I could probably follow Time Crunched now. Similarly, I was battling fatigue last year. I’d do hard efforts or a hard group ride and while I’d perform well, hit new PRs, I’d be shattered and would need two days of rest. Seiler style base last year brought me up to another level. After 6-8 weeks of riding slow and doing one intensity session per week, I was at a higher level of endurance and breaking all my PRs with a 20 point increase in FTP.
My mistake last year was doing that base for 12 weeks. I don’t think it was needed. After the base, I added in some weekly tempo/sst intevals to my schedule and scaled back the LSD a little bit. Over the 5 or 6 months I got another 20 point FTP increase.
I just finished my base block this year. I did 8 weeks, took some rest and I’m now starting an interval block. I’m planning on working on the 4x8min. I did one week of those (3x8) but this week, it was so windy that I did hill repeats instead plus a few other shorter intervals - around the same total interval time. I felt similarly wasted. After the first week I was flying on the group ride. I’m seeing new power PRs and hanging with riders I couldn’t not formerly stay with.
I haven’t exactly decided but I think I’m going to enforce a more strict 3:1 on/off schedule. I think this is where I’ve been deficient in the past - not managing fatigue/recovery and adaptation well enough. I also wonder about 2:1. I know that after two weeks I will feel like I still have a lot of gas in the tank so I’ll want to do more. I’ll want to do more after 3 weeks but I’ll force myself to take it easy.