Carpathian Peak +3 on tap: Questions

I have completed +3 a few times now each time at a higher ftp (it never gets easier). Focus on one peak at a time. Hardest part is the unders but remember by the end of the under you’ll just be ready to go up again. Personally I think these are mentally easier than doing straight 20min ftp blocks.

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That’s exactly the way I compartmentalise these efforts :+1:t2:

I did this once last fall. My workout notes mention that I wanted to swap out for a longer workout from what was scheduled. Hit a bunch of season power records during it. I was looking for a workout with longer but still hard efforts, rather than simply increasing power a few percent. I think it was about spot on for that.

If you’ve been feeling strong, and training has been going well, you should be able to finish it. If you can finish the first set, there’s plenty of rest to recover before the next. Make sure to fuel/hydrate well, and eat some during the ride. Do all of your normal marginal gains RPE tricks, like caffiene, loud music, watching race footage, etc.

I find with over-unders, the hardest part is mentally when starting the under phase, and it’s still hard. I try to completely ignore how hard it feels at the start of the under phase, and instead wait till the end of that phase, right before it gets hard again. That’s basically the moment it should feel easiest, so I wait for then to guage my RPE.

And also on these, because power ramps up and down, I try to break the 3 minutes that I’m above 95% into sections. The first minute ramp doesn’t count, because I’m the least fatigued, and it’s not hard yet. The 1 minute over is brutal but short. And then the ramp down doesn’t count, because it’s only 30 seconds till I’m back at FTP, and I tell myself I can do anything for 30 seconds. And then once I’m at/below FTP, I just wait for the 90 seconds before the next ramp starts before I allow myself to properly evaluate RPE.

It’s still going to be hard, even with all the prep and mental tricks. Plan to embrace the suck. Live in the moment and go until you explode or finish the set.

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This is spot on. 100% the perfect way to break the intervals down. Do it this way and it’s like all of a sudden you’re finishing the 3rd 20min thinking what the hell happened? It’s over already?

Ahh… I didn’t think of it like that. Was searching there for Carpathian Peak +3 as it’s my last workout of this phase of build a couple days from now and bricked it when I saw it was a 3x20 over under. Just mentally couldn’t imagine myself doing something like that.

Then I read your comment and it actually kinda does make sense. Just an extra 4 mins and less rest compared to what was on the week previous. Feel a bit more confident now (but just slightly).

Does this workout have a poor compliance rate anyone know?

Also is it necessary to fuel for it, I haven’t field for anything so far, just a light breakfast, like 400 to 700cal depending on the w/o, and `I’ve been calorie cutting this whole build, and haven’t cracked on anything. Thinking maybe I’ll stick some sugar in the bottle for Carpathian though, would hate to ruin the winning streak for the sake of a few cals.