Just looking for feedback on my weekly workouts during the cyclocross race season, with races every weekend. I’m planning to do the HV CX Specialty phase as follows:
Mon: off
Tues: hard (am)/skills coaching (pm)
Wed: easy or skills (stair&hill running)
Thurs: hard
Fri: easy if racing Sat&Sun, medium if only racing Sun
Sat: race or easy
Sun: race
How does this look? Just giving myself one easy day before weekend races as I’m training through the season to peak for Nationals. Is the above layout how the Cyclocross Specialty phase was intended to be used, with racing every weekend?
Sidebar, without resetting my Specialty phase plan selection it doesn’t seem like I can edit the general layout of my weekly workouts (hard/med/easy/off days) as it prompts you to do when you first choose the plan…
I did something like this last year during CX season:
Mon: spin or off/run/core
Tue: hard
Wed: hard/run
Thurs: endurance/skills/core
Fri: easy
Sat: race or hard
Sun: race or endurance/skills
Basically I swapped the Wed and Thurs workouts so I’m doing back-to-back hard sessions, similar to how the weekend goes with Sat and Sun races.
Skills training kind of varied based on how I felt. I tried to stick to the schedule as far as running and core workouts. I was not doing strength (weights) training at that time, but I am now, so I need to see how that’s going to work once the race season starts.
Oh, by the way, this was all with the medium volume plan. I think it would be really tough to fit in all the “extra” stuff along with a HV plan, but YMMV.
I had been doing some specialty into last season and it was a lot to do 2 hard workouts a week and race on the weekend, my legs were feeling lifeless. I shifted to doing one tough workout, a sweet spot workout, and endurance during the week and felt way better. Not sure if you plan on racing once per race day or doubling up, I think HV would be beneficial if you are needing to be prepped for multiple races in a day. I haven’t doubled up so I’ve just focused on lower volume stuff. Just be prepared to listen to the legs and recovery, the intensity can take its toll even if the TSB doesn’t get super negative.
M: Easy 30m spin or OFF and stretching/core
T: Sprint/AWC work. Hill/Stair sprints
W: Threshold Work / core
T: Base skills ride (corner, bunny hop, ride logs, etc.) Hill/Stair sprints
F: Base w/ Cadence work or Pre-Race openers
S: Race or Threshold Day
S: Race or Base Ride
That’s very possible. At the moment I’m trying to emulate this race season weekday schedule during my build phase, without the racing on the weekends. It may just come down to the quality of my sleep/recovery, and possibly dropping the a hard workout mid-week if I’m not up for it.
or on race wkends swap Wed and Thurs if you can handle it. Or tone down the Thurs hard if you do it Wed.
But yes, it’s okay to train through and not be 100% for race weekends; you cant taper or decrease training all the time or you won’t reach your highest ability for Nats.