So I’ve managed to time things so that SSB1 (MV) ends on December 30, meaning that the recovery sessions in Week 6 fall over Christmas.
Only thing is that I’m away 24-26 Dec, and again on 28-29. Which means I’ve only got time for sessions on Thursday 27 and Sunday 30.
Bearing in mind that I’ll be ingesting an awful lot of calories on my trips away, should I keep the intensity low, or should I try to make up for some of the other missed workout and maybe do a couple of longer sweetspot sessions?
Trying to mix in harder workouts is likely to demoralize you unnecessarily. I would recommend sticking with doing as much as you can of the recovery week, and don’t sweat missing some of the workouts. You’ll be retesting your FTP at the start of the next week anyway, so it’s not a big deal. Enjoy your travels and all those sweet, sweet calories.
Perhaps you’re right. I’ll definitely keep the Sunday light. I still feel like I’ll want to do something a bit longer / harder on Thursday though. I’m basically having Christmas with my parents and then Christmas with my in-laws so it’s turkeyx2, puddingx2, cakex2 either side of it.
If you have planned a long season ahead I would enjoy the festivities and start afresh with Vol II in January. That’s what I am doing and I intend to appreciate a few outdoor non-competitive spins - always good to do something different for a while.
You’re not going to lose a tremendous amount of fitness even if you take the entire week totally off. You might find that in the long run, you’re better off just skipping those two workouts and enjoying the recovery and mental break, starting fresh with SSB II as scheduled rather than trying to recapture lost TSS.
Similarly, I hit my recovery week for SSB1 MV the week of Christmas, and I plan to only do three of the recovery week rides. I added a Truuli (-2) on Sunday as an opener for the Ramp Test on Monday. Other than that, I’m not changing anything.
Since the point of this week is to have very low intensity to give your body and your mind a rest, maybe do a longer ride (provided you’re riding outdoors) where heart rate stays at 50-60%. Get some hours in (3-ish) and actually ENJOY being on your bike.
Happy holidays!
Festive 500 is on during my recovery week of SSB HV I and I was considering doing it as it’s all endurance riding. I’m guessing that would be over 15 to 20 hours of riding outdoors where the recovery week only prescribes 8 hours.
Would it be a setback to any potential FTP gains to do the Festive 500? What if I took an extra week of endurance riding after it, by doing the 8 hours of endurance workouts then. Would that get me fresh for SSB HV II? Or would two weeks without sweetspot work also hurt me come the FTP test?
Festive 500 not a priority so if it’s going to mess with my plans then I’ll ditch it. I have more important goals in mind…
My thoughts entirely! Festive 500 is good fun but i will only give it a bash weather permitting. I dont want a cold as i commence a new plan in the new year.
This is exactly what I landed on, except I’m on SSB1 LV.
Relax an enjoy. Recharge those mental batteries, rather than hunting TSS. One week is not that big a deal and since it lands on your recovery anyway, I belive it’s an even less big of a deal.
As Nash said: Do a little leg opener the day before the ramp test. Truuli (-2) is good for this.
I’m on a recovery week next week and am thinking I’ll skip my normal Sunday “extra TSS” outdoor ride so I’m well rested for the ramp test that starts the next phase. Or ride SUPER easy outdoors.
-Hugh
my blog: ex-prosays.blogspot.com