I have had some recent breakthroughs on my rides which has resulted in an overall 19W increase of CP. One was an easy-going ride finishing off with a hard effort and the other was a harder ride also finishing off with a hard effort. Both breakthroughs came during the finishing hard efforts.
To me this is great because it says Xert is working for me.
Today I did the SMART - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - 75 ride. I’ve done this ride several times in the past with no issue but on todays ride I felt it more than I recall having felt in the past.
My question is should I go back to some endurance base training for a while to adjust to the increase of CP or just go on with the recommended training as usual? My instinct is to go back to base endurance miles building with the new numbers.
I’m an old guy (68) and not a strong rider by any means (new CP 193W) and will never be a racer, but I do enjoy riding and challenging my self to get better/faster. Currently I am a Century Rider on Continuous Improvement with a Moderate-1 improvement rate and small decay.
Here are the 2 breakthrough efforts:
Hi Albert,
A couple of thoughts.
- An 18w increase on TP was around 10% for you. That is a big jump.
- You will have been anticipating a much harder workout because of that increase, perhaps you subconsciously made the assumption it was harder.
Did you finish the workout and how did your HR compare with previous efforts at a lower TP.
I would be tempted to continue with the suggested workouts and see how things progress. If you still think it seems harder than it should move your Target End Date (TED) out to 120 days (which I think is the maximum) which will then put you into a base phase.
Thanks John,
I went back through my history and I did this same ride on Feb 17 and on March 3.
My ave and max HR for each are as:
2/17- 112, 122; 3/3- 111, 123 and then yesterday (3/24)- 111, 123.
This tells me that perhaps it was more a mental thing. I have ridden the past 6 days in a row which included the breakthrough effort.
Due to travel, I’ll be taking a couple rest days this weekend and hopefully will feel better on Monday.
Cheers!
Sounds reasonable to continue onwards with the plan. You can always dial it back if you have to at a later date .
@johnnybike gave you a great tip on comparing same activity over time through HR analysis.
Another option would be RPE based.
How much did your LTP rise in relation to TP? (CP?)
Lucy is an over/under LTP endurance workout that should be fairly comfortable to complete especially as your training load increases. IE, easy conversational breathing during the blue RIBs and migrating above that to rhythmic breathing during the aqua intervals.
As you mention the other aspect is mental. Sometimes you just aren’t up for it or taking two days off in a row would make all the difference in the world. 
I have a hard time doing that in season, but I’m often surprised with the difference when I do.
I wouldn’t draw too many conclusions just after one workout, which didn’t go/feel well. Definitely, I wouldn’t change the training approach because of that.
There are so many factors impacting our performance every day: recovery (length and quality of sleep), other activities than cycling, life stress, nutrition and hydration, beginning of some sickness (e.g. cold or flu). Personally, I always go for more rest and recovery in such situation.
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds-75 has quickly become my favorite of long slow distance workouts. I did it again today and felt much better (like the old me).
I will say I really think it was a mental thing with me as the new CP values had me doing the rest part of the intervals above the interval part of the old CP.
I did do some Threshold and VO2 work prior to repeating the LSD ride and that helped a lot with confidence as well.
Thanks all, I must say what a great form this is. 