I’m a masters athlete on a pretty standard 5 day/wk schedule with 2 intensity days. Balanced approach overall except Sweet Spot and Endurance are set to Demanding. I’ve got rafts of tips n tricks I could prattle on about in a self-satisfying manner but honestly I suspect the main trick is that I am consistent as hell.
My main consistency trick is simply “Wednesdays”.
Wednesdays easy ride is always optional for scheduling adjustments. If I have to miss a workout anywhere in the week I will pluck out the next Wednesday workout and shift all workouts later by a day and be back to normal the following Thursday. That way I don’t have to miss important sessions and I preserve the relationship between workouts, in particular rest days and intense days. I try very hard to preserve my 2 intense workouts and the rest days preceding them and at least one endurance+ workout even if that means sliding them to neighboring days.
I use de-load weeks in a similar way. If I have to compress a de-load week from either end to accommodate a schedule change I will do that too. But I don’t skip those rides. I treat de-load weeks as equally important to any other week. They just have a little more wiggle room from a fatigue perspective and I will use that sometimes.
Ya I had a few setbacks this year too. Had to do the climb from 306-318 twice. But I found the second time was easier. Regaining old fitness is usually easier than building new fitness as it is with strength gains.
Sometimes I’ve wondered about this, when I read some TR post where an Athlete has been following the plan to the T and there AIFTP dropped a few points or stayed flat, I’ve wondered if TR does this for a reason.
I do find that getting back the fitness the second time is a bit easier than the first build also.
Oh it was just life getting in the way. I got off schedule, had my day to day overwhelmed by other things and just had to reset and come back and accept the fitness setback. It wasn’t TR that set me back it was life doing its thing on me.
Another FTP increase this time to 346. Which puts me above 5 W/kg.
This increase was at the start of Build. Going into the first vo2 session was 6x2 at 405. To say I was nervous about this workout as I don’t ever recall doing any efforts at 400+ watts unless it was a sprint in an endurance ride.
But I crushed it and honestly wasn’t that bad given how much I was prepared to fail.
I really have no idea what’s behind this huge increase in FTP but TR has not let me down this year.
Think I’m peaking at a ~22w increase for my A-event this year, in part because I’ve been doing some daft 8-10 hour rides that have stunted the gains but otherwise feeling great when doing hard efforts.
I have 22 watts increase in my FTP since january when AI was unleashed . Thats my 3rd year with TR. I am doing the lowest volume of my “cycling career”. Like 30% lower.
wouldnt you be worried that you are overdoing it though? just cause ftp goes shooting up in the short term doesnt make it sustainable. i would think ftp going up 25w over 6 months would be better than it going up 25w in 3 months and then being exhausted and unable to maintain that ftp.
I will not say that 22 watts in my case is super big for 8 months of riding. but i hold it for about 20 minutes. I want to be clear that i do not train anything higher than sweet spot, so that should be trainable. If i wanted to and upped my Threshold interval training i would certainly hold it for longer -30 mins -35 mins. My FTP is about 20 watts lower than my best year, but still good for the lower volume i do compared to my best year like 30% lower. I prepare for trail running marathon and cycling took a big hit.
Can’t say with rigour - long FTP/ at threshold efforts aren’t a thing in my training and the local roads are less than ideal.
In the zones where I can compare with the same period last year (on the different AIFTP model), power is up in the 2-8 minute range. Have also been comfortable with some solid 2x and 3x 20 SS sessions. So finger in the air, ~35-45 minutes outdoors.
Here with another update. Only a 2 watt increase this time to 348.
To put this into perspective back in March I did Wild Snow VO2 5.6 the target watts were 350 for 2 mins. I did Wild Snow last week and I was doing 390 for 2 mins.
I’m pretty happy with a 2 watt increase. I finally feel like I’ve reached a ceiling and a realistic FTP to start my season in 2 weeks time.
. Thats my 3rd year with TR. I am doing the lowest volume of my “cycling career”. Like 30% lower.