hi,
I am currently on Cyclocross: Race 'n Recover Plan. I did ok in the first 2 weekly CX race (finished 11 out of 30) and the last 2 weeks i was finishing at the bottom.
My Normalized power for the last 2 race was around 180W and my HR was averaging 170 with max HR of 190. My first 2 race normalized at 230W with avg HR at 170.
My last and final (A) race is in Dec 3rd. Should I take a few days off from the plan or continue as plan or just ride Zone 2?
thanks
How did you feel in the last 2 races versus how you felt in the first 2 races? That’s definitely a sharp decline in power, even considering all CX courses are different, so it seems like something is up.
The last 2 races felt really bad like much worse than normal. I just checked TrainingPeaks and the first 3 races had NP of 221, 226 and 230.
The courses are similar as it’s at the same park.
I’d rest! Sounds like you might be even dealing with high stress of some sort (mental, emotional, or physical).
So do you feel like you started the races well and then had a huge power drop mid race or is the whole race bad? That could help identify it’s mental burn out (need rest) or something more going on.
If it’s chronic fatigue then rest is the right answer. Did you do base training before the CX plan?
Also may be worth looking at your routine outside of riding to see if anything had changed that could be a detriment to your riding. Sleep, diet, medication changes, work stress, etc.
The whole race was bad - I checked the power profile on TP and I was only averaging 165 with NP 180. FTP is at 260. Mentally i was excited to be there and wanted to do it. Somehow the legs were gone.
I did a lot of base before CX and some group rides. I did not do any intervals until the Cyclocross: Race 'n Recover Plan.
I have rested for 4 days now and resting HR is still higher than normal but gradually coming back down.
Will be continuing the longer intervals in the plan this weekend.
thanks
How are your legs/power on non-race days, especially the interval days? Is the power where you expect it to be or also way off? It seems like something is going on. Changes to stress, sleep or nutrition? May be worth it to talk to your doctor about it. Bloodwork may be worth it. (This is all my non professional opinion.)
If you’ve got a solid base coming into CX season you shouldn’t be falling apart mid-season. You should be getting stronger. Now for someone who didn’t do base work before race season, a mid season crash would be completely expected, imo.
I did increase my weekly TSS count to around the 400s (Sept - Oct) leading up to CX season.
And looking back at TP, i didn’t take any rest week from August - Oct.
I guess I should have paid more attention, there’s so much opportunity to ride since I move to a much warmer place in August.
It’ll creep up on you when you live someplace warm. Phil Gaimon got a bit overtrained last year. Interesting to see his videos about it.
That’s good to know. Took the whole thanksgiving off and resting HR back to normal. Just went out and did Tabata 20/10 from the plan and it sucks but the enjoyable kind of suck. Not how i felt over the past few weeks.
Hopefully this post will provide some guidance for someone that move to a warmer place from a cold place.
Will report back in a few days to make sire today’s not a fluke.
Glad to hear the rest is helping you!