FTP Struggles with 2 SC "A" Races 3 and 4 Weeks Away
Need a little help here, soliciting suggestions and experience, once again.
I am in Week 16 (ending) of ADV. SC plan, first A race sprint 3 weeks away, second A race, week after, olympic distance.
Here is the situation.
I am tired. (the answer is rest, easy enough) I can do that, look above on timeline.
Swimming is suffering. Not overly worried even though this is SC, usual who cares about the swim does not quite float here, but even if I am not 100%, I will still be coming out within the striking distance of the lead. I have put there significant work and once I lift this fatigue, it will show.
Good news sandwiched in. Run is on target, I consistently meet targets, no issues. It has always been my weakness, but I seem to be holding it together now. That is why this "I am tired" has a twist to it. I can run, not with the best, but my PR, VDOT 54.6 give or take.
Now onto the source of frustration. Bike.
I tested indoors week 8 JOS, NP 277W. I cannot for the love of god reproduce even close outside now or inside. Best and the closest I got was last week 2x20min @277W and 272W, took the life out of me. I very often crack during long FTP intervals while I have not trouble hitting @120% for 2.5min even 3min intervals. 2.5min intervals don't win triathlons, solid FTP does.
How do I approach the rest of 3-4 weeks left.
Idea popped, start a long and gradual reduction in FTP intervals toward the taper weeks, doing twice a week 2-3x12min or 2x15min.....and keep once a week per plan 2x20min...........
I am inclined to keep the swim and run as is per plan and just address the bike.
Any ideas are welcome or other constructive critique.
Comments
From experience with this, what is needed more than anything else is a bit of rest. The 'success' with running is deceiving, and actually dangerous, because it keeps you pushing when you ought to back off. I've been through the same cycle (actually dealing with some of it right now) and really set myself back last year as I kept pushing and pushing.
The worst thing you could do for your A race is to continue to dig a hole. As Lance was fond of saying, "I'd rather show up to a race 5% undertrained, than 1% overtrained". Take 2-3 consecutive days off, focus hard on recovery (including foam roller, gentle stretching, necessary calories/nutrition, compression garments, and most importantly, extra sleep). It will be hard to actually get the extra rest you need, cuz you'll feel like you should be doing something, but this is what it takes. Frankly, with your job schedule, it's remarkable how well you've held up so far with the OS. This will really set you up well for those A races.
Mike
AT - In addition to the rest you amd Mike are prescribing (some details would help here, see below), sounds like you are also in need of a confidence injection. Given your personal drive, it's doubtful nothing short of a successful sprint race is going to give that to you, but once you see how strong/fast you have become there, you will be set up to be a demon in the Oly. So the trick is to get from here to the sprint race without (a) digging a hole and (b) losing the speed you already have (it's there, I know it is, it's just masked currently by the fatigue.
"Idea popped, start a long and gradual reduction in FTP intervals toward the taper weeks, doing twice a week 2-3x12min or 2x15min.....and keep once a week per plan 2x20min...........
I am inclined to keep the swim and run as is per plan and just address the bike."
Your first thought, a long and gradual reduction in intensive bike work, is, I believe, the wrong approach. You need a 3-6 day sabbatical from any intensive bike work. If you want to take a 30-45 min spin @ 0.65 IF, go for it, but stay off the hard stuff long enough to get some bounce back in your legs. Then, plan for a VO2 session the following week, and an FTP session EARLY in the week before the sprint, along with some 85% stuff.
Swim all you want, as hard as you want, or not at all; for you, it won't make any difference come race day. If you are feeling fatigue at the start of any run session, be willing to back off per the wiki instructions .
A final thought. Search back through your earlier workouts, and reflect on some where you *were* as strong as you want to be. Those workouts are still leaving their effects in your body, and you need to let them provide the confidence you'll need on race day.
3-4 weeks is forever, expecially because we are talking about short course races. Not concern about losing the ability to go long. In terms of the bike you are looking for a long FTP interval on the ride, you want to be sharp to pull that off. I agree with AL, how about no hard riding or running at all for a week. Running hard [and swimming hard to a certain extent] will keep you from riding hard. There is no way to seperate the 3 from each other. This is especially true when you start to even out your abilities in all 3 like you describe.
I have really noticed something similar now that I am getting better at swimming. I used to think there was no lasting effects to swimming. Meaning what i did in the pool was no way going to effect what I could do on the bike the next day. That is no longer true. A hard interval set in Masters on a Tuesday night now means that I will have little juice for Wednesday am bike intervals.
Good news is that I've worked hard to be able to work this hard...bad news is that I need to pay more attention to what efforts I put in. Sounds like your improvements running might be putting you in the same sort of spot. Don't get discouraged.
First of all, thank you all very much for chiming in. You gave me a lot to work with. It is one of those "wake up" and be objective. The personal drive gets in the way of objectively assesing the conditon kind of a thing. Love to have you comment to set me straight.
@Mike, I have immediately instituted a 2 day no activity block, I have to travel for work today anyway, it will not be a total rest as sitting on airplanes is no resting or fun position. But it's a start. From there, I am applying Al and Chris suggestions.
Beginning a rest/recovery stage. Mike, I am using most of the recovery thechniques you mention.
@Al, I appreciate the fact that you can further look into the way I tick and you are dead on. A lot of this has mental effect. Confidence seems to waver when I am failing several times to meet the targets. No doubt.
I will further work the week per your suggestion as well as Chris:
There will be swimming per plan only Tue-Fri. During the same, all bike and run sessions will be 30-45min easy and will have a SC plan template, meaning Tue easy spin, Wed easy run, Thu easy spin.......until next weekend.
Than I will resume per plan and your suggestions.
@Chris, that is so true about swimming. Swim has a it's energy cost attached to it, there is no doubt. I can make myself hurt very bad in a 3000m session. It does affect my energy levels seriously. Swimming is grossly underestimated in it's recovery cost. We are talking serious swimming. SC plan has some ver very solid sets in week 16. If swam as prescribed, they will leave you pretty beat.
I can write an article about an interraction between the three, bike-swim correlation speciffically. I have to swim in the morning before land PM practice and that swim has to be measured to match the work on the land. It also has to be stratigically placed in the week template that will allow for quality swimming and recovery for other activities.
Thank you all once again. Don't hesitate to further comment if you see a need.
Just reporting back, Sunday was off. Felt good sitting only. Today AM just a short/fast swim, done for the day. Tomorrow and Wednesday easy bike and run, maybe one more swim. Feeling the difference already, but no real work until Thursday at the earliest.
If it is to judge by the swim today, I have not gone off the clif yet, but I sure backed off in time. I had a few 29sec 50s SCY this morning.
Thanks for the help.
Good advice from everyone. My notes:
@Coach, thank you. All noted. With the help of the guys above, I think I managed not to dive off the edge. I should be fully up and running shortly.
I just wanted to thank you all again for great advice. It seems to have helped big time. i did exactly that, came back this weekend, hit FTP numbers on 2x20min than went for a 20min brick run and ran sub 20min 5k. Little rest can do magic. Let's hope that taper will give the ability to hold this hot running pace over distance. More than anything, I was mentally fresh ready to suffer. That makes the difference.