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Today I have had something happen that I normally don’t experience. I had to bail on a workout.
I was now thinking of it and I wonder if my decision to move all my swimming to the beginning of the week could be the reason why? I did this because my local pool will be closed for the next days for cleaning, etc.
Yesterday, I did an RSI1 in the AM and CCI14 in the late afternoon – both were ok and all my numbers spot on (power and pace wise).
This morning I had CFo15 – the first part with the 1min/2min intervals at Zone 4-5 went well. But after about 65 minutes, when I had to take a brief natural break (I hate that BTW) for 1-1.5min, I felt like crap. I initially tried to reduce power and finish the 85min Z2 in Z1 instead but even that didn’t do it and I gave up after a total time of 2h:5min.Now a few questions:
1. would you recommend to maybe hop on the bike later today and do another 25/30min easy?
2. tomorrow, I will have CF9 and RF12. I was planning on the cycling workout in the early AM and running later in the afternoon as it supposed to be nice and warm (45F). Any issue with that plan?
3. Do you think moving all my swims to the beginning of the week was a big mistake as harder rides/runs are squeezed in the second half of the week? I have the very same issue later this month as my pool will be closed for swim meets, etc.Thanks
winoriaI just compared today’s CFo15 to last week’s CFo21. The workouts are basically the same but CFo15 being 30min longer. It confirms that I was way stronger last week. All intervals have been completed at higher average power and way lower HR (about 10 BPM on average).
In this type of scenario it’s generally best to lean on common sense and general principles of sound training. I understand the impulse to make your week of training to work out to be essentially “the same” despite your lack of pool access late in the week, but can you really accomplish that by bunching together all of the swims on one side and all of the harder rides and runs on the backside? No, you cannot.
If it were me, what I might have done instead is keep the week’s workout structure the same but replace the swims I couldn’t do in the pool with dryland sessions. Or maybe make one swim/ride or swim/run swap but adjust intensities so that higher intensity sessions aren’t bunched together. I know the lack of pool access is a nuisance, but it’s just a few days–no big deal in the grand scheme. It’s better to accept that the week cannot be “the same” given the circumstances and make commonsense adjustments than to force it and have the sort of experience you had on the bike today.
Thanks Matt, I was expecting that answer. But: only by making stupid things like this we can grow and learn….
Anyways, I wanted to come back on this as I was further looking into my workouts from recent weeks and tried to compare workouts that are performed more frequently under very similar conditions like CF9.
What really worries me is, that I see (or interpret) a trend in heart rate despite no obvious change in condition or nutrition. Certainly, the only change is the training volume that goes up. But still. I wonder what you guys think about the following CF9 comparison:
Feb. 1: Average Power 171 – Average HR 126
Feb. 2: Average Power 171 – Average HR 123
Feb. 8: Average Power 173 – Average HR 128
Feb. 9: Average Power 164 – Average HR 125
Feb.16: Average Power 177 – Average HR 132
Feb.23: Average Power 176 – Average HR 126
Mar. 6: Average Power 171 – Average HR 137Or is this just normal fatigue that builds up over 2-3 weeks and I should see a lower HR for similar power outputs after a recovery week?
winoria
Imagine for a moment that you did not have a heart rate monitor. In the absence of this data, judging only by performance metrics and subjective perceptions, would you be concerned that something was wrong? If so, then perhaps this is indicated in the HR creep you report. But if you see no red flags in your performance or perceptions, then you can simply tune out the HR data. Heart rate numbers are NEVER intrinsically problematic. There’s 1,001 possible explanations for the pattern you’re seeing. There’s absolutely no reason to worry about it unless it correlates with a parallel trend in things that actually matter.
I would like to come back on this one. I continue having a hard time on the bike. It was ok outdoors last week but the rides I had on the trainer yesterday and today felt really bad.
My last 3 rides were CF9, CRe11 and a CF11. My legs feel really heavy almost mushy and I wonder if I’m expecting too much considering that I also had a RCI9 earlier this week that certainly wasn’t too easy of a run.
So how much fatigue is normal and when should I worry about heavy/tired legs?
I usually feel pretty good on my runs. It’s the cycling part that really suffers.
I don’t have a strong kick in swimming but can still feel the heavy legs…just a bit.Thinking of not doing any lower body strength workout this week maybe?
I’d say that’s more fatigue than you should be feeling except maybe during a brief period of planned overreaching. You might want to get in the habit of giving each training session a subjective rating (“great,” “good,” “average,” “poor,” “terrible”). Three poor or worse days in a row indicates a problem.
Do you think cutting the lower body strength is a good idea? At least for this week?
I will do the subjective rating from now on.
So if 3 days in a row would be poor or worse, what would be the proposed consequence?Based on what you describe, I’d be inclined to be more aggressive than that, maybe take a couple of days off or do only recovery level training for 3-4 days. How you feel subjectively during training isn’t just noise, it’s information. You really should feel good most of the time. Consistently feeling meh or worse indicates that you are not recovering properly from your training, hence not fully absorbing or benefitting from it. In effect, it’s almost as if you aren’t even doing the training.
That would seem to indicate it’s more a matter of local muscle fatigue than central fatigue, but then again it might just be the latter disguised as the former. I’m sure you’ve noticed that, broadly speaking, fatigue manifests differently in cycling than in running. On the bike, you feel your legs “die.” When running, you feel your whole body “die.”
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