Hey Fascat Team! What is UP?
Ok, my question up front: I am thinking of finishing my #Leadboat training with SS Part 4 Polarized because fresher IS faster. Good idea?
The background: I’ve been consistently training for about 10 months steady, following first 32 weeks of Weights + Sweet spot, then followed that up with Gravel Grinder intermediate hilly plus a couple transition weeks in there. I’m 54, with a long history in the (bike) saddle.
Along the way, I’ve hit a new FTP at least 3 x, have had a string of PR’s on local Strava segments, had some really great results in gravel rides (Top 5 for the 50+ in both Old man winter and CO2UT 185). Also, I’ve noticed that my time to exhaustion at tempo/sweet spot has gone waaaay out there in terms of hours. Interestingly, my sprint has pretty much evaporated, but that’s fine, and expected really. I’ve been able to do some training up above 10k feet on several occasions, and have been working on my sustained climbing for an hour or more at sweet spot.
So, I’ve been able to achieve a CTL of right below 100 for the summer, which is as much as I could do given work and family obligations, with the TSB reaching about -30 at times. I’m healthy and uninjured, and the bikes are all tuned and ready to rock.
Leadville Silver Rush 50 is this weekend, then I will have 5 weeks to Leadboat weekend.
It looks like a switch to SS Part 4 will drop the CTL, raise the training stress balance up to about +30, and generally provides some sharpness for the big weekend.
So, what do you think? Good idea? Is that too much drop in the longer endurance work? If I’m feeling up to it, should I add in perhaps one or two 5 hour days in there?
As always, thanks for everything!!