This is more of a “this is what my plans are” as opposed to asking advice for what to do with training next. I did a little bit of hemming and hawing about whether to power through with specialty versus starting some type of epic base building phase, but ultimately I settled on continuing with the specialty track because I think there’s potentially more there I can afford to work on with shorter power stuff as opposed to going back to sweet spot which I’ve done for 24 weeks in the past year (did 2 base cycles).
Anyhow, this space is open for any other CX folks debating the specialty vs going back to base routes Oh and if you actually have any CX races, I hate you lol
we have some races here in CO but frankly I don’t think the risk is worth the reward with the limitations needed to hold them: 25 rider cap per category, no spectating (aka no post-race beers & heckling)
I haven’t been really focused on structured training much at all - just riding the fun rides I have these days (zwift racing, MTB with a couple friends) & otherwise doing lots of z2 riding. once the weather sours I may get back into structured base / build in the hopes road 2021 season happens
Highly unlikely we’ll get to race (I’m in NW England) but given I’ve now finished Base-Build-Base-Build without much of a break between, I’ve pencilled one CX speciality.
That said, I’ve done Rolling Road as Speciality for the last 2 years, so the Thursday sessions in CX are looking a bit out of reach!
I heard our local cx series was moving to Zwift, but I’ll probably pass. It’s already hard enough to carry my bike over the planks when it’s not attached to a trainer.
Since I’m not planning on racing, I’m going to try Sustained Power Build and then the Century specialty plan. I’m curious to see if/how bringing up my stamina/endurance will affect cross season in 2021 (fingers crossed).
The local races around here are getting cancelled at a pretty regular clip these days. I agree with @rbonick, it’s just not worth the risk if there actually are any races held.
My wife picked up a gravel bike this spring and we’ve doing long rides though the summer and plan on continuing through the fall and early winter, so I just took all the cross races off my calendar and replaced them with 4 gravel “races” and let plan builder sort out a more appropriate (and less painful) plan. I don’t think I had it in me to suffer through the cross specialty plan without the fun of actual racing. Plus I’ll be mountain biking and trail running a lot more this fall since all my weekends are free.
We’re lucky enough to have two cross courses open for free rides this season within an hour of us, so hopefully we can still get out and play around on them though just to keep the skills from being completely lost…
Oh and if you actually have any CX races, I hate you lol