New coaching subscription client here trying to sort out getting back in the swing of things and map out training after 4 weeks off the bike sick and another 2 week slow return back to the bike.
I was on Week 8 of the CX off season 24 week plan when I got sick.
It makes most sense to me to start the next phase of the program when I’m able - likely next week. That gives me 14 weeks on the bike and would lead to the “Six Weeks to Cyclocross” plan starting on July 27. Is that ok or would I be better off scrapping the off-season plan and going with the 6 week CX Summer sweet spot plan and then something else (Cyclocross Intervals?).
I’ve never missed this much time of the bike due to illness, so I’m not sure how to proceed. Thanks!
Sorry to hear you have been sick so long! But you are doing it right by coming back slowly. Luckily cross season is still far off. So plenty of time to get in your fitness before the season starts and really before you even need to do intensity!
I see you have been getting in some short easy 1 hour rides this past week which is good! You should be ready for efforts next week. So the plan had you coming right into a field test. I don’t think this would be the best option after several weeks off the bike. Lets get some efforts in the legs before you do a field test.
What I have done is taking that regeneration week for next week and swapped it with the regeneration week of May 18th. So the week of May 18th you will do the field test. This will give you 3 weeks of sweet spot training in your legs. This will be a more true indication for FTP. Ideally we don’t test these often so better to do it here than next week when it will probably go up quickly over the next few weeks.
The other thing I did is reworked the first 3 weeks of sweet spot training. Again you are coming off of being sick and I feel like some of the efforts were a bit too long. So I shortened a few of the sweet spot workouts and built them up as you go over the next 3 weeks. It will really help you out. Again plenty of time before cross so no rush to jump right back into it. I also placed in a couple of the standing start workouts you missed because of the illness. These are strength workouts that are very cross specific so I find them pretty important to complete. So I put a couple of them in over the course of the next few weeks.
If you have any other questions just let us know! Also let us know how you are in 4 weeks and we can look at your training, how it went, look at your field test and adjust the training as needed moving forward from there.