Hi all , I’m after some advice [please] … over the winter I have completed both the Sweet Spot Mid Vol 1&2 I am now on Build (Sustained) medium plan with 3 weeks to go, I was just going to progress onto 40k TT speciality then Race (TT’s)
I am starting to wonder if that is the right thing ?
My goals are club 10’s midweek and 10’s and 25’s open’s on Saturdays through the year till August / September , so do I really want to “peak” in April ? the weekend opens are more my A races and midweek B’s
Should I go back to a base phase SS2 and then maybe last three weeks of Build and the 40k TT so I am further into the season , or am I overdoing it ? (this is my first year of Trainer Road)
Personally I’m not against rebuilding a base during the “middle” of the season. So there might not be much harm in finishing out what you’re doing now, then starting back in with base, perhaps Base II and continuing forward through the entire plan again.
I don’t think you should be worried about “peaking” in April if your events are in August and September. In fact, that’s plenty of time to rebuild and peak again for the fall. You might also get some more FTP gains by finishing out this plan too.
I’d look at it like this: When you were doing base over the winter, how well did it go? Did you finish the entire plan, or did you find yourself cutting workouts short due to time limitations? In other words: How much of a base do you have? By the sound of it though, you should be totally fine. I don’t see anything wrong with finishing out the plan and then re-starting, even if it’s on Base 2 for the second half of the season.
For reference, here’s a plan that I had written out for this year (note, it may not be perfect but hopefully gives you at least something of an idea). The titles of periods are different (much more traditional), and this plan has a second peak in July rather than August/September, but the principles can be the same. You can see that it’s planned to peak and race in April, and then assume that the base needs to be rebuilt. So jumping back into Base 3 (or Base II SS with TR) and rebuilding a base isn’t necessarily a bad idea.
Since this is your first time, just make sure you have time to recover and prepare for the second half of your season even if that means taking a few days completely off after this first “peak” before continuing on to your larger events. I can totally see where you’re coming from, but I wouldn’t be too worried about “peaking” too early. Let that fitness grow, back it off a little, then let it grow some more for the later part of the season. Hope this helps.
