I completed SSB1+2 and SusPowerBuild.
Just starting SSBHV2 with SPBHV planned after that.
I cut short the first two workouts of SSB because the Blue Blocks of Doom have finally cracked me!!
Frankly my dear, I can’t take another FOURTEEN ( -1 ) weeks of the numbingly endless 15, 20, 30 minute of monotonous 88% torture. I JUST CAN’T! The complete lack of diversity has broken me!
I have no antidote, but was thinking of doing a 5 week 80/20 Base phase instead of SSB2. That way I can do the long brain dead rides and then spice things up every couple of days with some real zinger fun sessions.
(I know all about the ongoing 80/20 threads but lost the plot long ago and don’t have a spare 3 hours to catch up on the conversation.)
Throw whatever suggestions etc you have at me…I’m desperate!
You say you’ve just completed SSBMV1 and 2 followed by sustained build, and now you’ve gone back to to sweetspot high volume. What are your goals. Normally you would work back from your main goal of the season so that you complete SS1/2 then build then speciality.
Why double base? Go do a build plan for the change of pace
Also - you added a TON of volume to your SSBHV1 - perhaps you’re a bit over-trained and need to decrease volume - the decrease you get going into build from SSBHV is significant
Are you not the same person who was adding more TSS and altering the HV plans? Wasn’t everyone warning you of burnout? It sounds like a bit of too much too soon. TR recommends: Traditional Base - Build - SSB 1 & 2 - Build - Specialty when you have “Too Much Time”. Of course you’re sick of doing the same thing.
I just finished Traditional Base 1, 2, 3 and now starting General Build. I couldn’t wait to do shorter and more intense intervals. The thought of long intervals was nauseating.
“Just because you have 30 hours to train it doesn’t mean you should train 30 hours” coach @chad
High volume is freaking hard! Doing two whole base fases back to back is not advised. You have set yourself up to fail. Do a build fase then specialty and fill the gap to your event with maybe another specialty.
If I’m repeating SSB after doing some solid blocks already I spice it up a bit. Add some workouts form the next build I plan to do every now and then. Maybe even a full week of it if I have time. Swap some weekday rides for a Zwift race or something. I need to break it up as well. I know you can make gains overall with base but it feels like you’re accomplishing nothing sometimes. I still need to smash it every now and then to remind myself why I’m doing it.
As mentioned, what even are your goals? You mentioned your A race is a TT in another thread (when is that?).
As far as I know from other threads, you completed SSBLV and removed all of the rest weeks. Then went onto build, or did you do more sweet spot in the middle?
I feel like, from the few posts I recall of yours, that your only real goal is to hit some huge FTP number and to do it as fast as possible.
SSBHV is hard, mentally and physically. I think a lot of people ignore that, and then learn. Heck, take a look at Nate’s repeated attempts to go after HV and even he admits on the podcast that he doesn’t learn and it leads him into sickness typically.
It broke you. Mentally, or physically, or both? If you can physically do the work, but mentally get tired of the long long intervals… then idk, search for some variety with alternatives? Search for different entertainment while you do them? Replace a couple rides per week with outdoor rides of a SS nature?
If it broke you physically… then you know what not to do.
This, IIRC you completed build high volume in 5 weeks instead of 8? and you are averaging 6-700 per week with nothing to aim for but an A race in approx. four months time?
Take stock, go ride your bike for fun and seriously consider dropping to mid volume.
At least you know your limit now right?
That’s something that you gained from this next to your FTP raised.
Sure the situation now sucks, but some people learn more from experience than from theory.
You can use this knowledge for the training plans to come.
Rest a bit, perhaps go outside and have fun on your single speed with your new FTP if you feel like it and pick up the training with a schedule that really seems doable to get back in to the groove.
I would not even look at your trainer or bike for a week. Maybe even completely remove yourself from all things cycling related and have fun elsewhere. If you run already, I’d do that expecially if you can get into a nice nature trail to clear the mind and soul. Then when, and ONLY when, you start to really miss training/riding I would do unstructured fun riding for at least another week (preferably outdoors). This is a test to see if you do actually miss riding. If you’re not having fun and enjoying the ride, take more time off and repeat that process.
When you are dying to get back to structured training I would slowly reintroduce TR workouts at MV that don’t resemble what you’ve previously done, maybe General or even Short Power Build.
Do you think that’s good advice for everyone, or specifically somebody who may be pushing up against over training? I’ve been doing SSBLV and supplementing with easy 2.5-4 hour rides once every week or two as my schedule allows, in large part based on the 80/20 threads.
Kinda, but he blew so hard and fast past what is rational, that he probably can’t take much from this experience other than doing an insane amount of volume is destined for failure. This implosion is a surprise to almost no one.
The title of this thread is incorrect and should be more like:
I cracked myself…
by disregarding established training plans, stated advice on plan modifications, and clear warnings about my choices to vastly exceed common limits and anything I have previously attempted…
I am struggling with this thread and trying not to make it into a “we told you so” event, but to some degree, that is warranted here. There were multiple opportunities to take subtle and not-so-subtle advice to heart and avoid this crash. But they went unheeded and here we are.
The best that can come from this crash is that we can point to it as an example of what NOT to do. We can reference it the next time someone new comes here, sees the smorgasbord of workouts and plans, then says “I want it all.” All in an effort to help prevent someone from making the same mistake due to over-exuberance.
Instead of rubbing salt in the wound, I like the proposals of how to help Cap get past this mistake and hopefully learn as much from it as possible. I do think there was a missed opportunity from more gradually increasing stress and crashing less dramatically. That method can lead to a better understanding of practical limits that can be applied in the future. In this case, we just know that massively overshooting ends in flames, but don’t know where that “line” really resides because it was a meteoric speed approach.
TAKE IT 
ANY MORE!!! 
