Increasing intensity during recovery

Training
1

I just finished with week 5 of Sweet Spot Mid Volume Base… I’m extremely new to cycling so I’m making gains much more quickly than the plan is designed. With that in mind, after a super easy week 2, I bumped up the intensity after a rest day if the previous few training days felt too manageable. Long story short, I just completed the bulk of week 5 at 104% prescribed intensity. That’s despite the fact that I’ve gotten only a few hours of sleep over the last 3 nights! I work shift work and was on overnights, so it wasn’t really ideal but I also didn’t have a choice.

To the point…
I’m questioning wether I should continue with my own added intensity progression. I suppose there are 3 options:

  1. Continue the progression and up my recovery week to 105%
  2. Leave the intensity at 104% (same as week 5)
  3. Back it down to 100% and really give myself a super easy week!

I only have 2 more overnights then I’ll be able to rest appropriately for my recovery week and subsequent ramp test…

Thanks for any help/advise!

2

Just trying to push this to the top… thanks again for any guidance!

3

104% or 105% won’t make any odds, especially during the recovery week. You can also leave it at 100%. The recovery week workouts are all endurance zone, so will feel easy from a power point of view anyway.

You’ll very likely get an ftp bump, but keep in mind that the workout intensity will also increase from here on.

4

I’d leave the Recovery Week ‘as is’ and come into your Test nice and fresh. That’ll help ensure you get the most from the next training block :+1:

You might find that you don’t need a full weeks recovery but, I’d recommend you take it this time and then you’ve got something solid evaluate come the next rest week.

5

Thanks for the responses! I’ve been loving the program and the gains (though not totally validated yet) I’ve been making!

My first time ever clipping in was only 2 months ago… So, like I said, I’m super new to cycling. I have already done two ramp tests though. One at the very beginning (213) and one 3 weeks later after doing weeks 3 through 5 of SSLV Base… seemed like a good way to get a taste TrainerRoad and cycling in general during the free trial month. The second ramp test resulted in 251 (18% increase) with only 18 days between tests. I absolutely love all the data that is generated with cycling as I’m kinda a math/statistics nerd! It’s a lofty goal, but I’m hoping the next ramp test will get me to 300 FTP! I’m leaning toward making it a super easy week and dropping things down to 100% intensity. It’ll be hard to make myself not over do it though… hahaha!