Recovery week into week one

Disclaimer: I only read as far as the second paragraph where you said that you are decreasing both volume and intensity during recovery weeks.  After that, I quickly got information overload. 

Instead of reducing both, only decrease volume.  Maintain the same intensity as the build weeks.  This can help you recovery without feeling "flat".

I agree with maintaining intensity during your recovery week.

I'd also go a step further and suggest just ditching the recovery week.  If your legs start to feel fatigued to the point where you cannot perform as prescribed, just take a day off.  Do this as needed, not on a schedule.

You mentioned power; do you track tss? If so, you might be able to check and see if you are letting your ctl drop too much during recovery. I like to hold my ctl flat during my recovery week which means my atl will come down to ctl levels, but not lower. That pretty much levels everything out because the faster I am ramping ctl, the more atl will come down, and the more recovery I'll get. I wonder where your tsb is at the end of the recovery week... Keep note of that number so you'll know how much taper you need.

I'm still keeping intensity during my recovery week because I do a fair amount of testing. Pretty soon I'll be throwing in some b and c races (5ks/10ks and sprints) during my recovery week to check my progress.

First 4 years I trained, I did build weeks then recovery week. I did 3/1 and even 2/1 and towards the end 10 days/4 days. The following year I worked on training consistently and rarely took rest day or rest week. Turns out my body handled consistent volume and intensity (gradually building training load) much better and I felt more even all the time.  It had been put in my head that I need to do build/recovery weeks but I found that wasn't true which surprised me. I worked with coaches during this time and my 4th year with same coach found I was tired often and felt fatigued. In hindsight it was my volume was inconsistent that my body didn't handle well. When I switched to consistent training I think I had 3 rest weeks in 8 months.

What works for me is to have a weekly schedule that fits into my life that goes from general to race specific as I progress to my goal races.

Like Micheal mentioned above, take rest day or two when you need it.

I agree, there's nothing wrong with doing it this way.

The traditional 3 weeks on/1 week off or 2 weeks on/1 week off cycle only exists because that's what's convenient for most people's schedules with work & family.  Microcycles don't need to be 7 days.  They can be anywhere from 2 - 14 days.  Moderating volume within each week can accomplish the same thing.

For example, 5 days on, 2 days of reduced volume for recovery each week.

Thanks for the replies. I think I'm going to try exactly that and retool and see how that goes. This obviously isn't working for me so I'm more than willing to keep trying until I find the right balance.

I'm a power newbie. Although I track my power its more in a general workout way right now. So I know on my long rides I'll average around 220. A shorter zone 1 ride 190's. A recovery ride 165-175. Intervals or speed intervals 240-255. I haven't worked it out into aggregates for the week but that's the next step.

Thanks for the advice. I'm from MA as well and I'm doing Patriot and Pumpking this year. I hope the injury recovery is going well and perhaps we'll meet up.