Convince me that I need to take an off-season

Training
1

Like everyone, I didn’t have much of a season this year. The only “racing” I did was a weekly Strava based TT series. When things started getting cancelled, I used plan builder to peak for the final "race’ in the TT. I did an abbreviated Sustained Power Build block, followed by an abbreviated 40k TT Specialty block.

The final race was 6 weeks ago, and since then, I did ~2 weeks of unstructured riding. Mostly 60-90 minutes Z2 riding, with the occasional KOM attempt, and 2 or 3 interval sessions for “fun”/sanity.

After two unstructured weeks, I did the first 3 weeks of SP Build. Which takes me to today…

My plan was to do exactly this… 3 weeks of a build block > 2 weeks totally off (read: Off-Season) > then jump into 2021 base.

However, I’ve got a lot of good momentum going, feel no burnout, and have made it through 3 weeks of high volume build with 0 skipped or shortened workouts for the first time ever. I’m tempted to take this week as the scheduled recovery week, then finish the final four weeks of the build block. After that, I’d take a recovery week and then jump into 2021 Base.

I know that a true-off season would probably benefit me down the road, but I also have this idea in my head that I could finish this build block with a nice FTP bump, and then knock back the intensity to going into my first 2021 base phase (I’m planning to do traditional base over SSB, so intensity will diminish greatly).

Convince me that the off-season break is fully needed.

3

is there anything else you need to address–
strength
mobility
other sports
injuries
other life concerns
–that you would be able to focus on by taking an off-season? Then you could give them their full due for a while and make sure they are shipshape before you return to pushing hard on bike fitness.

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4

@anon20047708 great minds think alike…

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5

@Wheatstraw53 that was a thought of mine too, kind of catch up on life. But, given life in 2020, I’ve been working from home, and seem to have everywhere pretty well under control…

The other thing in regards to my “momentum” in the current build block is that I’ve stuck to strength 3x/week too, albeit an at home no equipment routine, its been consistent.

6

What he said.

7

I would ask what your weekly hours have been like, how old are you, and what external stressors do you have in your life?

if you are 20 yo doing 12hr weeks with low life stress I see no reason to stop. (maybe some unstructured riding or multisport training, but you already did that).

if you are 45 yo, riding 20hr weeks with 4 kids and a hectic job… yeah I’d say maybe recharge the batteries for a while

8

I’d keep going and have a break when I feel I need one. You can’t really bank recovery in advance, and if you don’t feel like there’s anything to recover from, there’s no point to have a break now imo.

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