Peaking for Multiple Strava Segments

Hey FasCats!

In about a month, I’ll be in my top form for the year. My goal is to ‘refresh’ my PRs on a bunch of 20-to-30-minute climbs in the area. (For the Boulderites: Flagstaff, Sunshine Canyon, Lee Hill, Lookout Mountain, etc). Thanks to the weight training plan + 18 weeks of sweet spotting, I already know that I could go out tomorrow and PR each of these, but I want to make it even a little harder for Future Rob to go out and try to PR them again.

Question: when I’m peaking, how should I stage my PR attempts? Ie: how many days in between? What kinds of rides should I do in between?

Bonus question: Which of these attempts is likely to be fastest? For example, if I really care about Flagstaff the most, should I do that one first? Last?

For what it’s worth, I feel like I ride the fastest when I’m slightly fatigued - like maybe a little more than the typical opener the day before.

Thanks for the help!
Rob

(By the way, I meant to ask this in time for the latest ‘Ask-a-FasCat’, but spaced last week. Feel free to include it in the next one if you want!)

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Hey!

You should complete our 6 week Phill Strava KOM challenge plan.

You will have the perfect workouts to help prepare for your best climb! Also on each weekend is a chance to hit a segment and try to get your PR. The most important segment you have in mind you should do the first weekend of the plan and then repeat on the last weekend of the plan.

If you were thinking more of a 2 to 3 week window where you would attempt these efforts the best thing would be to do them after a rest day. Could almost set up like our Polarized Sweet Spot 4 plan. Monday off, Tuesday easy 1 hour zone 2 ride, Wednesday full gas PR effort, Thursday a sweet spot day, Friday off, Saturday a PR effort and Sunday a medium Zone 2 ride (1 - 2 hours). Then just repeat this for 3 weeks. Any effort before a PR attempt is warm up, any effort after is just zone 2. Keeping rides to < 2 hours.

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Ok, awesome. Thanks Jake. I’m in the beginning of the climbing intervals plan, and will follow it to a T. I know a lot of these plans are organized around a single event, so the second half of your answer is exactly what I was looking for! Looking forward to it :slight_smile:

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Hey Rob, I’m chiming in a little late here, but wanted to mention that I think you’re going to surprise yourself with the repeatability of these efforts. Looking at the specific demands of your targets, these are all relatively long climbs (~20-30 min) that will keep you riding predominantly at/below Sweet Spot. Since you’ve got this great aerobic base from your sweet spot plan, your ability to ride at threshold for the duration of these climbs is going to be top notch, and the overall demand of the efforts, if paced well with a power meter, is such that you should be able to recover really well.

I think that you could go for more than one of these segment efforts on back to back rides, even. Or to further set the bar higher for future Rob, I would add on some smaller attempts on the same ride. Go set a PR on Old Stage on your way to crushing your Lee Hill attempt, just stay at/below lactate threshold and make sure to recover and fuel in between efforts.

Have some fun man! It’s always nice feeling strong out there.

Thanks for the comments! Yeah, I’ve had maybe one or two periods in the past where I’ve “refreshed” all my PRs, and the feeling is amazing while peaking. I’ve never strung 7 consecutive months of training together though.

My current FTP is 320w, and I’m pretty sure that I’ll be able to hold at least that amount for half an hour (a month and a half ago I rode Jamestown in 31 minutes at 317w, and I’m in slightly better shape now). Extrinsic motivation really works for me I guess. Looking forward to it, but I’ve downshifted back to Sweet Spot for the time being due to smoke. I’ll resume the hard intervals once it’s a little easier to breathe again!

Awesome man, that always feels good when you’re on great form. I little recovery while waiting for the air quality to improve might not be a bad move either. Keeping it SS should have you feeling sharp when it’s time to jump back on the hard stuff.