Just to clarify…are you saying it may not really be a polarized plan because of lack of longer rides?
I meant the zone distribution. 2xZ3, 3xZ1, 1xZ1-2-3 (group ride).
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Your VO2max sessions could be harder.
Ahh got it. Yea but when the group rides start happening, my zone 1 volume will be going up on the other days as well with the nicer weather.
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I dont disagree with your suggestion. But really was juat a tentative, trainer specific plan for the next month indoors, before weather turns. The zone 2 volume will go up in spring. And honestly…I’m erring on the side of conservatism here because I’ve had a history of collapsing during build phases…and my whole concept here is to reverse that…even if it means undertraining a bit for a month.
Also regarding the sunday group ride when it happens…I actually have a fair bit of latitude when it comes to intensity. I’m one of the stronger riders…so unless I take off with the 2 or 3 other stronger riders and blow up the group…I can sit in and easily be in zone 1 for large portions of the ride. Pulling, unless I’m really trying to pick up the pace, I generally do at something along tempo. Sometimes sweet spot. But we have other guys that like to pull also, so I’m content to let them and just sit in. I’m leaning towards trying to make the rides largely zone 1 for me, with a lot of sprint practice.
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Actually…it would probably be helpful to lay out my plan for spring…
Tuesday: 1 hr high intensity on trainer, plus 1-2 hrs zone 2 outdoors
Wed: Very easy 1 hr ride, or off depending on how I feel from tuesdays ride
Thursday: 2hr-2.5hr endurance in morning, plus 45 min in evening
Friday: 1 hr high intensity on trainer, plus 45 min endurance after, plus 45 min endurance in evening.
Saturday: Either off, or commute to work 45 min endurance pace each way
Sunday: 3hr group ride. Possibly add some endurance ridinf before ride start.
Not annoying at all. I’m new to this…nitpick as much as you want lol
@Bbt67, Is this based on the earlier comment by @T_Field that Inigo san Millan believes minimum adaptation occurs after 75 min POL Z1?
I’d recommend changing the two Z3 sessions farther apart. Tuesday and Saturday will lead to more quality than Tuesday and Thursday. Also if you do high intensity on Saturday with volume after you’ll get a greater aerobic stimulus. Remember, Seiler has said that sweetspot can be a part of a polarized plan, it just has to be a hard session.
Last year I did a polarized plan for about 7 weeks. Martin at https://www.wattkg.com/polarized-training/ was giving away these plans. He had low volume, mid volume and high volume versions that all had the same basic concept. I saw no increase or decrease in FTP. I found being time restrained it was hard to get TSS into the 600s. Looking back my hard days probably could and should have been harder.
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I’ve been doing a very similar “plan” to this and it’s been working well for me. I’ve been shooting for 10hrs per week, and a 500+ TSS for that time. Often I can get this done in 5 days, but half the time I’ll ride 6 days of the week. While somewhat paying attention to the time in zones for the week, I typically just aim for 300tss of high intensity type rides, and the rest at no more than 70% FTP. So with that, every other week or so I’ll throw a third high intensity interval session in to get me to that 300tss number.
While I don’t have the science to back it up, the idea of diversifying the high intensity days(one vo2 day, one threshold day) just makes sense to me. Personally I don’t like the monotony of having every “Tuesday/X” day be my hard day, so I just mix it up, and eyeball on the calendar with what I think the appropriate rest will be to complete the hard days. I.E. sometimes I’ll stack two interval days back to back(~140tss each, think stage race), but plan for that by having a day off, then an easy day prior to those days. And knowing that after those two days, I’ll need a few easy days.
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Huh. Well that was interesting. Just did a ramp test…and picked up 7 watts after less than 2 weeks of sustained power build that I blew up during.
I’m not quite sure how to process this lol; the plan mentally and physically broke me…but I got stronger. I think it means I should probably stick with these longer VO2 intervals (3-8 minutes) that I previously had just a horrific time getting through. The 3 minute jobbers I mean…this was my first time trying the longer ones.
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IME the longer VO2 max intervals prepare you very very well for a Ramp Test
The ramp is so dependent on the day that is like it need to be tweaked to know where in the range you falls into.
The ramp is a range… .72 - . 77
TR, Zwift and other settle for .75 for reasons
There should be a way to select where in the range someone might want to do, or an educated guess based on external factors…like HR maybe, or user selected criteria…
in any case…
nice bump…
and good luck with the 120% !
haha
What about just using Low Volume Sustained power build and then adding in your aerobic rides? Chad has put together a nice mix/progression of High V02, Low V02, and Threshold.
It would be nice to see what @chad comes up with for a plan that has only two days of intensity.
the 606 on ramp?
As you get more aerobically fit you shift your LT1 to the right. So initially your easy rides might need to be 65% or even 60% max heart rate. But as you adapt LT1 moves right and you’ll be able ride 70% then 75% max HR and still find it easy. Still be able to have conversations.
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I have one day off a week. I go for a long walk on those days.
Agree. I do my high intensity days Mon and Thu normally. Also if you don’t feel fresh for a high intensity day then don’t be afraid to delay it from morning to evening or even the next day.
You want your high intensity sessions to be quality.
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Vo2 max workouts stresses the body. If you do it too many times you end up with the body permanently stressed. This blunts the adaptions and long term can lead to systemic inflammation and ultimately breakdown.
From what I’ve read increasing the high intensity to more days doesn’t improve upon two days a week. However it does say that doing two sessions of high intensity on same day can be effective. So if you are going to add more intensity , keep the number of high intensity days the same, but potentially do two sessions same day.