I will be starting SSBMV2 next week and have noticed that the scheduled ride for Saturday is 5 x 10 @ 96-99% ftp followed by 2 x 12 sweetspot on Sunday. Wouldn’t it be better to switch these around? Sweetspot workouts are hard but not so hard that you can’t recover within 24 hours. On the other hand threshold work is unforgiving so I would normally follow it with a much easier workout, not sweetspot. Is there a reason @chad has placed them this way around?
Not in my eyes. Assuming you have the Friday as a rest day, you hit the Saturday Threshold “fresh”.
I see that as the more difficult and important workout compared to the Sunday one.
But that’s the beauty of the calendar. You can swap them in seconds, to meet your preference and needs.
So try it either way and take that as a lesson for future weeks and plans. If it works, keep the swaps. If not, return to the default order.
4 Likes
As @mcneese.chad says, because that threshold workout is less forgiving, you want to hit it fresher. But if you reeeealy want to try it after a SS session, be my guest. 
Another way to look at it, generally prefer higher IF before lower IF. Looking down the line on the plan, you’ll see 0.86 followed by 0.83, 0.83 followed by 0.79, etc., except the recovery week, when you get a pair of 0.70s.
1 Like
I’m currently in this week - and due to work I had to move some days around and did Pettit yesterday and just finished Kaweah and have Geiger +2 tomorrow. The last two intervals were tough but doable. I do these on my TT bike to work on my aero position and i’m in and out of the bars.
Thanks for all your advice.
Would the sweetspot workout on the Sunday have a negative impact on the threshold work completed the previous day? Would it be better to just do back to back sweetspot workouts on the weekend like the high volume plan or swap out the Sunday ride with an endurance ride instead?
- Not likely in most cases.
- Maybe. The HV plan is a unique thing. I wouldn’t necessarily draw plan changes from it without recognizing why it is the way it is.
This is all about stressing the body in desired ways to force it to adapt. The plans are all set with particular workouts at particular schedules based on the related science and common practice.
They are not set in stone and can be adjusted to suit each person’s needs. Any adjustments should be made based on prior experience or common practice.
But I would tend to follow the plans unless you have a good reason. The MV and HV are very different and need to be base on the time demands and full context of each plan.
I’m rambling a bit (early morning, sorry) but I would suggest that you follow the plan as set unless you know the setup has not worked for you in the past.
Get the real experience and judge how it works for you. This is all about experience and learning. I would refrain from making changes without a good reason.
2 Likes
Thanks for the advice. I’ll continue as planned as see how it goes.
1 Like
Hey @lebowskii98. I usually try to place the tougher workout earlier in the week or weekend simply to play on a rider’s freshness, but if you want to switch them around and you feel you can do them just as well, perhaps better, in a different order, there’s no harm in doing so.
4 Likes
Thanks Chad!
1 Like
