No Trouble Getting It Up. Keeping It Up? That's Been a Problem
I have no trouble rising to the occasion. But, keeping it up has been really difficult the last few weeks....
My WATTS, you PERVERT, my watts. Jeeshh. HEY! You guys are the one's who have been whining about less action in the forums. So, come get some action.
The 2' VO2 sessions over the last 2 weeks (weeks 6 and 7 in the OS) have really beaten me down.
Unable to hold 1.2 for the whole 2'. Really 'peter' out about 30sec in. My triage adjusted the workout to shorter bursts. Today was 10x 2'. I knew, or caved, early. Did 5 'Town Sign' Sprints to see if I could shake it. These were 30sec bursts held @ about 200%. Then 10x 1'(1') @ 1.15 to 1.2, as opposed to the 2' intervals. Then, just a ez spin for the cooldown.
My schedule has been off a bit. Possible 'cold' that I'm confusing with fatigue from training. Sleep has been good. Diet has been good. But, HR has lagged on the VO2 intervals compared to the earlier weeks. The runs have been a grind, much more labor just to turn them over. Heavy legs doesn't begin to describe it.
I'm pretty sure that I'll be backing Week 8's testing to Week 9, meaning I'll just repeat this week into next week. But, based on a couple of these signs that suggest I might need some rest, I'm gonna do the workouts as scheduled (to the best of my abilities) and then take a couple of days of light activity heading into the weekend. I'm on call at work that weekend so it's a win/win. I know we're not supposed to get extra rest just for our tests. But, the timing of these 'need some rest' signs just happen to coming at a time right before the tests pop up. Didn't do it on purpose. Just think that I should pay attention and act accordingly to the clues that I'm picking up on.
Feel free to chime in if you see something differently. And, thanks for having a sense of humor with the 'tease'
Comments
OK seriously.....Weeks 6-7 of the OS ? Typical point of fatigue accumulation.... REST find a balance of work vs. recovery... Sometimes less is more! Take an extra day off , NO extra credit optional sets for a week! Its important to NOT dig the hole deeper.
Chris - everyone has his own unique ratio of 5 min power:60 min power. Some are 1.28; some are 1.08, and everywhere in-between. My suggestion: keep doing the intervals @ 1.2 IF, but decrease the work time of each interval, Maintain the same TOTAL work time, and the same 1:1 ratio work:recovery. You'll find the sweet spot, and maybe be able to SLOWLY over the weeks increase the interval length on these sets.
Another thing I;ve tried is a descending ladder, meaning do the intervals @ 2'. 1:50, 1:40, 1:30, 1:20, 1:10, 1', or drop in 5" increments. Whatever works to get the work done, while doing intervals of 60-150"
Chris, my friend, you know how I think about this...triage now. Period.
Drop the Low Priority runs.
Triage the workout as required -- you can do so as Al points out.
Or, by this --- my personal take on the VO2 sets is similar to the "ranges" question you posted earlier..... I start at 1.1 and then work my way up through each successive interval so that I am (hopefully!) able to finish the last one very, very strong. Under-performing?? Perhaps. But the psychic benefit I get is far greater than any loss of training potential by doing it that way.
I think your triage was right on. In terms of extra rest pre-test, we do have Sunday off, which isn't the norm so hopefully that will help. The benefits of getting more rest outweigh any negative impact of missing a wko or 2 so do what u need to do...