Replacing Threshold Workouts with Sweet Spot

Does anyone know if there is a way to replace all the Threshold workouts in my current plan with additional Sweet Spot workouts? I had knee surgery 2 years ago, but still have pain with the longer stretches (4-6 minutes) at or above my FTP. I can scrape though the VO2 workouts where the watts are high for only a minute (and have longer recoveries), but the Threshold workouts cause me pain every time. I decided that I can just change them manually each week when they come up, but it would be easier if there was a way to just replace them all at once. So far, I can get through the Sweet Spot workouts OK as they are at a lower intensity.

I’m new to indoor training and if there is another suggestion for replacing workouts, I’m open to ideas. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Hey there and welcome to the TR community!

There isn’t a way to mass-replace a certain type of workout at this time, unfortunately. Changing them manually as they come up is likely your best bet here.

Workout Alternates might be a helpful tool for you to use to check out variations on workouts that come up in your plan – as well as using the Workout Library and its filters as you search.

Feel free to let me know if you have any additional questions!

Just thinking out loud, and maybe others have better specifics that might help with the knee pain, but have you tried changing the gear you have your bike in, on the trainer, to make the torque you have to exert a little lower?
Or, maybe increasing your cadence (but staying at the same power/watts)?
Or, even turning ERG off and/or reducing the power you’re trying to push in those threshold workouts?
Or, you might even try substituting in a different workout with shorter threshold intervals so that power is at the lower end of the zone.

Obviously, you don’t want to hurt yourself. Determining if the pain is good pain or bad pain, during rehab, is difficult so maybe get a consult to see where the limit should be.

Are you doing any strength training? When I am not doing any strength training, my left knee tends to act up (on which I have had 2 surgeries done about 20 years ago).

Thanks Zack. That answers my questions about changing workouts.

I don’t have a smart trainer, so it’s difficult to fine tune my cadence. Each gear change results on an 11-12 rpm difference for the same power.

I do like your idea of picking workouts with different interval lengths. I’ll have to see how that works. Thanks.

1 Like

Hey Oreo - my strength training has been inconsistent, but perhaps now it is more important than it ever has been. I came to this same conclusion a while back, but hearing it from another person with similar experience makes me want to really focus on it better. Thanks for the reminder.

1 Like

For the OP, I had a total knee replacement in 2020 at age 66 and my second one in Aug 2024 (5 months). Strength training is a big deal in keeping stability. Also, I highly, highly recommend the exercises and programs of Ben Patrick (Knees Over Toes Guy). Great stuff and make a big difference.

I’m fortunate that my gym has turf/sleds and both in prep for my latest TKA as well as recovery work I was able to do lots of sledding. Right now I do 10 min of push/pulls twice a week; also have been able to get back to hex bar DL 3x5 @ 285# (not a brag, just illustrative of what surgically repaired knees can do). Still have some occasional swelling and tenderness for the newest surgery. I recall that with knee #1 it was a good 16-18 months before I was able to stop thinking about my knee and just do stuff.

Also, with surgically repaired knees it’s even more important to have a good fit and especially cleat alignment. I found that increasing my stance width helped too; YMMV.

One option that might be worth considering is to load up the threshold interval as scheduled, then reduce intensity by 5-10% to get you into sweet spot territory. Saves having to mess around with your calendar, or find a SS workout that fits the bill.

1 Like