I missed a session. Do I make it up?

Tuesday’s threshold sat on the calendar. Life happened. Wednesday is already written. The instinct is to stack both days so the week still “counts.” That is how good blocks turn into junk weeks.

The rule

Missed easy work is gone. Missed hard work can move once — onto an easy day — if you feel ready. It never stacks on top of another hard day. Do not add a second hard day later to catch up.

What is worth moving

Key sessions: threshold, VO2, race-pace, the long ride. One of those can slide to the next easy day in the same week if sleep and legs are decent.

What is not worth moving

Recovery spins. Short Zone 2 fillers. The ride you were going to do “just to hit hours.” Those do not get repaid.

What people get backwards

Copy-pasting Tuesday onto Wednesday and keeping Wednesday’s intervals. Two hard days with no space is not discipline. It is how the third day gets sloppy and the weekend long ride falls apart.

Making up a missed week by stuffing extra intervals into the next seven days. Consistency across months beats a perfect looking calendar this week.

Skipping the next easy day as punishment for missing the hard one. An easy ride does not throw the week away. A stacked hard day can.

How to decide in the morning

Feel good, motivated, sleep was reasonable: move the key session onto today’s easy slot. Drop today’s easy work. Do not do both.

Feel wrecked, short night, residual heat or a heavy group ride still in the legs: the key session is gone. Easy ride or day off. The next written hard day stays where it is. No catch-up.

When in doubt, ease off.

If you miss two or three days

Do not rebuild the lost hours in one week. Resume the plan. Keep the next key session if you feel ready. Cut volume before you cut the remaining quality. Do not invent extra intervals to “get back on track.”

A few missed days barely move fitness. Stacked intensity after a gap is a common way to get sick or flatten the next block.

Race week is different

The race still happens. A training session can move. Do not invent extra quality to make up for a messy build. Cut the hours. Keep a few hard efforts, but fewer of them.