 or 2 of the shorter rides for a single sweet spot workout.

[earena]

I think this is something that I have not quite wrapped my head around, as I’ve heard different accounts as to what qualifies as ‘easy.’ Some places I’ve read that you should be shooting for 70-75% FTP…which honestly for me…is doable but not exactly ‘easy.’ For example…would sub 60% count as a legitimate workout on an easy day for a polarized plan?

[Amnesty]

2h Z2 is a good start, but should be extended to 4h over time. Better don’t waste time with 1h Z2 rides (unless you are beginner) und just go 5x/week but with enough stimulus.
VO2 intervals are looking fine. You could vary a bit more: 3x10x30/30 or 40/20, 4x4, 5x5, 6x5, 4x16 etc.
After 2 or 3 blocks of that, I’d lower vlamax (unless you are a sprinter/crit racer) with sweetspot, etc.

[Craig_G]

I did a similar plan to that over 2 x 4 week blocks in the late summer. Lots of endurance rides and 1 x short VO2max + 1 x supra-threshold intervals. Also did it after getting through SusPB and feeling that I was ‘underdeveloped’ in the suprathreshold and vo2max areas. I saw a couple % bump in my 5min max power and it helped a lot with the mental side of tolerating all of that discomfort. I believe I saw a slight decrease in FTP at the time, but I think I respond better to SS / threshold intervals for that.

My only quibble is that I’m not sure its more ‘humane.’

[Joelrivera]

@earena

Some places I’ve read that you should be shooting for 70-75% FTP

I thought POL described as lower than z2 (on 3 zones)
So anything bellow .75 would count… so a mix of .7 ish with lower stuff to recover should do the trick…

[Craig_G]

I aim for a normalized power of 70-75% (more towards 70%) on my long endurance rides. I also don’t find it ‘easy’, especially as I was slowly pushing out the duration of my long ride and am always trying to minimize time in z1 (5 zone model.)

[danielrsharp]

I think you can gain quite a lot whilst not pushing the upper limits, I would say that I never came back from an endurance ride feeling drained, if you know what I mean. However, I have recently been pondering how endurance ride can be so different dependent on your FTP. As someone with a lower FTP, my intensity would rise quickly on any incline, whereas if I had a 400W FTP I would easily roll over them with out raising the intensity level.
I think trying to do the endurance rides on an indoor trainer presents different challenges.