Been out of SST progression for a little while, but have done higher %FTP and hard start stuff a little bit. Saturday is usually a 3hr group ride with a bit of intensity or a 3-4hr endurance spin.
Only had 2hrs this morning so I did Three Fools -2 (level 7.9) which is 3x30/5 at 88% and had no issues. Solid 7 aerobic TIS on WKO. By all accounts, just what I was looking for. So nice to be able to fall back on that kind of effort without it destroying me thanks to earlier SST progression work.
Nice! Thatās encouraging.
I just wrapped up a solid block of VO2max/race intensity and am trying to figure out what to do with my newly heightened aerobic ceiling. Iām sort of interested in doing another progression, but Iām honestly not sure what benefit it would have at this point in the season. I doubt it would raise FTP and certainly burry me with fatigue mid season. However, I could see maybe doing a block where I work in longer efforts at SS later into ridesā¦like in a fatigued state after 1000-2000 KJsā¦making them more race specific.
For those of you who have wrapped up a SS progression and moved on (FTP build, VO2max block, etc), did you return to do another SS progression or do you just throw in some long SS intervals periodically?
I did
SST ā Threshold ā VO2max ā Recover ā SST ā Threshold ā Race Build
During the current build block I planned one 2x30@94%, but added that 3x30@88% in place of a long ride when I was time crunched.
What were you looking to accomplish by repeating SST?
If I recall you had a really nice progression. Did you just want to do another progression at a higher wattage? Iām playing around with options now and I just donāt see much benefit in another SST block, seeing as muscular endurance and TTE arenāt lacking as I just did a race with an average power of ~88% for 2hr 40min.
Coming off a VO2max block Iām now interested in lifting FTP from below. And I donāt think a SST block will do much there. But this is new territory for me so I could be wrong.
My long play is Kona qualification. Still a while before I can get back to tri training, but always focused on building the aerobic engine. I wrapped up VO2 in early Feb, and it was still unclear as to whether weād have racing, so I went back and did more base building. Just one three week block and I didnāt push beyond the same 1x90 (albeit at higher power) that I had done previously.
It was at the end of that block that I started recognizing things were easier and things really got interesting in terms of FTP progression.
Oh, nice. Makes total sense then. Having a coach or a really good backlog of training history would make these decisions a bit easier.
iām jealous. i went and threw it all away after i came home from the hospital with a newborn.
bye bye gainzzzz
Go back and read all my posts from two years ago. Couldnāt get through a LV plan!
All is temporary. I was 272W (ramp test) when my second was born Feb 2019. Now 288W (WKO5) with two kids and a full time job. Iām not specialā¦ it can be done!
You might find that the newborn phase can be friendly to training, it might also not be. FWIW, Iām 36 w/3 kids under 8 and started training in 2016-17 when my oldest (only child at the time) was just about to turn 4. Started with an FTP of 265 and now sit around 320-335. Annual riding hours have ranged between 250-300 over the last 4-5 years.
Youāll be ok!
Adjusting to the lack of sleep and new routine is the hard part. I need to get back into consistency first and foremost, even if that means doing less overall.
I had a free consult and the coach said in my next base season I should progress through any tempo work rapidly as itās a strength, and start doing 30s surges @ ~5 min power every 4 mins (similar to workouts discussed here).
He also was impressed with the long SST sessions and said many coached athletes wouldnāt be able to SST out to such long durations (think he was on about the 1x150 marathon). Generally he was supportive of raising FTP from below, and said too many people do it the other way round.
On the downside he told me to do some anaerobic work! 
My coach said most of his athletes didnāt like doing long threshold tests (time trials), and some even have a hard time committing to a 20-min field test!
That was my point of posting how little interval work is required for me to jump to 1x60. My thinking - havenāt discussed with my coach - is my time is better spent training weaknesses and leave extensive work as unstructured weekend group rides.
Hmm pushing from below is logical but when you reach the plateau (so ftp as high percentage of vo2 max) central adaptations by vo2 max are good way to go?. So basically you push from below ā rise the roof ā push it from below. Volume provides peripheral part and vo2 max central adaptations. Ergo - you have to touch every zone from Z2 to the top. Itās a of balance how much and how often - and there is a magic:)
So basically this?
I wouldnāt put too much weight behind the comment. He probably sees lots of people doing 30/30s before they have a solid base, but he wasnāt specifically saying how to structure a full season or anything.
He said heās seen āmuch worseā attempts at arranging self-coaching. As a person selling a service I wouldnāt expect an everythingās perfect assessment, and personally I know I could do things better.
Lately I canāt face ultra-focussed periodization, especially as the weather is good and a first ever race (a crit) is on the calendarā¦ However, I did have 30/30 and Tabatas in the calendar before his call, so I must have a rough idea of what to do/weaknesses! 
And yep, that workout looks perfect!
I have done couple of 15/15 and it was fun 
With poor anaerobic capacity it would be the worst vo2 max workout (HR was high but breathing wasā¦meh) but as I didnāt touched anything shorter than 1 min ever with 3 workouts I have seen improvements Nice change in comparison to extensive threshold in terms of rapid gains.
Hi all,
Since a month iam working with a coach because i was uncertain about my period before the races starting again after covid. My overall fitness is a lot increase since i start with WKO5 (okt 2020) and developed base-build with longer blocks etc (sweetspot progression).
Now the trainer did a lot of good stuff like vo2max (30/15), cadans work like 60rpm 1min uphill and 2min high rpm downhill, sprintwork etcā¦
But he let me also do extensive endurance rides with 5x5min 250w and 3min 210w in between. Iam uncertain about that part, because i can easily do 3x20 250w (FTP 310w). It is not progressive. But i know it is a little part of the whole program.
What do you think about this?
ps: the races went very wellā¦ i rode 4 races with about 75 people and went 9e,6e (break with 10 riders), 9e and one time finished in the peloton.
Have you tried asking your coach why youāre doing those sessions?
Not yet, but i will do. I have monthly contact due phone and more times via whatsapp/e-mail. So i will ask it by phone.
Just remember a couple of points its easy to lose sight of:
not every workout should be a max effort - its about the pattern of sessions over a period of time
maybe this is the start of a build up in sessions - it wouldnt take may steps up for this to become a serious workout that starts to stretch your capability
Of course maybe they arenāt aware how much SST work you have done and that this is well below your current fitness level?
Really depends on where that 5x5min would fall.
SS for the first hour is not the same as sweet spot after 4hrs of endurance riding
The most Iāve done is a 3x40 at 90%
My coach just assigned me to do 2x10 at 90% but at the end of a 5hr ride that also includes 20/40s. I am not looking forward to it
