Overtrained during Base - what next?

Could use some help determining how to adjust my training. My goal is a grand Fondo in mid-June and I just wrapped up my base phase after doing SSB1 and 2. Both low volume. I think I overdid it a little because even after a recovery week legs are feeling a little dead so I plan on taking a little more recovery, hopefully feeling back to normal in another week. Wondering if I still go on to the build phase next or possibly even go back and do another round of base maybe even polarized to reduce intensity to two days instead of three? Anyone with thoughts on the matter?

Have you been completing the post ride assessments; easy, moderate, hard, etc?

Have you any other stressors in your life and how are you sleeping?

I need more ‘miles in my legs’ before doing TR SSB2, for me SSB2 is a build not a base.

Couple seasons I tried TR Traditional and it helped, but TB1 didn’t have any intensity. So I did them outside and tossed in some intensity. Better.

To my eyes the TR polarized had a little too much vo2max, I’d dial that down.

Last I looked the bike portion of TR full distance triathlon looked more interesting, more aligned with what I know works for me.

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Yes I do the assessments. Think I’m being pretty honest. I did have to skip a workout or two during both phases due to fatigue. I have a small child so sleep is not great at times. However with all that things were going fine and was feeling great until this past week. We’ll see how I recover with another easy week.

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I would go into Build as planned and see how it goes. Even a few aborted workouts is no biggie.

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Are you saying everything was going great until you took a recovery week and at the end of the recovery week your legs feel dead? I ask because that’s very different from your legs feeling dead from the volume/intensity in previous weeks.

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I find sometimes I feel completely dead and more rest makes it feel worse but getting on the bike, even for a recovery ride, gets things moving again.

That said I ride outside a fair bit (probably too much in fact) and I do drop the intensity of the middle workout on a LV plan to an Endurance one. It seems to have done wonders for my outdoors riding but the true judge of that will be when the TT season starts and the summer midweek chaingang could upset the balance :neutral_face:

@SmugOne i don’t really have enough info to answer your question…normally I would avoid saying anything because I can’t see your workouts and so it’s possible I might just say misleading things. BUT, just wanted to throw this out there…

Hey, bro, join the club! :rofl: I almost always feel not-so-good during a recovery week. After all these years, I still fall for it. Thinking I should feel G-R-E-A-T during the recovery week.

I think it’s more normal to feel like you have stone legs during the recovery week than it is to feel like you have diamond legs.

Not saying that’s the case for you. I don’t have enough info to say. Just giving you some insight into my experience.

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This is why I asked my question too

Like the above post said your legs should feel like toast after the SSB phase. I would start the build phase after the added easy week you have planned and see how it goes. If you have not done any structured training before, repetition (endurance) can be difficult. Be sure you are fueling your workouts. Fueling before and after can help repair the muscles. If it’s DOM’s that you are having issues with you could try compression leggings or socks. I’m sure by Fondo time you will have it sorted and have a great time.

Yes I would say I went into the recovery week with an expected amount of fatigue from training. Legs just never came back around after a week of relatively easy endurance rides.

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I always put some intensity in the second half of recovery weeks. Either a Zwift race or a PR attempt at a short KOM, or a handful of sprints on a Z2 ride. Sets me up nicely for the first workout of the next block.

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i usually have worst feeling in legs after recovery week. So, usually I do few sprints in middle of Z2 to keep legs awake. This seems to work for me to feel better after rest week.