When 2 x 15' Just Won't Happen (Workout Adjusting)

Coach Patrick

There comes a time every cycle when I can't drill my workout. I post a lot of "I just killed X workout" stuff here, because it keeps me honest and (hopefully) keeps you motivated. 

But in the spirit of keeping it real, you should know that I am human and I do suffer. After yesterday's 5-mile road race smackdown, I knew todays FTP bike session would be hard. I had a 2 x 15' on the schedule, but after a few minutes I knew that wasn't in the cards. So I broke the intervals down into acheivable blocks that I could do...in this case, 6 x 5' of work, 2' of rest.  I was able to do the 5' well on each one, and up the effort over the end. 

This isn't ideal, but given my schedule for this week, I know I can't afford to back my schedule out for another day of rest. And while 5' FTP intervals aren't the most effective, given my current state of fatigue it was the best workout I could do given my constraints. 

Just putting this out there so you know that not doing your workout 100% as written is okay; we only care that you give it your best effort!

Now go get'em!!!

~ Coach P

William Jenks

I've done a few days of 20' then 2 x 10' myself (or similar things) too. I figure it's better to actually get through them than to just die in the last several minutes or put myself in a hole. (For whatever reason, I am That Guy who can put himself in a bike hole more easily than a run hole.) The trick for me is keeping myself honest and doing that when it's necessary but pushing through when it's a matter of getting the mental mojo rather than the legs.

Yesterday, I took some extra rest before doing my last 2 minutes of the VO2 because I just didn't think I could get through anywhere near the right intensity...but it bugged me to do so. But all is not lost. Those ABP intervals are great for regenerating the mental mojo. Hard enough to be working but doable enough to get the confidence back. It was probably not quite ideal, but having taken the extra rest before the last VO2, I was able to gradually ramp the ABP section up from 85% to FTP. :-)

jhbinsc

Good to know you are human after all!

I dug a nice little hole for myself this weekend too and am dreading tomorrow's VO2! The weather was too nice to pass up down here so did a "little" extra riding and anticipate keeping my VO2 sessions pretty short this week, maybe 1'(1'). After  doing my 2 x 18' and 8' on VO2 during a 54 mile ride, I came back home in Z1 rather than Z3 but it was 73* so it was more of an enjoyment thing w/ friends than anything else. Although not sure how much they "enjoyed" the intervals...

astokes30

Thanks for keepin it real Coach P!! I'm now in wk 14 of the OS, and sometimes I cry as I go down into the pain cave! lol!! (But I always feel better on my way upstairs)...

Trent Prough

I would disagree with you for the first time here I think P. I wouldn't say that it's not ideal to do the shorter but more quantity intervals because if going for the longer ones and not being able to achieve the total time of WORK would be worse in my opinion. In my 4th OS I've came to just hate doing the 2X18 to 2X20's and almost always replace with 4X10 or 3X12to15 or something, just so I can get through the time mentally. I also have just felt like changing it up and have did 8X5's before and was one heck of a workout by the end and felt like I got the same result as a 2X20 but felt mentally better about the workout.

Just my .02

Coach Patrick

 @Trent, I mean not ideal where "ideal" means the workout that is on the schedule. Work is work, my point is that 6 x 5' at the good numbers is better than 2 x 15 at 80-85% FTP.  So get the work done everyone!!!

morpheus

I think that I read about this same angle over in the Wiki. It is good to know that you don't get a "FAIL" if you have to tweak the longer intervals. On the days when I just don't have the kick to hold 15' or 20' intervals, I break mine up, too. And, on occasion, I don't even have that in me and I fall back into doing intervals at the 'sweet spot' 85%. (That usually happens cuz I'm exhausted on the Life side of the equation)

One of my EN New Year Resolutions is to follow the plans. Sounds simple enough but I think that last year I may have underestimated the impact of the work that we have scheduled. I was often adding time or days cuz I 'felt fine'. Then some time later, I'd be slogging thru some workouts. I wonder if I could have done better had I taken the down time that is written into the schedules. I'm going to do better this year with my patience. If I'm sticking to the plan, that means sticking to the recovery days as well as the work days, in order to break the fight to the work days.