Mid Season Slump

I think your solution of backing off, re-building a bit of base, and slowly re-integrating some interval training is the best idea. You might yet be able to hit a second peak this season.

I'm just worried, as it's happened to some riders I've known...you're sure it's not something viral?

Catabolic_Jones said:

I'm just worried, as it's happened to some riders I've known...you're sure it's not something viral?

I don't think so. I feel fine otherwise.

L

I was talking to some folks today after I posted this. I may have had a (de)hydration issue today. It was 95 Deg F (37 C) here today with 25% humidity. The guys I was riding with today are both much bigger than me (185 and 200). I'm around 140. I think they both have more H20 reserves than I do. I was fairly good at the beginning of the ride but 40-45 mins in I just started to fade. Dehydration is a plausable answer, but I dunno.

Still doesn't address my general lack of motivation....

L

Lonnie Utah said:

I was talking to some folks today after I posted this. I may have had a (de)hydration issue today. It was 95 Deg F (37 C) here today with 25% humidity. The guys I was riding with today are both much bigger than me (185 and 200). I'm around 140. I think they both have more H20 reserves than I do. I was fairly good at the beginning of the ride but 40-45 mins in I just started to fade. Dehydration is a plausable answer, but I dunno.

Still doesn't address my general lack of motivation....

L

I think you put your finger on the problem when you said that you don't have any current goals. I always had about one race per month that I was training for and looking forward to: an early race in May to build toward in the late winter and spring; state champs in June, a long RR in July, regional champs in August and a season-ending race in Sept. On the day after the final race in September, I could be dropped by a bunch of girl scouts out for a fun ride. Maybe you need to pick out an event in July and work toward it.

Update: Looks like I've turned the corner. I've juggled my schedule around and I'm now doing more AM rides out of the heat. I've put in a lot (for me) of base miles. I've also increased the length of my "average" ride with some 1/2 centuries. Most efforts have been at 80-85% MHR (which is "normal" for me). I've seen my endurance increase, along with avg speeds increases. Did some climbing yesterday (3000' in 8 miles) and felt pretty good. I guess I was just going through a "bad patch". I'm on well on my way to having my biggest mileage month of the year. My motivation is back too, with my increase in performance....

Thanks for all the suggestions!

L

Lonnie Utah said:

Update: Looks like I've turned the corner. I've juggled my schedule around and I'm now doing more AM rides out of the heat. I've put in a lot (for me) of base miles. I've also increased the length of my "average" ride with some 1/2 centuries. Most efforts have been at 80-85% MHR (which is "normal" for me). I've seen my endurance increase, along with avg speeds increases. Did some climbing yesterday (3000' in 8 miles) and felt pretty good. I guess I was just going through a "bad patch". I'm on well on my way to having my biggest mileage month of the year. My motivation is back too, with my increase in performance....

Thanks for all the suggestions!

L

Glad to hear it. I've gone back to doing base again too. Was having similar motivation problems after 60 minutes of workout. Will probably do it for another 4 weeks or 6 weeks total. I'm going with 75% max though as 80% - 85% would be too hard for me to recover from daily, especially on the trainer, which is where I prefer to do base. I get a better workout from the trainer for some reason. No coasting perhaps. 😉

Thanks for the encouragement Doc. I just got back from this AM's ride and was looking at my training spreadsheet as I was entering today data. 3 of my fastest (avg) rides for the year have been in the last 2.5 weeks (including today). So I must be doing something right.

As a note on my HR, what's 80-85% on my HRM is most likely 70-75% of my true MHR. I've observed close to 200 on it (when I first got it), but I currently have the max set on the display at 191 (the most common observed "max"😉. 220-age = 184. So, long story short, I need to go to the human preformance lab at the University of Utah and get myself tested for $65, and find out what it really is.....

L

Lonnie Utah said:

Thanks for the encouragement Doc. I just got back from this AM's ride and was looking at my training spreadsheet as I was entering today data. 3 of my fastest (avg) rides for the year have been in the last 2.5 weeks (including today). So I must be doing something right.

Cool. Keep it up. I've noticed the same thing in that my trainer avg speeds are higher at 75% max than they used to be. This has been a good Spring/Summer so far for personal bests for me. Much better than last year.

September is when I'm expecting everything to pay off. It starts getting a little cooler in Indiana and by then I'll have much more consistent training under my belt. During the Winter months I have too many respiratory problems to make much in the way of progress.

Quoted post said:

As a note on my HR, what's 80-85% on my HRM is most likely 70-75% of my true MHR. I've observed close to 200 on it (when I first got it), but I currently have the max set on the display at 191 (the most common observed "max"😉. 220-age = 184. So, long story short, I need to go to the human preformance lab at the University of Utah and get myself tested for $65, and find out what it really is.....

The difference in Max that you've noticed could be because you're fitter now and your max HR is lower because of it.

I was going to do a Max HR test this Spring (on my own, not at a lab) but I've not been psyched up enough to do one. Instead I've done a few Joe Friel Lactate Threshold Heart Rate (according to Friel) tests and will probably start using his zones as prescribed in his Training Bible at some point. Haven't gotten around to it yet but for base training it's not critical anyway.