Adjusting Training on the Fly - Week 4 Recap
One thing that helps me stay consistent with my own training is not drowning in the details. I keep a general idea of what I need to get done but allow myself flexibility to adjust as needed and don’t get maniacal. I rely mostly on how I feel to guide each session and don’t stress about missing specific workouts, because I don’t really plan anything out in detail to begin with.
I’ll always have directionality — short intervals, long intervals, steady state, threshold, easy, max effort reps, etc. — but I usually wait until I’m done the warm up to figure out exactly what I’m going to do. Sometimes I go harder than expected, sometimes easier, but I always make sure to get it done.
It may seem haphazard but it works for me, and it helps that I live and breathe this type of stuff. So me not having a specific plan is far different than someone who isn’t an exercise physiologist. However, I am interested in hiring a coach at some point to see how I could benefit from a tad bit more structure. But for now, I haven’t seen any signs of a plateau or things going wrong.
A Blizzard
This definitely was not an ideal training week. For one we got hit with about 2 feet of snow which derailed any running on Monday and Tuesday. I also just didn’t feel great. I think the lack of sunlight is getting to me. Not sick, just a bit “lazier” than usual. The biggest sign of that was the thought of 3-4 min rowing intervals at 2000m race pace (a key workout I’ve been doing) felt repulsive the entire week. I just didn’t have the mental fortitude to do it.
I’m chalking it up to the weather and the fact the previous 2 weeks were my biggest volume weeks since early December, so the body is probably just figuring things out.
So, I decided to keep most of my hard days to right around threshold. Not quite what I wanted since the 2000m row requires more intensity and I’m trying to prioritize those 2-5min hard intervals. But, it was still enough to drive some adaptation and fitness without pushing myself to the brinks of hell.
Totals: 40.53 miles🏃 | 69.3km 🚣🏼 | 57.31 miles 🚴♂️ | 24 mins 🏋🏻 | (13h 14min)
Monday
(AM): 65min steady bike ride at 195 W (RPE 3)
(PM): 60min easy row with 10 x 100m in the last 20min (RPE 2)
Tuesday
(AM): Threshold intervals (rower):
Easy warm up
16 x 90 sec / 30 sec at 260W avg.
5km easy cool down (56min, RPE 5)
(PM): Over-unders (rower):
15min warm up
2 sets of 3min-3min-3min-3min / 5min recovery
Each 3min interval alternated just below and just above threshold. I was shooting for roughly 250 and 270 W but this was harder than expected.
Set 1: 243, 259, 232, 260 W | Set 2: 263, 232, 264, 238 W
On the second set, I started at above threshold in effort to ramp up my VO2 faster, per my previous article.
Wednesday
(AM): 62min steady bike at 202 W with some 15 sec sprints at ~500+ W (RPE 3)
(PM): 10 mile treadmill run (RPE 4):
Warm up + 20 min at 6:27/mile (tempo)
5 x 60 sec / 60 sec at threshold
5 x 30 sec / 90 sec at 5k down towards mile pace
Run at 6:50/mile until I hit 10
(PM): Lift (RPE 5)
DB reverse lunges, lat pull downs, hack squats, dips
Thursday
(PM): 45min easy row with 6 x 20 sec efforts (RPE 3)
(PM): 45 min treadmill run with 3 x 1 mile at threshold (5:52/mile)
This was at 9pm and I felt like shit from not eating enough.
Friday
OFF 😱. The body was feeling cooked. But I made up for it Saturday.
Saturday
(AM): 42min row (RPE 5)
2000m warm up
2 sets of 10 x 30 sec / 30 sec at around race pace. Averaged 358 W and 368 W for the first and second sets
2000m cool down
(PM): 11 mile steady run outside (78 min, RPE 3)
+ 3 mile treadmill jog with some 30 sec efforts at 5k pace
(PM): 32min row (RPE 4)
1500m warm up
10 x 60 sec / 60 sec at 300 W average
1500m cool down
Sunday
(PM): 10 mile run outside with some 20-60 sec pickups on the back half (65min, RPE 5)
(PM): 60 min easy bike at 180 W while watching the Millrose Games.
All in all it was a decent week. Not great. But stacking the weeks rather than specific workouts is what matters.
I really like the premise of “adjusting on the fly”, because it’s the closest thing we have to evidence-based training in real life: responding to physiology, not ego.
From a physician-scientist lens, the strongest athletes (and the healthiest trainees) aren’t the ones who never miss; they’re the ones who can interpret signals and preserve adaptation. When you modulate load based on readiness (sleep quality, resting HR/HRV trends, soreness distribution, motivation, and session RPE) you’re essentially protecting the two things that drive progress: recovery capacity and tissue tolerance. That’s not “being soft”; it’s minimizing allostatic load so the next hard session actually lands.
I also appreciate the implicit distinction between “I’m tired” and “I’m under-recovered.” One is normal training fatigue; the other is a warning state (irritability, persistent sleep disruption, unusually elevated RPE, plateauing performance, frequent niggles). Your approach models a smart middle path: keep the habit, shift the dose; swap intensity for technique, reduce volume, move to Zone 2, or make it a mobility + strength maintenance day, so you still accumulate consistency without borrowing from tomorrow.
This is exactly the kind of grounded transparency that helps people train for longevity, not just for a single week’s scoreboard.
I like how this shows that smart training isn’t always about pushing max effort. Listening to your body can make hard work more sustainable and effective!