Maintain fitness during transition

Training
1

HI,

Ive just done 11 weeks of SSB MV 11 (two in a row with an extra rest week in-between) and im in my last and fifth week on the second turn but Im done. Mentally Im drained from all indoor training (live in pitch black Sweden) and my legs just feel sluggish. So my plan is to simply skip this last week and go into recovery week now.

Going forward thou my plan was to do this last week and then recover and jump straight into Build. Now im thinking that I want to take the holiday weeks easy and then get into build on the second week of next year. That leaves me now with a gap of three weeks after this recovery week. I need to fuel up a bit mentally before going into build and I need a proper recovery and I don’t want to be stressed out during the weeks of from work that is coming up.

I do not want to loose any fitness over these three weeks but Im OK with not building any either. So how do I best maintain the fitness and growth in FTP (from 256-262 and now hopefully around 270) that Ive done during the last 11 weeks and come out just as strong in January?

Do I take this recovery week and then jump into SSB LV or maybe SSB MV1 and just do the first two weeks, recover for the third and then go into Build. I don’t think that skipping structured workouts for endurance rides is the answer because then I will loose any mental toughness going into build.

Any suggestions?

2

I would probably do SSBLV 1 during the gap as it is enough consistency and intensity to reduce any big drop. You could also use it as a base and switch out Saturday for Baxter +2 or something that looks enjoyable to you. I typically use my break periods to try the workouts who have fun looking interval structures for a change of pace. Plus if you feel good you can always add an aerobic ride on a scheduled day off and get that confidence boost and an extra day

3

There is a podcast in which Chad talks about the minimum that needs to be done to maintain fitness. I can’t find it just now, but I took notes about it – so there really is one!