Last January I crushed the Palisade workout and it came up on the calendar for today. I am on Sweet Spot Base 2 low volume plan. Last Thursday I completed Jepson but it was a harder workout than I figured it would be.
I’ve struggled with my health lately, at the end of SSB1 MV I came down with a cold (which I blame on the brake job I did on my truck) and took two weeks off. I got back into it tested and came out with a 2% bump in my ramp test result. I missed week 2 of SSB2 LV due to a bug of some sort (I missed 4 days of work) and then picked up with my training again this week. Too soon to expect success? I still have a cough.
After being sick I usually need to do 3-4 easy endurance rides. I check my HRV every morning and once I see it start to rise into a good range I know I’m ready to jump back into it.
Can you just put the training plan on pause while you recuperate and do some easy rides and then jump back in without missing weeks? If you are sick and missing week two, you might as well start again at week one when you are ready.
You failed not because of your inability to hit your target numbers for the whole workout. You failed because your response was to hold on for as long as possible, and then quit the workout rather than one of the following:
Backpedal as needed
Drop the intensity
Extend a recovery interval
Backpedal the recovery interval
The heart rate graph pretty much tells the whole story.
You either need more rest (as others have stated), and/or your FTP has dropped a few points. It’s really not a big deal. It’s just the reality you need to face, and move forward with that in mind.
I typically add about 3x30 backpedals per recovery interval. So my recovery efforts are about 1:30 more than prescribed. I did attempt a intensity drop but it was perhaps too late.
My previous workout Jepson I accomplished but it did show high HR numbers the sort of which indicate loss of fitness. So yeah I’m probably going to test again and perhaps break off the program and perform more low intensity endurance workouts to get that basic fitness back.
One piece of information I use to navigate through this stuff is currently missing. I usually wear a Garmin VIvoActive HR smartwatch and check my overnight HR every morning. However, that broke a few weeks ago and I’m expecting the replacement to arrive tomorrow.
I hit OT last year and this was accompanied by a distinct loss of motivation. This year, the motivation is not gone and has never been gone.
I was in a cold garage for hours (most of it spent on the first side) floor was wet, and muscles that rarely get challenged were. I felt distinct DOMS the day afterwards and that is when the cold came on. More of a joke than anything though, the brake job might have pushed me a CM too far after our frienemy TR pushed me most of the way.
Yeah I try to do my workouts in the morning prior work. Obviously we need to fuel workouts like Jepson so I need to get up earlier. That day the fire want there in the morning and I slept in. So it came home from work and had a two double espressos. I did the workout. However that late blast of caffeine didn’t wear off until 1:00 am it so. Today may figure into all of this as well.
