Workout Too Hard?--Dealing With Too Much Work

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Workout Too Hard--Dealing With Too Much Work (Introduction)

How do you deal with the situation where you are unable to perform a planned workout?

It is hard to know precisely ahead of time how much work one can do during a workout session. Even riders with considerable experience may over or underestimate their abilities on any given day.

You may have planned a workout but be fatigued due to recent training or non-training stresses. Training stresses may include recently working harder than planned or completing a block (several continuous days) of training. Non-training stresses may include job-related, family, or financial problems.

The workload may also be different than expected. Although controlled settings—keeping gearing and cadence constant, the tire pressure the same, and the pinch-roller the same distance/pressure into the rear tire—allow generally repeatable power loads, sometimes just a small variation can change the power requirement of a previously determined exercise.

There are generally three approaches:

·    ●   Abort

·    ●   Tough it out

·    ●   Adjust