Hey all,
I am reviewing my scheduled workouts for the week of my A-race at the end of October. and it has be doing a V02 Max two days before the event. The work is short at only thirty minutes as well as the other workouts for that week.
Is this a normal week of workout schedule or did something get moved around?
I’m not a specialist, and for sure someone with more knowledge than me will explain it better, but yes, that’s right.
You don’t want lose fitness (CTL) so you still have to put some efforts (ATL), although in homeopathic doses. Also, those short efforts will “wake up” your legs for the upcoming event.
@bobroxs yes, that’s normal.
For a proper taper, you want to maintain intensity, but decrease volume. Looks like you plan has done exactly that, and quite a sharp reduction in volume.
Link below. Also, check out Friel’s The Cyclists’ Training Bible.
EDIT: As always, listen to your body. This is especially important in the two weeks leading up to an A event. The WOs TR prescribes are the system’s best shot at what is ideal. You DEF shouldn’t be doing anything that is going to be Very Hard, or All Out. If these look tough vs. recent WOs / your known strengths / weaknesses, or you’re having an off day, sub them out for lower intensity. The week before an A event, I’d want them to be Easy to max Hard, but ideally Easy - Moderate.
That doesn’t look out of line to my eye… The week prior looks like you hit over 400 TSS, and the week of the race, you’re dropping that way down to less than half. For the entire week leading up to your race you’ll spend a total of ~15 minutes above threshold… You should be able to take that in stride, otherwise you might be in for a rough crit! LOL
Hey @bobroxs,
It’s not uncommon for athletes to get a bit concerned about their taper week upon first glance, as there’s clearly some intensity leading up to the event.
@alexsandrosantin @Chris1982 & @Upcountry are all on point here though.
The fundamentals of a taper are to reduce volume while keeping some intensity. This keeps you as sharp as possible for your event while simultaneously best-preserving freshness.
The workouts during the week of your A race look difficult from a distance, but as you can see, the longest one is only 45 minutes long. You’ve got this!
Good luck at the crit! 
