2 a day - Back-to-back until I cracked

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Back on Dec 1st I did Half Monty which went well, and then Full Frontal on Dec 5th, which was not so good. The upshot of that was I had a nice jump in both FTP +37 and MAP +31.

So the day after the failed Full Frontal I thought I would take my new numbers out for a spin, so to speak. The plan was to do 2 rides a day Back-to-Back. The first would be the harder of the two done in ERG so I had to hold power and the second in Level mode with the intent of driving above the power targets. Here is what this week looked like:

Monday Dec 6:

  • GNC Torque Monster in ERG
  • Big Gear Varying Cadence 3x10 in Level 1 above power targets

Tuesday Dec 7:

  • Proride London 1 in ERG
  • Provence: Dentelles de Montmirail in Level 1 above power targets

Wednesday Dec 8:

  • GCN Power Torque Intervals in ERG
  • Tugende in Level 1 above power targets

Thursday Dec 9:

  • MAP: 2 Sets 3x2 in ERG
  • Raymond Poulidor in Level 1 above power targets

Friday Dec 10: Off Day

Saturday Dec 11:

  • GCN Equalizer in ERG
  • Provence: Gorges de la Nesque in Level 1 above power targets

Sunday Dec 12:

  • GCN VO2 Max Intervals in ERG
  • French Pyrenees: Circue de Gavarnie in Level 1 – couldn’t hold power.
    • I made it through the first half fine, above power. Then came the 7-minute threshold which I just couldn’t hold. Made it at threshold for about 5 of the 7 minutes.
    • Then the 9 over-unders. Did fine on the first 3 overs, had to just spin through 4, did 5, spin through 6, did 7, spin through 8, and did 9.

All my wife could say was “why do you put yourself through this”. I just laughed.

Over all, feeling pretty good about the week. Back to an average week so I can do a recovery week before the Rapha 500 to close out the year.

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No, really…why would you put yourself through this? :thinking::wink:

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@CPT_A well I have had a few accidents cycling over the past decade. Twice ended up with extended hospital stays. Split a helmet wide open. So it could be my brain is a bit scrambled. Fortunately if it is, as a result, I don’t know it! :upside_down_face:

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Lol! There’s a reason the coaches push recovery :slight_smile:

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Your wife seems like a very rational person.

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Yeah, but where’s the fun in that? :crazy_face:

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Brutal. What glorious suffering. Talk about searching for limits and pushing through them.

What did you have planned for Monday Dec 13 if you’d made it that far?

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@Imminent The plan was 14 Vice Grips followed with Provence: Luberon. What I did get to finished up all the GCN rides and Luberon completes all the On Location series. That was as far as I had scheduled out.

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Always +1 for shaggy cow

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That’s a Heelan’ Coo innit? @Imminent

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Crash training is well known method and here we have a good example of it and … it’s restrictions.

First, for maximum fitness gains, after 2-7 days with increased training load you need an equal number of recovery days (supercompensation!).

Second, pushing too hard and too long, you’re likely to take a step backwards rather than forwards. If cracking is a sign for this kind of a overload where you are not able to recover any more, I suggest to take one extra recovery week. You may have overreached, and failure to treat this may lead to overtraining.

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