Hi guys, just joined the forum. I am currently following a TR CX plan including a few C + B races all leading to my A race in a few weeks. The plan is now in the ‘Build’ phase. Last week was tough ending with a disappointing C race yesterday. The plan has me back on the bike for a tough 90 min session today forgoing any recovery. Do people follow the plan to a tee or back off when they feel like it? I would rather follow the plan as the TR team are far more knowledgable than I am but I’m pretty cooked!
Cheers!
To be honest, I found there was way too much intensity in short power build and cx speciality to follow it during the season / when racing every week.
2 Likes
you probably should take a look at your workout days. If you have a race on Sunday, then maybe you need to be on TR on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, rather than Monday. That Monday offday should help you recover for the next work day. However, assuming that isn’t possible, you should definitely consider how you feel at all times when deciding what to do. Doing a hard workout when you are cooked is not a recipe for success long-term.
I wouldn’t assume so. IMO following the CX specialty plan during race season is not a recipe for getting stronger. It might work if you’re targeting one event at the latter part of the season, but I don’t think it’s effective if you’re aiming for good placement in all of your races. It might generate too much fatigue along with the racing. Which sounds like what you’re experiencing.
IMO, the better approach would be to start a cx specialty plan like 6-8 weeks before your first CX race, and build that fitness BEFORE the season starts, not attempt to do it IN SEASON.
This is coming from attempting to do this for 3 consecutive seasons and it not working out. I didn’t partake in the specialty plan (because I do CX training outdoors), but I have tried to do 2-3 interval days per week including racing and it never has worked.
4 Likes
I’m racing cross right now and following the low volume CX specialty plan. I just make adjustments as I go and listen to my body. I race every other weekend so I typically drop the 90 min ride on the weekends I race and just do the 2 60 min interval ride on Mon and Wed. I also like doing longer MTB rides this time of year so sometimes I drop the 90 min ride for that as well.
Basically I just use the CX plan as the structure for my schedule and then adjust on the fly depending on how I am feeling.