I will be heading out of the country Jan 10 for a business trip for 2 weeks, I do not know how much working out I will be able to do when I am there but for the most part I will be in business meetings/dinner events.
I would like to maximize my last week of training before I go out there and I was wondering if I should substitute the easier recovery workouts for some workouts that will maximize my training and 2 weeks of recovery when I am out of town, what workouts should I try and do that week before I leave? Thanks for your suggestions
I’ve never done the LV plan but I did do Palisade a few weeks back - very tough but doable ….so if you got through that I would start LV2 straight away but not do the ramp test - just do an hour of SS like you have been on Tuesday, then Ebbetts Thursday (good workout that - did the +2 version last week - keeps things interesting) and then finish week 1. Maybe see if you can do another hour SS Sunday - then use week 1 of the trip to recover - try and train as much as feasible and do the Ramp test when you get back and prey you haven’t lost anything. If you have plenty of time then repeat SSBLV2 week 1 again after your return - if not go straight to week 2 and continue from there…Not ideal but we aren’t pro’s so compromises have to be made (I teach and am staring down the barrel of Spencer+2 followed the next day by over unders in a few weeks because I have a parents evening on the day the 2nd tough session should be so it has to come forward a day…not looking forward to that! )
Good luck
I had a very similar situation last winter - still in SSB 1 low volume, 10 day trip.
I decided to pile on heavily before the trip with up to 5 straight days of the harder 1h or 90min SS workouts (basically pulling my low vol plan in) - I figured I’d do this as long as I still had something in me each day and figured I’d make 3-5 straight days. By 5th day, departure, just did a Z2 hour. Reading around the forum, seems like there is some solid support for ramping up your load short-term like this when you have some history of higher intensity weeks in season and you know you will have longer than normal recovery to follow.
It worked well for me, YMMV. Worth noting is that I started from a pretty de-trained state that winter, so even two weeks in, things were getting easier - I’m doubtful I could have pulled that off 4 days straight late in SSB2. Having just finished SSB2 yesterday, even with 10 days off bike coming up for another trip, I’m not nearly as inclined to pile up 3 more days of SS work before leaving
I’m in a very similar situation as you. I am due to finish SSBMV2 Jan 5th, and have a 30hr transit on Jan 10th. When away, I’ll have a chance to work out in the morning, but days are long and there is a dinner every night, so motivation is low and stress is high.
I’ll be altering my plan to remove week 6 (recovery week), and replace with a week that matches week 5 in volume/intensity. Then I will ride Tue-Fri week of Jan 6th, again at higher intensity. I have a long day hike planned for Jan 12 right after I arrive, and I plan on Z2 riding 2-4 times while there (M-F). Once back, I’ll be starting my next block on Tuesday (I arrive Saturday, so I’ll give myself a chance to readjust and maybe get a gentle ride in).
An added bonus to Z2 rides while traveling is that I don’t need to concern myself with matching RPE or power, I can just hop on a bike and ride. The added stress of 30hr transit each way is already high, that I really don’t need any high intensity workouts.
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