So this weekend my training plan has a 2:30h group ride. Since i’m training indoors i was planning on using RGT’s Magic Road feature and actually ride a mini fondo course from my country. Problem is, i’m not too sure if i can finish it in 2:30h.
So my question is, assuming i can maintain the Power prescribed by my training plan, is it bad if i ride more than 2:30h? And if not, how much more can i ride without ruining my training plan with the aditional load?
Thx
Depends on what the following week is. Typically riders will do longer group rides and that is fine. You really just want to watch the intensity. Try not to double the TSS and workload. Riding an extra 30 minutes maybe 60 would be fine. Again as long as the intensity is not too high. Ideally you have a regeneration week after but that is not always the case.
This will be my 3rd week of the SSI training plan. Which mean next week is the 4th week of the plan which is a regeneration week.
So i should be fine if i need more than 2h30h to complete the Fondo is that it? As long as i don’t go crazy overboard right?
Yeah! Since you have a rest week go for it! That is the perfect scenario. You’ll be good.
Awesome, glad to hear that.
Thx a lot for the help Jake!
So i completed the 2h30 SS ride.
When looking at TP i see that the ride had a predicted TSS of 160 but it turns out that my ride end up with a TSS of 225.
I couldn’t get RGT to work properly, so i used Zwift and went on the Innsbruck UCI climb.
One thing i noticed when i was going through the climb for the 2nd time was that i was feeling great, and tried to up the pace a bit. So much that i spent a good amount of time above my supposed FTP value. In fact, i got a new value for 20min power and that shattered my previous KOM time by 2 mins.
So my question is, did i do bad to push myself over the FTP during that 2nd climb? I mean, i finished the 2h30 ride, and during the period when i was really pushing, i felt great and felt i could sustain that for quite a bit.
I know you said i could push the TSS a bit, but my concern is that 225 is quite a lot more than 160, and also the fact that it was supposed to be a Sweet Spot ride, but i spent 58 mins on Sweet Spot and 1h02 on Zone 4. Is that bad?
Thx
It is like you did a really hard group ride, one haver than planned. These things happen a lot! So you’re not the first person to do it.
Firstly it sounds like you need to check your FTP. It might be higher than you have it! Well in fact it mostly is. 225 TSS in 2.5 hours is nearly full gas, an in reality probably the hardest you could ever do if you had your TSS set and you probably didn’t ride quite full gas the entire time. You can use your new best 20 minute power to help adjust your FTP or look at norm power of the ride.
Secondly yes you did ride quite a bit harder and get a lot more TSS! But since you are going on a rest week you should be fine and do not need to adjust anything. Most likely an adjusted FTP for that ride your TSS would come out lower, lets say to 200 as opposed to 225. That is only 40 more than planned so not terrible.
In the future the only thing you would want to watch is when you are doing sweet spot rides to stick below your FTP. You want to get that aerobic work and no longer are working on your anaerobic power when you are at and above your FTP.
But you have not derailed the plan or anything. Good to go out and have fun like that. Open things up a bit. We all do it. I have athletes I coach that do that and we work the plan around it.
First of all, tyvm for the time in answering my questions Jake, really appreciate it.
And yeah, until this ride i always followed the plan, and tried to stay at the prescribed wattages. but this time, as i explained above, i was feeling really well, and decided to push for a bit, and never felt i was going to run out of gas. Never felt like i was going full 100% if you know what i mean…
But i’ll do as you recommend and see if a FTP upgrade is in order.
Thank you very much for the help once again!
Oh, 1 quick question. If i do find on TP that my NP went up. Do i just plug in that value as my new FTP? Or do i insert it on the spreadsheet first so it does the whole math once again?
You an plug the new FTP into TrainingPeaks. You will need to follow same steps as the first time you set your FTP in TrainingPeaks.
So just to be sure, and i’m sorry for asking stupid questions but i want to make sure i do everything properly.
So there is no need to subtract those 5% is that it?
If you take. normalized power from 60 minutes you do not need to take 5% off. Only take 5% off from 20 minute actual power average.
Not a silly question.
Thank you once again, you’re the best!