Declining Fitness Help

Hi all,

I am becoming increasingly concerned with my decline in performance and hope people can help me diagnose the issue and then tips on how to resolve it & not repeat it.

During days where there is little to be happy about cycling has been the saviour for me the last year so it’s killing me not being able to ride and continue my progress.

It seems that since I started trying to implement a polarised approach I’ve been struggling more with each week in the HIIT sessions. I’ve tried reducing the volume & intensity and had a few weeks off but I just don’t feel great still. I’ve tried to detail this but let me know if any other info will help.

Me

Male

26

6ft2

86kg

Key Dates

30th Sept - 29th Oct - 4wk FTP Booster [link] (FTP* 340 -> 367)

(Few races, outdoors rides and SST work in between - set a lot of PBs in this time)

23rd Nov - Start of ‘Polarised Training

*All FTP tests done via ramp test, going forward I’m going to give 20min a go as ramp is clearly overestimating.

Polarised Weeks

Week 1 - R, 4x8, 3hr z2, 1hr z1, Race, 3hr z2, 2hr z2 W/C 23/11

Week 2 - R, 4x8, 3hr z2, G, 6x6, R, 2hr40 z2 W/C 30/11

Week 3 - G, R, SST, 1hr z1/2, 1hr z1/2, G, R W/C 7/12 (Low Vol Week)

Week 4 - 2hr30 z2 & G, 2hr30 z2, R 2hr30 z2 & G, 6x6, G, 2x8 W/C 14/12

Week 5 - 2hr z2, 2hr45 z2, R, R, R, R, R W/C 21/12 (Xmas)

Week 6 - 6x6, R, 2hr30 z2, R, R, 6x6, R W/C 28/12

Week 7 - R, R, R, R, R, 2hr z2 outdoor, R W/C 4/1

Week 8 - R, R, 1hr z2, R, 1hr30 z2, R, 2hr20 z2 W/C 11/1

Week 9 - R, 2hr z2, R, 2hr z2, R, Vo2 II, R W/C 18/1

Other than saddle sores, sore feet the endurance days were feeling increasingly easier however there is a very clear decline in my intensity sessions.

G = Gym, R = Rest, z2 - 200-260w

Hiit Sessions

4x8 - 24 Nov, target 400w, managed 8, 5.5, 5.2, NA mins - max

4x8 - 1 Dec, target

Session Date Target (watts) Managed (mins.seconds) Max HR
4x8mins 24 Nov 400 8, 5.5, 5.2, NA 178
4x8mins 1 Dec 388 8, 8, 5.4, NA 176
6x6mins 4 Dec 385 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, NA 172
6x6mins 18 Dec 368 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 170
4x8mins 20 Dec 370 8, 8, NA, NA 179
6x6mins 28 Dec 368 6, 6, 6, 6, NA, NA NO HRM
6x6mins 2 Jan 368 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, NA 178
Vo2 II 23 Jan 385 4 mins * 2 182

The final straw and looking for help was when after the last v02 session. At the start (1Dec) I could hold this watts for 2 sets of 8min with just 2 mins rest, yet on the 23rd 2 sets of 4mins with 4 mins rest absolutely killed me.

Fitness Chart

I’m guessing you don’t have any races coming up? I would sack off anything above Z2, and do a 4-6 week build of pure aerobic endurance (Around LT1 or below. Don’t do any sweetspot). Each week should have incremental total load.

After this phase, have a week recovery, then do the same again. This time you can add in one high intensity set each week, again increasing total load each week (drop 20W from your FTP. There is no point trying to hit numbers you simply cannot. If you have set it too low, you’ll know).

For the most part your ability to execute those tough sets is a reflection of your aerobic endurance (your FTP has dropped). This is clearly a period of declining load and therefore declining fitness.

image

Just follow the simple approach of increase weekly load followed by rest:

100,
120,
140,
80 (rest)

120
140
160
100(rest)

140
160
180
120 (rest)

1 Like

Thanks for your thoughts, super interesting.

Certainly don’t have any races lined up, nowhere near that level yet, maybe in a few years as it is something I’d like to try.

I didn’t look too much at the stress scores for weeks as I was focusing more on getting the hours in in Z2. Looks like it did in fact drop slightly. After that I did actively reduce load as I was trying to recover, believe what I actually did was achieve nothing; neither recovered or had any training benefit.

I should have added in my original post that I am struggling with sleep and general feelings of fatigue so think I’m going to take a few weeks off and hope to recover and then do the reset. The structure you define sounds smart so will definitely look to incorporate it.
What do the numbers refer to?

1 Like

Think of it as a percent I guess, with you to determine the training load that you start at - adding around 20% per week.

So a more realistic example may be:

Week 1 - TL 400
Week 2 - TL 420
Week 3 - TL 450
Week 4 TL 350 rec

Week 5 TL 420
Week 6 TL 450
Week 7 - TL 480
Week 8 - TL 400

etc

1 Like