Well it’s exactly one year (well a year and two days) since I rejoined TR. I was intending to ease things off through summer but obviously this year things didn’t pan out as planned so I ended up doing a full Base => Build => Speciality sequence and then continued with a plan (via Plan Builder) for an event in May 2021. Didn’t help that I broke my collarbone in January so a slight interruption!
I started with an FTP of 241W, my weight was 86kg so 2.8W/kg. I saw a steady increase in FTP and by mid-March I’d got to 266W, same weight, so 3.1W/kg. I’m now 61 years old BTW.
Over summer I didn’t retest so carried on at 266W, I felt that I was a couple of percentage points down on what my true FTP was - things like over-unders never felt too bad.
Retested yesterday and saw an increase of 6W to 272W. I’ve lost a kilo (actually fluctuating between 84 & 85kg) so I’m at 3.2W/kg. That’s a 13% increase. Ultimate aim is to get to 3.5W/kg which at my current weight means I need to get to 298W but a 5kg weight loss drops that target to 280W.
It’s been a great year, thanks for asking! Solid 10% power growth from October, 2019 (program start) through April, 2020. Then I did most of my desired Audax events from May through September even with a pandemic afoot. Just retested and I’m only a few watts off of my May peak.
So now I get to start my off season training and seek another 10% “two steps forward” before my in season “one step backward” begins next May. Maybe I’ll do even better this off-season since I’m hoping to avoid the lure of Saturday small group rides and sticking to TR threshold sessions. Sunday only for my friends!
I traded about 50 watts for a baby. It’s been amazing and so worth it. But don’t know if I’ll do it again
Slowly building back up. June, 3 months PP, I was at 190w and 150lbs. Now I’m at 205 (due to retest!) and 145lbs. Hoping for 210 or higher after a recovery week. Will focus on those last 5-10lbs next year, heh!
