I’ve got 2 months until my first race of the year (second ever) so want to get a block of training in. It’s a cat 4 circuit of ~32km.
I completed the first base build in Oct but haven’t started the next one, and have only been commuting so not got many miles in my legs. With 2 months should I do the next base, or hop into a build phase?
I did think about following the advice in a VO2 thread about doing a week of VO2 work then starting a plan.
I wouldn’t recommend that.
I assume you mean you finished SSB 1 in October? So that would mean for the last 3+ months you’ve just been commuting with no structure or intensity? Since you haven’t mentioned an “A” race and your first race is two months out, it appears you will have more races this year. I would recommend starting over with SSB 1 & 2, then Build and lastly Specialty phase. You can race while in SSB and if you have other races, doing the natural progression of Base > Build > Specialty will serve you far better than trying to time crunch some supposed fitness for your first race. If you feel you have some base fitness, you can trim off the early weeks of SSB 1. Also, just add in a taper the week of your first race if your intention is to do well and not just treat it as a training race.
Yup, that’s it. Life got in the way of doing anything bar work/home chores.
I want it to be my first race but where I live there aren’t that many cat4 (UK categories) races so it might be my only one but I’d hope not.
I’m going to follow this up with a really well put explanation by @MI-XC himself from another thread:
As he mentioned, just start over with SSB 1 and 2, and try to get as far as you can before your race.
Followed the advice and started right back from the beginning.
Not to swear but God that was a disappointment! My first ever ramp test was at 224, then at the end of sweet spot base 1 it was 239. Did one over Xmas aiming to get back into the swing of things and 209, now after all that time off I hit the lofty heights of 193W.
Bugger.
While I understand the feeling, it doesn’t help to get upset about it. Accept the number and roll with it. If it feels too easy adjust the workout intensity up a little.
The bright side is that fitness that was there before may be gained a little easier than building that fitness completely new.