Going Rogue in Specialty Phase - Sensible or Stupid?

Training
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OK friends, talk me down or give me your endorsement here:

I’m 4 weeks out from my ‘A’ Race. Just did a ‘B’ race of about half the duration, now got a recovery week, then 3 weeks of the tail end of my specialty phase and my taper.

The ‘B’ race at the weekend and a longer race-simulation and partial recce of the ‘A’ course the weekend before have made it abundantly clear that my biggest limiter right now is my ability to spend long hours in the saddle, so I’m considering patching the bulk of my specialty ‘training’ in favor of more ‘race preparation’ type riding roughly as follows:

  • Week 1 (this week) - recovery as scheduled. Possibly ending early to put in a big day or two this weekend.
  • Week 2 - high volume. As much as I want to / can handle outdoors, off road, and replicating race conditions.
  • Week 3 - balance/taper. Still doing bigger/harder rides but scaling things back and making sure I don’t feel too much fatigue, getting more conservative towards the end of the week.
  • Week 4 - taper/rest. Follow TR planned workouts if I feel up to it but don’t be scared to do short recovery spins instead if I still want more rest. Make sure there’s at least one ‘opener’ or ‘taper’ type workout in the 1-2 days pre-race.

So, basically following the same pattern that TR has given me but swapping structure for volume and off-road conditions - a no-no at a larger scale but possibly an ideal pivot for a short specialty/taper block?

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Background:

Long rides aren’t a new challenge for me - I’ve done big ultras the last 2-3 years and had the postural stamina, adequate bikefit, etc. for those - it’s just that this year with a lot more ‘life’ stuff going on I’ve chosen to give up a lot my big weekend days out and instead try to be much more disciplined and diligent about following my TR plan. Thankfully that’s brought me pretty close to my all-time highest FTP both earlier in the season and on less hours than I’ve ever done before, but it’s also made it more difficult to optimise body composition, so my w/kg is nowhere near that same all-time peak. Frustrating, but nothing to fret about, and still a good position to be in long-term since my main focus is on 2026 when I’ll move up an age category for the first time since I started racing.

The real issue, though, is that I just can’t do a long hard ride on the gravel bike right now. Even when pacing more conservatively than I should need to, I’m coming apart at the seams after about two hours. By the three-hour mark I’m struggling to even hold my position on the bike, and I’m also really feeling a lack of confidence in technical riding ability. This was all stuff that mostly took care of itself by this point in previous seasons just because I loved getting out for huge adventure days for fun whenever I could. And I also rode with others a lot more in previous seasons which meant I was better at being able to recover from going a bit too hard to follow a wheel (and also knowing which ones not to follow).

I also have a good history of getting a decent fitness bump over the course of about 1-2 weeks following one of those big mad all-day epic rides.

So, with 4 weeks left til a projected ~9hr ‘A’ Race, I’m looking at the rest of my specialty phase and thinking it’s probably not going to move the needle in any meaningful way in terms of FTP, it might make a bit of difference in terms of repeatability, and it’s going to do almost nothing for my stamina. On the other hand, I feel like if I focus on riding big hours outdoors in real world conditions then I won’t gain but also probably won’t lose any FTP, I may or may not improve repeatability, and I’ll very likely make a huge improvement in on-bike stamina. The big hours will probably even mean dropping a kg or two (but not all four). I think the risk I’m taking is in terms of injury or illness - and making sure I rein it in soon enough to shed enough fatigue - but otherwise this is seeming more and more like the best course of action.

I’ve basically talked myself into it, but I’m still hearing all those voices and anecdotes reminding me to ‘trust the program’ and ‘don’t change all your training based on one race’ and other familiar phrases, so I want to hear what some of you think before I start digging myself into a hole I can’t get out of!

Any thoughts appreciated, thanks!

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This doesn’t add up to me. What’s been different about your posture when training this season? Time in the saddle shouldn’t have this much impact for a seasoned ultra rider - I think you should have your fit checked again maybe.

Should you/shouldn’t you change your plan in the last four weeks? No. It’s been working to date, trust the plan. Add in a couple of long easy rides maybe.

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I’m definitely not a “trust the plan” guy, so generally support making adjustments. That said, the last month before a race is the time that I really question making any changes because my mind/body is often trying to trick me into doing dumb stuff. In particular, I get scared about backing down the volume before a long event because I’m afraid I’ll lose fitness. But I know backing down the volume has served me well in the past, so I trust the plan/science on that stuff. For long events, you generally want to go in as fresh as possible (even at the expense of a little fitness), so doing a bunch of big rides between now and then is probably not great for performance. If you’ve already been doing long rides up to that point, keep some of those in play for the next couple weeks, but I’d reduce volume for the 2 weeks prior to the event. It is not the time to start doing 5,6,7+ hour rides if you’ve only been riding 2-3 hours up to this point (in my opinion). Maybe one long one ~2 weeks out as a dress rehearsal for nutrition, mental prep, etc., but now is not the time to be ramping TSS up. Again, all just my experience and opinion, eveyone is different.

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4

I always add volume to my training plans if my event is going to be a long one. I’ve done 12 hour Seattle to Portland and a sub 12 virtual Everest. There isn’t really a way to do structured interval workouts on a trainer to prep for that, you have to get out for some long rides to prepare the rest of your body for long efforts.

My understanding is that your performance gains during specialty are from increased recovery, not increased intensity. You build strength but also fatigue during the build phase. Intervals during specialty should be at but not typically above your current levels. The intent is to keep you sharp but allow you to recover. That might sound like i’m saying don’t add volume but I think you can as long as you keep the intensity low.

What I would advise to avoid overdoing it leading into your event is that, much like heat adaptation, you don’t have to be going hard to target this stuff. Your neck, triceps, lower back, etc. will get the necessary work at any intensity. If you can, add real easy efforts after your intervals. I obviously don’t mind doing half a day on the trainer so I get it if you’re not built like that, but if you can add an hour at like <60% ftp onto your interval days, that could help a lot, i would also turn those easy days into longer outdoor rides. Of course, being careful not to go too deep on those days. Depending on where you live that can be tough. I’m in Seattle so it’s pretty hard to go “easy” when there’s hills in every direction. I would also absolutely add a couple 4+ hour weekend rides. I would look at the efforts planned for that day and then incorporate a few of those into that long outdoor ride. Maybe pick a route with a few hills and consciously ride them just above your ftp or whatever.

2 Interval days a week should be enough to keep you sharp, I wouldn’t go down to only 1. But you could shorten the interval workouts and probably be fine. As far as repeatability goes, i find that comes from aerobic base, not interval training.

If you don’t do them already, I would definitely add some general fitness work. Pushups, planks, clamshells, rubber band crab walks, lunges, etc.

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5

I think that’s a bad, bad idea. You are trying to cram for an exam the night before, instead of learning consistently at a much lower intensity for the duration of your class. What you risk is losing a season’s worth of work, because you veered off course 100 m from the finish line.

Instead, you should trust the process. TR has created a training plan with specificity to match your A race (assuming you selected the right cycling discipline).

I find that very unlikely, and IMHO you’d make a very basic training mistake: that’s not the purpose of the specialty phase. Things like repeatability should be established during the base and build phases, the specialty phase is to hone your blade.

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