Here are some additional plan improvements! This time we tackled all of our Climbing Road Race plans.
How do I update a plan on the calendar to reflect these changes?
There are two types of changes: In place changes and workout changes. You don’t have to do anything for in place workout changes, they are automatically reflected on your calendar.
If you see something like this, Junction —> Junction -1 then that’s a workout change. To update those you have two choices:
- Remove the plan from your calendar and re-add it
- Find the specific workouts we changed and update those manually
Here’s what’s changed and why.
Climbing Road Race Low Volume
Week 2 - Tuesday - Huxley
Change: The demands of these intervals were toned down only slightly. Also, the recovery between each set of intervals grew from 4 minutes to 5 to allow for a little extra recovery between each trio of attacking intervals.
Reason: This was done with the intention of keeping the challenge high but making each repeat more manageable, especially the final interval in each set.
Week 5 - Tuesday - Bradley
Change: The recoveries between intervals doubled from 2 minutes to 4.
Reason: This was to allow for more thorough recovery prior to each subsequent interval.
Week 6 - Thursday - Kern —> Kern -1
Old - Kern
New - Kern -1
Change: This is a mildly toned down version of Kern with the same short recoveries but slightly shortened work intervals.
Reason: This was done to keep it challenging while also having quality intervals, especially in the last set. Also means the original version is still available in its unaltered state.
Week 6 - Saturday - Sonora +2
Change: The first 2 recoveries were increased from 3 to 4 minutes.
Reason: To keep riders a little fresher earlier in the workout and give them a better chance of finishing strongly with higher-quality, later intervals.
Week 7 - Tuesday - Basin -4
Change: Since -4 is intended to be a taper version of Basin, the intervals dropped 1 minute in duration and the recoveries rose by 60-90 seconds.
Reason: This keeps the intensity where it needs to be but cuts back the duration enough to stay in line with the goals of taper workouts.
Week 8 - Tuesday - Basin -5
Change: Since -5 is intended to be a taper version of Basin, the intervals dropped 1 minute in duration and the recoveries rose by 60-90 seconds.
Reason: This keeps the intensity where it needs to be but cuts back the duration enough to stay in line with the goals of taper workouts.
Climbing Road Race Mid Volume
Week 1 - Thursday - Mount Deborah +1
Change: An extra minute of recovery was added between every pair of intervals.
Reason: An extra minute of recovery has proven to be highly productive with these shorter, supra-Threshold repeats.
Week 2 - Tuesday - Huxley +1
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Change: The demands of these intervals were toned down only slightly.
Reason: This was done with the intention of keeping the challenge high but making each repeat more manageable, especially the final interval in each set.
Week 3 - Tuesday - Gould +1
Change: The final 4 intervals in this workout saw the most frequent failures and were toned down slightly.
Reason: This was done in order to keep riders productive all the way through the very last interval.
Week 5 - Tuesday - Bradley +1
Change: A slight reduction in the intensity of each Threshold valley dropped them from 95-99% FTP down to 92-96% FTP for a 3% reduction.
Reason: This was aimed at making things only minimally more manageable without changing the nature of the workout nor its intended outcomes.
Week 5 - Thursday - Diamond +1
Change: All of the recovery valleys are now legitimate recovery valleys.
Reason: The previously shorter-duration, higher-intensity Endurance valleys were a little too demanding and were detracting from the quality of each remaining set of bridging efforts.
Week 6 - Tuesday - Basin +1
Change: The recovery valleys each gained an extra minute.
Reason: To give riders an extra bit of active rest keeping them fresh for quality last intervals.
Week 6 - Thursday - Kern +2
Change: The very short, 30-second recoveries with each set of repeats grew to 45 seconds.
Reason: This extra 15 seconds of recovery will make the last few intervals more tolerable but still highly aerobically demanding.
Week 6 - Saturday - Sonora +2
Change: The first 2 recoveries were increased from 3 to 4 minutes.
Reason: To keep riders a little fresher earlier in the workout and give them a better chance of finishing strongly with higher-quality, later intervals.
