Peaks and Plateaus

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In recent weeks my threshold intervals have gone pretty well, i've advanced my 20m output in progressive 10w increments to 290w. Something i've noted is that in any effort to "break through" to the next level, the limiting factor has always been my heart rate drifting too high, rather than any sensation in the legs. Until this week.

Suddenly at the 300w level I find what's forcing me to quit is more the sensation of torque in the legs, while my heart rate is 5 beats of so lower than the level that would normally signal failure.

This has got me thinking. Is this symptomatic of
- hitting a peak and needing to back off.
- i'm just overreached.
- it's a signal that the training i've been doing has got me at a plateau and a change of regime is needed to progress further. (perhaps more sprint work to build the legs?)

Can anyone relate to this sensation?

In recent weeks my threshold intervals have gone pretty well, i've advanced my 20m output in progressive 10w increments to 290w. Something i've noted is that in any effort to "break through" to the next level, the limiting factor has always been my heart rate drifting too high, rather than any sensation in the legs. Until this week.

Suddenly at the 300w level I find what's forcing me to quit is more the sensation of torque in the legs, while my heart rate is 5 beats of so lower than the level that would normally signal failure.

This has got me thinking. Is this symptomatic of
- hitting a peak and needing to back off.
- i'm just overreached.
- it's a signal that the training i've been doing has got me at a plateau and a change of regime is needed to progress further. (perhaps more sprint work to build the legs?)

Can anyone relate to this sensation?aye. Not that I bother measuring HR any longer but the rest of it I can!

What is PMC telling you about this phase relative to your history?

well, my CTL has dipped a bit recently due to greater focus on intensity than volume.

well, my CTL has dipped a bit recently due to greater focus on intensity than volume.a picture is worth ~1k words ...

Anyhow, the very first thing I'd look at is simple CTL relative to historic norms. Simpler to post a graph which tells us how the current phase compares to the last couple of seasons for instance ... So is CTL bumping against former plateau's or already above them? Has tsb been -ve or just slightly +ve for quite a while? Lots and lots of things to look at. ..

that's just a starting point of course but sometimes the shorthand version works. It may boil down to something not even training related but you have to start looking somewhere.

I've just been looking at the past 2yrs of training data trying to figure out the reasons for some long-term cycles that I seem to be experiencing.

Interesting point re CTL and intensity, I'm formulating some off-line opinions there myself but ...

well, my CTL has dipped a bit recently due to greater focus on intensity than volume.
IMO, this is a pretty typical way to hit a period of big gain followed by a plateau. Are you tapering for a major event anytime soon? Otherwise it might be useful to keep the CTL up.

That's interesting. I'm finding it's pretty much always my legs packing in when trying to push my power up these days too. My HR isn't the limiting factor.

I'd like some clues of how to move on from there as well :confused:.

Neil