Hi all!
A teeny bity of background before my question: I often ride completely for fun late summer and fall, aand lost fitness. I get on a SYSTM plan in the winter, and it’s not rare for me to pick up 10-15% FTP in 12 weeks . My guess is that this is more than the plan writers anticipate, but it is not really pure gains on my part - mostly just recovering past capability. The last few years I have cranked up the targets ~ 1% most weeks and that seems to work.
I just did “The Way OUt” at + 10%. It is not a killer workout and I did it with a day’s rest prior, so take this with a grain of salt. But, even at +10%, my HR was consistently below the targets. It never even got into Z4 until the last minute of hte last effort, during sustained 360-370 W. Should I keep adjusting targets the way I am? Or do a half-monty to reset targets? If I do that, how do I cram it into the schedule? Want to make the most of the next 5-6 weeks. Thx!
I’ve being doing similar to you with increasing the intensity, as it’s been a while since I’ve done a test.
For fitting HM into a plan, I’d suggest finding a workout that is after a day or two of relatively easy sessions, and do the HM test in place of that workout. Or you could even do the HM test, then do the workout as scheduled, given that HM is not too taxing on your system. I think the idea with HM is that you don’t need to be fully rested and prepared for it, you just don’t want to be too fatigued. That way it can give you a reasonable estimate of your new numbers.
During the recovery week, do HM on Thursday. You’ll have an easy ride the next day AND you’ll be ready for the weekend. Most plans have this scheduled on the sixth week anyway.
Wow, I didn’t even notice… HM is on the schedule next week! Cool!!