The last few 12 week programs I’ve done have a strong tendancy to throw one of those insane workouts at me immediately following a recovery week. My current program is throwing AVDP, 9 Hammers, and Omnium at me straight after a recovery week. I feel I should be well rested to tackle these workouts but find myself frequently failing. My thinking is that my mind and body have gone soft and can’t yet cope with the demands of such gruelling workouts so soon after basically spinning at 65% for 7 or 8 days. I’d probably do better if I swapped the next non-recovery workout with the aforementioned killer workout and have a better chance of completing without stopping or turning down the intensity. Or maybe do Primers the day before. Just seems to me that the timing of these all-out-effort workouts in the plan is setting up for disappointment. Even the dumbed down version in SYSTM. There is a reason, i presume, that Primers is prescribed the day before an event or 4dp. I’m just curious why we don’t get a tune-up workout before getting thrust into the belly of the beast
I agree entirely but I do wonder how many donuts 
you had during the recovery week?
It’s like you need constant reinforcement that you can do the hard stuff, otherwise your brain says no even when your body would’ve said yes?
@timbo Ouch, man. Throwing down donuts…
@Calvin_Crawford, I’m afraid that’s our lot in a HIIT-style program. Recovery from prior efforts, then jolt to the system to stimulate growth and development. (Though AVDP, 9H, and Omnium in a row are…unkind? 
)
Consider treating the three as a combined endurance effort, like a TOS week? No shame in not going full nuclear for the week - again, the goal being to stress your system through brief, intense workout sessions. Maybe start out @ 100% then dial them down to completion of all three sessions. Eventually your body will adapt to the point you COULD do all three at 100% in one week, then it’s time to move on! IWW
#IWBMATTKYT
Go forth and suffer. 
I didnt mean all three in one week… i meant all three come right after a recovery week. Sounds like failure is intended and expected, for the mostpart.
It’s all part of the plan. Train hard, recover to absorb the training, then train hard, rinse and repeat. It’s not about peaking for a 3 day event it’s about the focus for the entire plan. Plus like @timbo suggested it’ll give you nice preview of the ToS. I would also suggest the MTP program to dial in your focus, self talk, and awesomeness! Let us know how it goes and we will be ruthlessly compassionate!
Cheers,
Spencer
you know how Training Peaks has “fatigue”, “fitness”, and “form” based on what you’ve accomplished in the past number of days and weeks? Other apps have different metrics and whatnot. Regardless, some days you’re in better condition than others based on what’s been done not just yesterday or the day before, but the last few weeks as well. It would be really cool to have an app that knew what I’ve done in the last little while and adjust the workout accordingly. If it thinks I’m in pretty good condition… go ahead and bump up the MAP 2% and ftp 5%. If I’ve missed a few workouts over the past week, maybe it should tune it down a bit for me. Just curious if that’s a direction systm may go. I mean, all the tools are there, right?