I know the ideal protocol is to Sleep High Train Low but with days becoming shorter and colder my training will undoubtedly transition to indoor cycling on the trainer where I live at roughly 8,000 ft elevation. I conducted a 20 minute FTP test to assess my fitness at this elevation and am new to TrainerRoad and structured training in general. So… should I start a training plan of the Base Phase with my zones based on this FTP at elevation and proceed like anyone else would or should I be having some concern in how the higher intensities will affect my quality of work and recovery? I will have roughly the next 6 months on the trainer at altitude so I want to start things off with the correct approach.
I live at a ski resort so downhill skiing (not backcountry or xc) will be part of my weekly cross-training opportunity. I won’t have access to a gym/weights or driving to lower elevations.
So what was your conclusion? I live at 7500 feet and am thinking about limiting my workouts to Sub Threshold here at home on the trainer and doing my hard workouts at lower elevation (5300’).
I live at 10K. I just do everything as I should. W/KG is 4.8 here. I do race at 5200 and sometimes sea level pending the race: Tulsa, Gateway. I put in some long days at 5200 during the offseason as well. The drive to there is about 80 minutes
Some other things: I sleep and eat a lot to help with recovery. I have some air relax boots I use as well as Amp Human PR lotion now and then. I’m also in the rec center four days a week with two days doing legs and the others are core and stability
So far so good - been following Sweet Spot Base HV1 and completing every workout at 100% intensity so far. Have even coupled this with focusing more on nutrition and slowly dropping my weight.
Haven’t done anything above Threshold yet but with following SSBHV1 & SSBHV2 before diving into any of that type of work I think it’ll just feel like the new norm.
I’ve definitely noticed the days when I’m not getting a proper rest the night before or am acquiring additional outside stress of the program.
By the time I’d be hitting a Specialty Phase I’ll be back on the roads at lower elevations so I think it’ll work out well!
Go for it with retested value. You might have to adjust the VO2max intervals. Anyway you’ll reap the benefits once you ride back down.
I moved from 600’ and now live at 4100’ with access to nice roads up to 6000’. I’m 3W/kg. I retested FTP (it went lower) and trained accordingly (FullDist Triathlon MV). I noticed my Vo2max is more limited (and it’s already low to begin with).
After ~4months of training, during a trip back to DFW, I rode the Thursday night roadies “worlds” and it felt easier (despite an IF of 1.06 over 48min) and bagged 8 peak performances in TP. Same at my ironman event. There’s a reason athletes live at high altitude. Enjoy!
JHow. I have adjusted my FTP for 7500 and go down to 5200 for intensity. The difference is 30-40 Watts going down to 5200. I did Mills Workout today and I had to adjust the FTP to my Lower Altitude FTP because the VO2 workout was too easy. So you use the same FTP at 10 as you do down at 5200?