We need a category on the YouTube channel for “Tips & Tricks with Ivy” for things like this.
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Another “what do I do about outside rides” question, but with a mtb holiday twist.
In a few weeks, I’m going on a week long MTB holiday. I currently have it as “time off” in my Training Plan as a placeholder. I figure I’ll have at least a few hours of riding every day for several days, but none of that will be doing structured workouts, so AT is going to think I did nothing right? And then that will make AT assume I can handle a heavy load the following week, even though I will likely be cooked. It’s already hard enough to quantify TSS from an MTB ride, especially on the days I’ll be on the eMTB. I’ve been using hrTSS for eMTB stuff to better reflect how exhausted I feel even if the TSS says it was low. After a week of unstructured mtb riding, I will likely need a recovery week.
Any suggestions for how to handle this? I need to figure out how to get the plan for the following weeks accurate.
You could put another week as “time off” and use Train Now to do some Endurance rides that week.
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Yeah, that might be best. I just hate having a week of hard work that “doesn’t count”.
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Don’t worry! We’ve got you covered.
If you want to continue primarily using TrainNow instead of a plan, you’ll be recommended appropriate workouts as a result of those MTB rides. TrainNow considers unstructured TSS and Volume in determining which workout should get the ‘Recommended’ categorization each day.
While you’re easing back into things, you can either do the recommended Endurance TrainNow workouts while you recover a bit, or follow the TN ‘suggested’ workout for Endurance/Climbing/Attacking if you feel ready. All of those suggestions produced in TrainNow are considering your week of MTB TSS.
If you want to use Plan Builder and get into a Specialty Phase before your A event, Adaptive Training will respond to any time off you take really well from both the work you did prior, and as a result of your rest.
To address your concern that 'that will make AT assume I can handle a heavy load the following week, ': It’s not going to make any workouts harder in response to thinking you’re extra rested.
Instead, Adaptive Training will adjust your Progression Levels to account for any zones you haven’t touched in recent structured workouts, and ease you back in accordingly.
That said, if going the Plan Builder route, we recommend taking your rest and doing some Endurance TrainNow to ease into things before starting a Specialty Phase, since it’s not a great idea to jump into intense, race-specific structured training with lots of residual fatigue. AT’s consideration of any time off, and the TrainNow you do when you return means you can trust that you’ll be doing the right workouts at the right intensity before your A event.
To recap: make sure you upload/sync your MTB rides so that TrainNow recommendations are accounting for them, take that time off when you get back if you need it, and dont stress! AT has you covered.
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Thanks for the reply Ivy. I ended up deciding to just delete my plan. I think this is a good time for me to focus on TrainNow and doing longer Z2/Sweet Spot work in the heat leading up to the mtb vacation and then the gravel event I have in October. I’m more focused right now on surviving and not burning out than on race results. I’ll go back to a structured plan after that when I’m less focused on volume and getting in as many 3-5 hour weekend rides as possible. Cheers.
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