# Q about training on race week



## nyvram (Apr 11, 2002)

quick background: 

- i'm on week9 of TCTP (which is in the middle of maintenance)
- i completely skipped both week 8 intervals due to fear i had a pulled hamstring (from the april 30 weekend..turns out i dont)
- did century this past weekend..went all out on first 6 mile climb (around 24 minutes to climb) and when i rerode the same climb on sunday it took a whopping 31 minutes although i was in recovery mode and riding it in the small ring
- race this coming weekend has exactly *ONE* climb..around 15miles in and around 4-5 miles up (almost identical to the climb from saturday) and pretty much flat the rest (except downhill right before end)

when i do the tues/thurs intervals i'm pretty dang sore for the next 2 or 3 days. because i rode pretty strong this past weekend, i was thinking of doing the tues workout and then skipping thurs and doing a very soft-pedal ride fri night (race is sat morning). i think tues is 6 x 2 minute PIs which isn't too bad.

i know carmichael's plan calls for 2 pretty good workouts during the week but i rode so well this past weekend i'm a little leery of pushing too hard thurs (which calls for like 4x2 minute power intervals (1 minute rbi) and i think 4x 3 Over/Unders. i am worried i'll still be a little tired from this thurs workout on sat morning.

am i overthinking this or could i have likely done a bit better this past sat if i hadn't skipped both workouts last week? honestly this past saturday's climb is the best climb i've ever done. i've never climbed 6 miles in the large chainring before..but i felt ok with both the gearing and the cadence having gotten into a groove so i just kept on going. my hr was at 170 for pretty much the whole climb...didn't seem to go up or down much. i'm guessing the grade averaged around 5% the whole way.


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## JustTooBig (Aug 11, 2005)

probably a pretty subjective question, not certain if there's a generalized consensus.

Myself, I cut volume on race week, but still do some short, intense intervals.


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## nyvram (Apr 11, 2002)

considering i cant even walk up the stairs in my building today, i think thats probably a pretty good idea. i'll do short/hard intevals (those 6x2s) on tuesday and then give myself the rest of the week off in anticipation of saturday.


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