first workout after recovery week.

A few thoughts based on personal experience, plans I've followed, and stuff I've read...

When I do "recovery weeks" it's usually in a build cycle of L3/L4 work and I usually experience very good results after digging a hole for 3, 4, or 5 weeks and taking a week of easier riding. I suspect the intensity of the workouts may be causing the issue.

The one time I did experience what you describe, I had just started a VO2 cycle (2 workouts per week) and going off RPE went a little too hard (more like L6 intensity) experiencing failed interval sets (running out of steam before completing all repetitions, and not finishing the intervals themselves as strong as I had started) before I had dialed the appropriate intensity into my head and remembered I needed to start just a little easier than I did (which, riding without a PM, is a little trial and error for me if outdoors and not training indoors with a speedo). After the first week (just two workouts) I felt extremely sluggish having a hard time getting my HR up and winding my legs out. This wasn't over training per se, my legs just needed to ease into the hot bath of intensity a little slower.

These days I get better results by treating the first interval of any intensity workout (less than 5 minutes) as a "throwaway" and don't go all out (better to finish strong than start strong), and adding to the number of intervals as the peak progresses, i.e 3x4mins in week1 and 2, 4x4mins in week3, and 5x4min in week4, etc. Although I do some intensity (L5/L6/sprints) when I'm just goofing around with my friends on the bike, I mostly only do the structured L5 stuff for the several weeks leading up to a big day (with structured L6 work for only a couple weeks to wrap up the peak).

In an article either by Coggan or Hunter, I once read about "natural" pain killers that are produced in the body in a high intensity phase that actually make the work feel easier, and the rest week could have caused those to subside thus lowering your tolerance for intensity. It is on this premise I imagine that that many coaches prescribe 2 or 3 hard one or two minute intervals following a good warmup the day before a race or big event instead of a day off, to make sure these hormones are circulating in the body, and the pipes feel nice and open on the big day.

It is on the above logic that Allen actually prescribes the easy week the week before the final week leading up to an A event (week 5 of a 6 week peak and taper). I.e. an easy week immediately before could produce less than ideal results in the peak and taper because a) the pain killer hormones have subsided, and b) psychologically the rider may not feel as confident having not felt any recent turmoil in the legs.

Answers to questions that may help other responders might be:
How long have you been doing the current 2x/week 4 min interval cycle?
What riding activities lead up to this phase (a structured build phase, or jra)?
Is VO2 level intensity work a temporary or permanent fixture in your routine?
Have you done cycles of 2X/week 5x4mins intervals before with no issues, or is this intensity relatively new to your routine?

Hopefully someone with a little more bona fide coaching experience can chyme in. I'm no expert and mostly just enjoy turning my lungs inside out for [censored] and giggles ;P

thank you.. i heard, and it seems to happen to me all the time, that sometimes the first workout or after your ez week is hard because , like you said, you havent done anything fast in 6-7 days. i do these 4 minute intervals all the time. two times a week... i always feel terrible the first workout. i dont think i'm off long enough to be in tthe de traing mode, so hopefully its just the normal crappy workout then as the next 3 -4 weeks go, i'll be stronger and better than ever.