Hi Eddie,
I’ve meant to ask before about mid plan specialty phases, and your comment has reminded me to do so.
I set up a plan in Nov, that runs through to my final A event in Sept.
I also have an A and B event late in July.
I am currently in a mid plan specialty phase, which I question the point of?
I have regularly struggled with these and dig a bit of a hole when doing them. This is not a taper, so the workouts are very hard.
Coming off the back of a solid base and build, they can also correspond with high PL’s, meaning I also get a AIFTP bump, making very hard workouts, even harder.
Typically, I come in strong, am amazed that I’ve managed to complete some of the workouts, but then struggle with the future workouts/get sick or injured and spend time recovering/building back to where I was.
It’s been a similar story this time, with a midplan cold and a slight ankle injury.
I finished a Vo2 8.9.
had an AIFTP bump ( this time i actually manually did this knowing I would be above 9.0 on the next workout).
Then failed a Vo2 8.3
Failed a Vo2 7.7
Finished a Vo2 6.9, but had to knock the effort level off a bit to get through it.
Have the same Vo2 6.9 in the calendar today which will be tough, but i think I will finish without dropping the effort level.
I do look forward to these efforts, as I enjoy the challenge, but feel these mid plan specialty phases are very high risk and regularly blow me up.
I’d be interested to know if this is just me, or are others struggling with mid plan Specialty?