I am on single day cycling event plan, it is starting to work its way into the Build phase and had a question about Recovery weeks. I took a look at some of the workouts from a recovery week, and it looks like pretty much the same as any other Build week. There are threshold workouts, HIIT workout and longer endurance rides. Is this an error or am I missing something? I am used to recovery weeks being shorter durations and nothing much above Z2. I am used to 3 week build with 1 week easy riding for adaptations. Concerned I won’t get the recovery I need in these recovery weeks. Any insight/guidance would be appreciated.
Hello @Louwaert_TCL! Welcome to the forum, and thank you for that excellent question!
First, the most important part: context rules. If you feel that you’re not sheding enough fatigue during the recovery week, then do less. Athletica uses the HIIT science principles to build your program. But just like snowflakes, our build and recovery needs are unique.
If you take a look at your weekly load, it will look something like this: B1 < B2 < B3 ->> R. The recovery week will have a training load around or less than that of build 1.
If you feel that you’ve built up too much fatigue during the build phase to recover during recovery week, then you can also adjust your ramp rate in Settings → Training → About You → Advanced. Where you have 6 (!!) levels to choose from.
@Prof may have more to say on this matter. For now, does that answer your question?
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I think that @Jesse nailed it there mostly @Louwaert_TCL. I’d just reiterate that you should definitely listen to the body and delete or lower volume and intensity if you really feel you need more recovery than is being offered. The recovery weeks are lower but not by a lot. If you need more, then take more and be okay with that decision. Remember that Athletica’s goal is to maximize your fitness for your upcoming race but if you feel its ramping you too quickly then you should definitely back off. Nothing wrong at all with just easy riding. Also check the Workout Wizard for better options.
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