Splitting SSB 1 into 2x3-week blocks

So I’m finishing Week 3 of SSB 1, and I’ve got a rest week planned for next week. This is for 2 reasons - first, I’m on the road for work all week and wouldn’t be able to train if I wanted to, and second, I find that I’m better at sticking with my training when I go for a 3 on, 1 off cycle. Does anyone else do this during SSB 1? Am I totally blowing any improvements I might get out of the water by breaking SSB 1 (and when i get there, SSB 2) into two 3 week blocks? Thoughts?

Not at all, and we actually recommend this for aging athletes and others who handle training load better with 3 week blocks. Rest is good, and you can stretch out a phase of training over a little more time by adding in rest weeks between tough weeks. In the future if you can (and aren’t on the road) try to stay active on your recovery week and still get some shorter, less intense rides in.

Nate was kind enough to respond to that same question I had on reddit, and the following has been Coach Chad™ approved:

  • SSB1 week1
  • SSB1 week2
  • SSB1 week3
  • SSB1 week6 recovery
  • SSB1 week4
  • SSB1 week5
  • SSB2 week1
  • SSB2 week6 recovery
  • SSB2 week2
  • SSB2 week3
  • SSB2 week4
  • SSB2 week5
  • SSB2 week6 recovery
  • Build week 1
  • Build week 2
  • etc

And Nate’s principals of rearranging recovery.

  1. never skip ahead in the plan by removing a “work week”. The weeks build on each other so if you miss one it gets really hard.
  2. you can put recovery weeks where ever you want. If you do this ignore the other recovery weeks
  3. come back to the next work week after your recovery week. So if you went through week 3 make the next week after recovery week 4.

https://www.reddit.com/r/trainerroad/comments/8wk5lg/rearrange_ssb_with_week_4_recovery/

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Thanks! And definitely agree with getting rides in during rest weeks when I can. I usually find 1-2 30ish minute vo2max type workouts (think Bird -3) to do during recovery weeks just so I stay in the rhythm of doing workouts…so I maintain some intensity with greatly reduced volume, seems to work well for me.

Really appreciate you sharing this info. I plan to apply this to my coming SSB season.

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This is what i intend doing this winter.After doing the SSB high volume version last winter,which at forty eight years old
at that time i found at times extremely difficult,perhaps more mentally as i never missed a workout.The five main working weeks simply wiped me out and being stubborn and bullheaded pushed on…lesson learned

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I think this is a great plan for people looking for a long term “lifestyle” type plan. I would imagine mentally people can do 21 day plans pretty easily and if something happens they can reboot without completely falling off the rails. Someone who fails for whatever reason in week 5 of 8 might have a more difficult time psychologically kicking off another 8 week plan than someone who fails on day 14 of 21. Also, it’s a bit like work, do your time (M-F), get a break (weekend). Pretty easy to do that over a lifetime and in small enough bites that people do :slight_smile: