Why do we put ourselves through this?

Just barely made it through a 5 x 8 min sweet spot workout tonight, and had the bright idea of looking ahead at the 3 x 12 min over under on the calendar for Saturday… Huge mistake :joy:

Feel free to rant about training demotivation here.

lower your ftp, if you’re barely making 5x8 you’re doing it too hard.

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I put a cap on my heartrate for sweetspot. If HR goes above it’s not sweetspot anymore.
(Ready to hear all the comments about how HR is irrelevant)

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It’s probably fatigue. Had a 2.5hr MTB race on Saturday, should have taken the week off. I do struggle with sweet spot historically though.

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We put ourselves through this because we want to win.

And if we can’t win, we want to beat others in our age group.

And if we can’t beat others in our age group, we want to drop strangers and friends from our wheels.

And if we can’t drop strangers and friends from our wheels, we want to prevent strangers and friends from dropping us from their wheels.

That is all.

If you are not interested in any of the items above, go ride your bike and enjoy the view :slight_smile:

Also, your FTP is probably set too high.

Good luck🤘

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Too high FTP, lack of proper nutrition are probably the culprits here, not fatigue from Saturday! :slight_smile:

Lower your FTP 10-15w and try on Saturday, fuel properly with carbs the 2-3 meals before the workout (even the day before)

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So, so this. 5 × 8 is low to medium level ‘at FTP’ work, not SS.

FTP is set to high my friend.

5 x 8 sweet spot should be easy.

Easy? I’d have it as challenging, but doable. Too hard to concentrate on podcasts or TV, not so hard I need to throw on House or Techno!

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Honestly I think it’s an individual thing. I’ve been indoor training in the winter for quite a few years and I started with RPE, then moved to 20 min FTP tests, 2 x 8 tests, ramp tests, AI FTP, etc… and no matter what my FTP is, I tend to struggle with “longer” interval sweet spot like workouts and do very well with shorter threshold and VO2 max intervals. I say “longer” because it’s relative I guess. Specific workout was half dome, so low end of SS but not much rest between sets.

I think what that means is I should focus my training on more long sweet spot intervals. But how I hate them :rofl:

@batwood14

And if we can’t drop strangers and friends from our wheels, we want to prevent strangers and friends from dropping us from their wheels.

I for sure fall into that camp. I basically train so I don’t embarrass myself on group rides.

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I use TR so I can stay ahead of the age/gender groups that started behind me. :slight_smile:
Sometimes I’m successful.

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I don’t mean to beat a dead horse, but this is highly suggestive of overestimated threshold. I’m lucky to be friendly with some excellent coaches and 3x20 sweet spot is (I believe) among the first sweet spot workouts prescribed, with the expectation that a long ftp test is taken that doesn’t overestimate. It’s what I started off my base block with last week and today i did 3x30 already. Obviously it’s up to you, but scaling back your ftp target might help you progress with longer form intervals and get more time in zone.

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If FTP is too high shouldn’t the software catch/correct that issue at some point?

Eh, could be overestimated FTP, but in my experience this is just the kind of workout that will feel f’ing terrible if you’re fatigued or underfed. Those long, continuous intervals can feel just awful if you’re hungry or unmotivated.

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AT should, assuming that the post workout survey is marked correctly. Without getting into this in yet another thread “FTP” is just a number to base workouts around, in TrainerRoads case along with progression levels.

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Speak for yourself. I do it cause its the only socially acceptable form of self harm /s

Many drivers would disagree :oncoming_automobile:

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