Valuable post and great responses… I’m smack in the middle of this right now myself. SSB1 LV was challenging, but totally doable and I thought I was off to the races. About 3 weeks into SSB2, the wheels started to fall off.
I see this phenomenon discussed so much on this Forum that it’s probably worth @Chad or someone on the TR team to fashion a warning for new TR users; maybe it’s already out there somewhere. But, it could probably be put more up front during your sign-up process.
While I’m a marginal cyclist from any angle, I’ve been at it long enough to recognize flat, overreached legs reasonably early. Folks who are new to both cycling and TR may dig themselves a much bigger hole before they figure out what’s up. That’s not good for the cyclist, or probably the TR subscription rate either – some folks may just say “heck… this doesn’t work” and give it up.
SSBII is a lot of muscle endurance that most people haven’t adapted to, yet. A lot of club riders spend half their rides coasting or in recovery. Stick with it and if you’re doing LV + outdoor rides with the club or friends, get to the front and keep steady pressure on the pedals - no coasting.
Your HR reference tells me you’re working too hard. From my perspective keep it simple and just adjust intensity down by a few %. You’re no less of a man. The tinkering with alternate testing protocols may just get you to the same spot.
This was my experience too with SSB1>2 LV. I enjoyed reading your ways to deal with it, I had some similar tricks. The workouts were hanging over me sometimes a day or two in advance. It may have been hard - but boy, did the plan make me fit …
I adjusted the intensity up by 3% during SSB1, because I was wearing an HR strap and knew where I would end up with HR/RPE for a particular set of intervals From prior outdoor training.
SSB2 I started 8% FTP increase and then had another 6% at the end of the phase.
it was also the first time in my sports career that I experienced how hard you can actually work
I remember dreading the last week of SSB2 but when I nailed it it felt so good!
My opinion? Absolutely not. I use my HR to inform me, with regards to the efforts I’m putting in, how different positions on the bike effect my efforts and to some degree, my general fatigue level. HR can be effected by numerous factors such as time of day, temperature and of course stress, but I do believe that if you train consistently with the same equipment, at the same time of day, you can allow for a slight +/-.
I also use it as an indicator of my FTP progress. When I see HR consistently trending lower for the same or similar workouts, I know it’s time to look at my FTP and potentially nudge it up. In my case, this is a much better way to set it than ramp tests, which I consistently fail and propose FTP levels that turn SS and threshold work into cruising.
I completed SSBLV1 last week, having done the first half on my TT bike and the second on my road bike. Just looking at the scheduled rides for SSBLV2 on the calendar, it looks more challenging. I ramp tested today and switched back to my TT bike, seeing about a 4% gain over my initial ramp test for SSBLV1. I’ll have to see how things go with that higher ftp – it’s great to see a gain, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little worried that it might be a bit much.
During LV1 I inserted a recovery week after week 3 similar to the plan’s final recovery week, but swapped bikes out from TT to road and substituted a ramp test for the second ride of the mid-plan recovery week using my road bike which has a different power meter. Then I finished out the plan on my road bike. I’m planning on the same approach for SSBLV2 and will place an extra recovery week after week 3 with a bike swap and ramp test at that point. And I’m still planning on running between bike days. I’m looking forward to the challenge!
SSB2 is much harder than SSB1, I am currently on week 4 of SSB2MV and its getting tough, .88-.89IF this week and then some brutes next week at .9IF. It’s not just the workouts that are hard, its doing them with the build-up of fatigue from the weeks already done. I will power through until I can’t anymore, I remember this time last year I was turning down some workouts but made it through.
Just thought I’d report back and say I’m absolutely slaying rest week lol. Pettit and beach knocked out of the way and hardly even broke a sweat. (Ok maybe I sweat a little still )
Totally agree with this. Generally speaking, I lower my ramp test FTP recommendation by 5-10w because I know future workouts will likely be too difficult after a “great” ramp test.
For the past while I’ve been just watching netflix/movies whatever while I train. Also, I’ve been turning the intensity down from 93-96% because that felt about right.
Well today, I was trying out Rouvy AR for fun while I did a workout. I’ve got Assioma pedals so I paired those to the App and TR is still controlling the Kickr.
So… I don’t ride hardly at all before I notice the pedals are reporting about 10 watts higher than the trainer.
OOF. Sure enough, after the ride data is uploaded I verify the recorded averages are about that much off.
Soooo… yeah there is something to be said about over testing, under testing, workout intensities for different athletic goals/types etc etc etc in this thread is all good.
I just wanted to add this slightly overlooked tidbit… calibrate your trainer now and then lol.
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