Between a busy work schedule and a month long illness I am just Starting to get over, I am way behind on my training this year. My A event (if it happens) is a 200+ mile road race in mid-September. Plan builder put together a plan that starts me with SSB II (LV), followed by Sustained Power Build (LV), followed by the Century Specialty (LV).
Since I’m still recovering from a respiratory infection, starting with SSB II seems like a very bad idea. I plan to start with SSB I, with which I think I’ll have better compliance. My question is as follows: would I be better off following SSB I with SSB II, or should I follow the plan builder and jump from SSB I to Sustained Power Build?
I’m thinking I’ll be best served by following a plan that goes SSB I, SSB II, Sustained Power Build (sacrificing the Century Specialty). At this point in the calendar, I can’t fit in all four blocks before the event.
Yep - Base 1 and 2 is far more important than speciality. I never do speciality anyhow. I race 10/25/50mile tt and I just do 12 weeks base and SPB. That said I race a lot - when there is no virus - 20+ open and 10 or so club tt’s a summer so I just start racing a bit under cooked and build my form through my first few races - The bigger races don’t come until June/July anyhow. Base will help more - one bit of advice. I assume you are going to include some long outdoor rides in the last 3 months before your A race - LV is no way to prepare for a 200mile race - no matter what the plan is called
Yes, my training in the past has incorporated long outdoor group rides on the weekend, on top of the structured work. This year, the group rides are off the table for now, but I’ll still be working in a 50-100 mile ride most weekends, as I get deeper into my training plan.
I do this A race every year and make sure I get some good long rides in as I build up. This year, being largely confined to indoor riding, I thought I’d try to more closely follow a structured plan throughout my entire calendar… in past years, my structured training has typically fallen away as I’ve shifted more outdoors come the summer.
If you haven’t already, then it might be worth looking at what level of experience you put into plan builder. In my experience beginner/intermediate lean towards base, advanced to build and expert to specialty. Possibly it’s worth being conservative and leaning to the beginner/intermediate end of that spectrum in your circumstances.
Good stuff - and less structure is something we all suffer from when the sun comes out and racing starts - you just need to keep enough of it to stop your form going down the toilet!
