Coming into my race this weekend (4hr gravel race) - had Bekker on schedule for today …. I have nailed every workout the past 14 weeks high volume … working around heat and everything else !!! Today Bekker was extremely difficult it def demotivated me for the race this weekend 
- some of the efforts got me into the pain cave pretty good!
Anybody else experienced this coming into a race with a short what I expected to be a sweet simple workout ?
Probably just the gap btwn expectations and reality.
The tendency is to assume that super-short workouts can’t be that hard. In reality, of course, they can. 60 second anaerobic efforts are always hard, whether you’re doing two of them or ten.
Hey there @therealchendo,
I’m sorry to hear that you struggled with this one. It happens to all of us at one point or another. As for now, I wouldn’t let it get to your head – just stay focused on your event if you can!
I’ve spent some time digging into your plan and calendar, and it looks like you could have come into that workout with a bit of fatigue. It says that you were sick the day before your recent four-day stage race, and you didn’t get much rest after that, only taking one day off the bike before the Bekker workout in question. It was only two weeks before that when you knocked out Pizzocolo, an Anaerobic 5.2 workout with no issues, so I wouldn’t worry too much about struggling with one workout.
As @Helvellyn mentioned, shorter workouts aren’t always easier. When tapering for an event, we lower the volume of your last couple of weeks but keep most of the intensity. Bekker isn’t that long, but it’s actually super hard (it has an IF of .95), so kudos for putting yourself in a tough position and giving it your all.
Moving forward, it looks like your workout from today went well, and the rest of your week prior to your event is looking good. Given the workload from your past few weeks, I would rest up and take it as easy as possible before your event. If you’re feeling fatigued when you arrive, feel free to dial down or skip the openers that we have planned for you on your calendar.
Make sure to approach your event with good confidence! You’ve been working hard for this!
Wow thanks so much for the in depth detail and deep dive into my plan!!! This means a lot for the customer service experience you all are offering!!!
