Since late June I had been on a “high volume” plan and loving it. I had progressed through the “base” portion of the program where 2/3 “hard” days were focused on increasing Sweet Spot intervals. I had made it to the point where my progression level was 10 and had transitioned in the plan to where the program was starting VO2 max stuff
Two things happened, I had an event in mind, but added it to my calendar as an “A” race. Which meant that my program ended with that event. In the week before the event I used the AI FTP detection and got a boost (from 285 to 292 - so nothing major). I did the post race week as per usual and have started a new program.
Now since my progression levels have changed with the new FTP and since the new program has put me back in “base” phase - I am back into doing long Sweet Spot intervals 2 days a week, and I am STRUGGLING. They are only really 5-10W higher than they were before but I can’t get through all four 18-20 minute intervals without decreasing the target power. My legs are just sore/tired.
I almost think it has as much to do with the easy/endurance days being not quite as easy as before? I have changed the next Sweet Spot day to an endurance workout and will just play it by ear. Anyone else experienced this?
I don’t really feel mentally burned out or anything like that (as soon as I wake up the day after I’m looking forward to getting back on the bike again).
How long was your “A” event? And how much fatigue was it?
A week off ‘should’ be enough to recover. But even some hard V02 blocks can take a couple weeks to recover from the damage. Maybe this is a sign you need a slightly longer break to ease back into things.
You tested your fitness around your peak and it probably would have dropped away since then. After having some time off to recover, I would test again and see how you perform.
I was just checking out your training plan/history to get an idea of what might be up.
First, excellent job with the consistency! Totally makes sense that you got rewarded with a bump up in your fitness.
It does look like you’ve been getting after it for quite some time, though. I’d agree with @A_Menace and @Dave that taking some time off might be in order here – especially if you were doing Level 10 SST work prior to the increase in FTP.
Take 1-2 weeks off the bike to rest and recover. Even if you don’t feel mentally burned out right now, it sounds like your body needs the time off. As the season winds down, now is a great time to recover before getting back into base work this fall/winter.
Once you get back into training, you’ll probably feel a whole lot better!
Thanks all for the replies - I agree I probably need some more time to recover.
Looking back before the race, I probably actually peaked about 1-2 weeks beforehand and I think a lot of the outdoor rides/practice I was doing for the event on the weekends (which always ended up being more intense than intended) led to that.
As mentioned I was just finishing up with the level 10 SST work in the 1-2 weeks before the race and then also got the AI bump in FTP. Just probably really need some rest. I’ll take it easy the next couple of weeks
