I’m currently on week 3 of ssbhv1 and I’m wondering whether I should substitute the Sunday 2hr ss ride with a 3hr z2 ride instead like is suggested in the weekly notes. What would everyone recommend?
I think Chad recommends Big Mountain or Tenaya in the weekly text. I’ve scheduled balcony in my next training block as I’ve wanted to try it.
Chad has said a few times on the podcast that a long endurance ride on a Sunday is the perfect replacement. His words again, but I believe the long Sunday ride isn’t part of the plan because most people don’t like doing them so he supplemented it with something else.
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So if I’ve got the time/motivation, Chad would recommend doing a z2 ride over ss?
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3-4 hours zone 2 has a similar TSS - I would do it outside if the weather was ok…not on the trainer though. That said I had about 4 months of exclusively zone 2 outside during lockdown and my FTP dropped - not a surprise really so I am back doing SS work as a/ I am back at work b/ Structured SS is better for building FTP if you have less than 10 hours/week
As many says, skip long endurance rides in off season. Do them later outside when the weather improves. But one problem with only Sweet spot and tempo workouts, it can be too much. Especially if your are not used with high volume of such training.
Myself is in the beginning of a SS/Tempo plan, and I have already started to feel light pain in my knees. Even if the total weekly TSS is not high (around 200 with 3 workouts per week).
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Per the podcast, the Sunday ride in the SSB plans used to be a long Z2 ride however it had very low compliance, so they switched it out for a SS ride. Look at the workout text for the week as well. Do whichever floats your boat.
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I am starting SSBHV in 3 weeks and plan to swap the Saturday 2hr SST ride for a 3-4hr outdoor Z2. Should give similar adaptations and will help mentally (I hope).
Will probably do 3hr Z2 and then do extra 15 mins each Saturday so that it also has some slight progression like the SST indoor workouts.
That is true…I did SSBHV 2 years ago and now do a sort of MV hybrid with 75min SS on Tue/Wed/Thr, Collins on Friday, o/u on Sat and longer SS Sunday - but I ride a lot of TT in the summer and am used to structured training (and use to run marathons which is a lot worse for the knees! 
). I did a lot of zone 2 in lockdown - 15-20 hours a week. Improved my endurance but my FTP was lower when we did start racing TT in July in the UK. That said - I loved the outside zone 2 and could never have kept the structured training going through lockdown…needed to get out in the sun for my mental health.
I don’t want to put words into his mouth as I’ve only ever heard him talk about the long weekend rides.
If you’re up for a 3-4 hour, equivalent TSS endurance ride, then yes, by all means substitute it in
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What IF do people ride these at? I’ve got Tallac +3 on Sunday which is 135 TSS. Big Mountain (4:15 141TSS) is recommended for outdoors z2. 4 hours @ 0.6IF = 144TSS
The outside version is 4:15, so presumably at a lower IF, or perhaps to make up for coasting?
TR is super conservative on coasting, its not realistic for where I ride. But if you live in mountains it could be realistic.
For example here is a recent 3 hour ride on flat roads:
coasting was just 2 minutes and 19 seconds (1.2%) of total duration. I spent about an hour riding within the city, so I had to do stuff like:
and make right turns and small loops / detours if I saw traffic was going to stop me.
You need to adjust total time as necessary based on your roads. Adding only 5-10 minutes to a 3 hours ride is normal for me, but not for everyone.
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I wouldn’t overthink this too much, just focus on TIZ and everything else will fall into place.
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