For many of us here in N.A., the summer wasn’t what it usually is in terms of racing. That means, the fall isn’t what it usually is either.
Typically, I’d do a specialty plan ending in early September (around Labor Day Weekend races), and then use the residual fitness to mix it up in some CX races through October. No structured workouts in October, just 60-90 rides during the week, and then race Saturday &/or Sunday, or if no races, a longer ride. Come the end of October/First week of November, I’d take 2-3 weeks off and then start my base for the following year.
This year, I did a specialty plan ending on a Strava based TT series, in mid September. Since then, I’ve been doing unstructured riding, all in Z2 with the occasional effort on a KOM attempt.
My thought going forward is to do the first 4 weeks of a build phase (probably sustained power), as a final structured block for 2020. Then take my off season break of 2-3 weeks, and then pick up with base training for the 2021 season in mid-November.
Tell me why or why I shouldn’t do this, and how’d you’d change it.
Personally we can take this time of no races as an opportunity to experiment with a new training regime. I like your idea of riding for fun for a bit before you hit it again. A mental reset can never be understated.
If you’re going to only do a 4 week block of build before your 2 week rest, why not try a form of build that you’ve not done before? If you’ve always done sustained and never short power then switch it up? Then, after your break, you can start your full cycle in which ever discipline you plan on racing next year.
For me personally, I just ended my very first year on TR and my first ever year of structured cycling training. I did it for 12 months straight on low volume, mixing up my block types. I had originally planned to use the fall for skills work on the MTB and such, while doing “base” riding, but with the Covid stuff I decided to head back onto the trainer early and experiment with trying a medium volume plan. Low volume was tough for me, but I was still seeing gains. I thought I would try a quick Sweet Spot Base on medium volume to see how my body reacts before committing an entire winter to low or medium volume.
1 Like