Week 7 - Thursday - Kern —> Kern -1
Old - Kern
New - Kern -1
Change: This is a mildly toned down version of Kern with the same short recoveries but slightly shortened work intervals.
Reason: This was done to keep it challenging while also having quality intervals, especially in the last set. Also means the original version is still available in its unaltered state.
Week 8 - Tuesday - Basin -4
Change: Since -4 is intended to be a taper version of Basin, the intervals dropped 1 minute in duration and the recoveries rose by 60-90 seconds.
Reason: This keeps the intensity where it needs to be but cuts back the duration enough to stay in line with the goals of taper workouts.
Climbing Road Race High Volume
Week 1 - Thursday - Mount Deborah +1
Change: An extra minute of recovery was added between every pair of intervals.
Reason: An extra minute of recovery has proven to be highly productive with these shorter, supra-Threshold repeats.
Week 1 - Saturday - North Twin +4
Change: The recovery valleys were all reduced to the standard 40% FTP. Additionally, all interval ramps were removed allowing the recovery valleys to grow from 3 minutes to 4.
Reason: The so-called “recovery” valleys between the Tempo intervals weren’t allowing enough of a break to keep riders strong throughout the workout.
Week 2 - Tuesday - Huxley +1
Change: The demands of these intervals were toned down only slightly.
Reason: This was done with the intention of keeping the challenge high but making each repeat more manageable, especially the final interval in each set.
Week 3 - Tuesday - Gould +1
Change: The final 4 intervals in this workout saw the most frequent failures and were toned down slightly.
Reason: This was done in order to keep riders productive all the way through the very last interval.
Week 3 - Saturday - Roan High +4
Change: The recoveries were all reduced to the standard 40% FTP. Additionally, all interval ramps were removed allowing the recovery valleys to grow from 1 minute to 2.
Reason: The so-called “recovery” valleys between the Tempo intervals weren’t allowing enough of a break to keep riders strong throughout the workout.
Week 5 - Tuesday - Bradley +1
Change: A slight reduction in the intensity of each Threshold valley dropped them from 95-99% FTP down to 92-96% FTP for a 3% reduction.
Reason: This was aimed at making things only minimally more manageable without changing the nature of the workout nor its intended outcomes.
Week 5 - Thursday - Diamond +1
Change: All of the recovery valleys are now legitimate recovery valleys.
Reason: The previously shorter-duration, higher-intensity Endurance valleys were a little too demanding and were detracting from the quality of each remaining set of bridging efforts.
Week 5 - Saturday - Sierra +5
Change: The recovery valleys were lightly adjusted from 50% FTP down to 40-45%.
Reason: The lower recover valleys should translate to high quality work intervals for the entirety of the workout.
Week 6 - Tuesday - Basin +1
Change: The recovery valleys each gained an extra minute.
Reason: This has been proving to make the more brutal interval workouts more productive.
Week 6 - Thursday - Kern +2
Change: The very short, 30-second recoveries with each set of repeats grew to 45 seconds.
Reason: This extra 15 seconds of recovery will make the last few intervals more tolerable but still highly aerobically demanding.
Week 6 - Saturday - Sonora +6
Change: First, the pre-interval ramps were removed in favor of more recovery which partially allowed the valleys to grow from 2 minutes to 3. Then, the Endurance block shrunk from 50 minutes to 40.
Reason: The increased recovery between work intervals should help keep riders from burning out on the final endurance stretch.
Week 7 - Thursday - Kern —> Kern -1
Old - Kern
New - Kern -1
Change: This is a mildly toned down version of Kern with the same short recoveries but slightly shortened work intervals.
Reason: This was done to keep it challenging while also having quality intervals, especially in the last set. Also means the original version is still available in its unaltered state.
Week 8 - Tuesday - Basin -4
Change: Since -4 is intended to be a taper version of Basin, the intervals dropped 1 minute in duration and the recoveries rose by 60-90 seconds.
Reason: This keeps the intensity where it needs to be but cuts back the duration enough to stay in line with the goals of taper workouts.