After an XCM race or some fondo races of more than 3 hours, I can understand the placement of a rest week on the plans generated by TR. But after an XCO which is just lest than 1.5 hours, it is really needed to be included on the plan? I know I should listen to my body and that I can make my own adjustments, but feels like the polarized plans should take in account week TR and races not that long to suggest or not a rest week after. That’s my experience after this situation, and I feel like i am in a 2 rest week, considering the tapering week not that intensive
Is this your A race? If so, then you are not resting from the race but rather than the season.
Many factors at play here… like how many days a week do you train, how intense was this block of training, how far did you travel for the race, etc.
Hey @Jorgito,
I think @Jolyzara has the right idea.
If the event was plugged into your training plan as an A race, we’ve based your recent training on this event meaning that you’ve likely had ~3 weeks of Specialty phase training in place before the event. This means that even if your race was only 90 minutes long, you’re still due for a rest week.
Rest weeks typically come every fourth week even if there isn’t an event in that timeframe. These are just as important as the other training weeks. Without rest weeks, your body won’t have the chance to build back stronger for your next training phase.
On this case, 2 weeks of specialty phase (TSS 456 and 428), and then tapering week with the race (TSS 274). Rest week is TSS 160, so Since tapering is medium intensive probably no need for a complete rest week. This was the first Race A of the season (2 months) so really there is not so much accumulated fatigue yet.
Taper weeks typically still include workouts with intensity, but less volume. We still recommend a recovery week after three weeks of training. Especially with an event on the horizon.
Not all TSS is created equal, and rest weeks aren’t solely based on the accumulation of TSS.
Keep in mind that you should be thinking about weeks down the road when considering rest and recovery. So often we feel fresh and decide to keep things going instead of resting and then the fatigue builds and hits us all at once.
With this being the beginning of your season, it’s normal to feel fresh, but you’ll probably wish you had taken more rest down the road when things get more serious. It’s kind of like pacing a long race – a positive split usually isn’t a good plan. Things should feel easier at first because they will likely feel harder down the road.