Suggestion for those who find progressions too intense

[WindWarrior]

@AussieRider

That’s definitely the way I define it. On another note, if I wasn’t doing TR and went out and did 5 x 10 min @ 300w and on the fifth set I could only manage 290w I don’t think I would call it a “fail”. But in TR I would.

Then to borrow a line from Nirvana, I have never failed to fail And got faster.

[AussieRider]

@trpnhntr

I think it depends on whether 300 watts is endurance, threshold, or sweet spot. If I was 3% off on a tempo interval I’d think of that as a fail regardless - if I was 3% off on a VO2 interval I wouldn’t care at all

Funny just did 5 x 9 min @ Threshold outdoors and while I knew from memory the indoor workout was 290w intervals the outdoor workout on Garmin gives a 20w range from something like 280-299

[Pbase]

@Pbase

The more I think about this and read other people’s experience, the more I think I might downgrade every ride by +1. I’ve run into excessive exhaustion multiple times and end up taking time off or scaling way back. I think instead I’m going to take a “slow down” approach. I train for general health and to be able to enjoy my rides outside. I’ll probably never race again, so really, I see no need to ramp quickly any more. I’m tired of burning out.

It’s almost a month since I decided to go this route and I just wanted to share feedback in case anyone else was running into the same issue. Every ride I do, I now add +1 to whatever I thought it was. So, for example, if I thought the ride was “Moderate” in my head, I mark it “Hard”. If I thought it was “Hard”, I mark it “Very Hard”. It is working. My progression level increase has slowed significantly, but I still find myself tired at the end of a week and then re-motivated to hit it on Tuesday after my Monday rest day. I have been consistent with my training over the month, and my CTL is rising. I’m not saying this solution is perfect, and it’s certainly slowing my progression, but it achieved the intended result. I feel like I’m staying more positive and motivated, and while I’m accumulating stress, I am not feeling like I am about to fall off a cliff if I don’t insert a rest week.

[Abe_Froman]

I made essentially the same change about 6 weeks ago. Thinks are going much better. I answer most surveys hard/very hard rather than moderate/hard.

[AussieRider]

@Pbase

I feel like I’m staying more positive and motivated, and while I’m accumulating stress

Awesome!