Hi fellow trainerroaders. I’ve just come to the end of 2 x FTP builder plans running approximately from mid-December till mid Feb and seen some good gains, assuming TR is measuring my FTP level correctly. The workouts have been challenging but I’ve managed to complete them all with 3 harder workouts (e.g. sweetspot, under overs and VO2 ) and one easy Z2 each week totalling about 5.5 hours and I run a couple of times a week. My FTP has gone from 237 in early December to 271 today, which is a little higher than I’ve ever been. Can you give me any tips on what might be a good programme next, given I am concerned that continuing on with FTP might be overambitous? As a context, I am ideally hoping to develop my bike leg in a standard duathlon, with a 25km bike leg of just over an hour in length. This is why a strong 1 hour power seems a sensible aim. Thanks folks and a massive thank you to the TR team for developing a great product!
IMO it all depends on what your goals are. Personally, I finished an FTP increase program in January, and then started a ‘getting faster for group rides’ program, to (hopefully) be ready for those types of rides in the spring.
I don’t have any events on the calendar this year, so nothing specific to target, but it sounds like you have at least one event, so maybe put that as your target.
I’m guessing you’ve done a lot of sweetspot amd threshold as your intervals, and you’re probably going to want to go back to that as it’s event-specific.
If it was me, I’d do something different for a month or two in order to get a novel stimulus and a break from Zone 4.
Thanks @Helvellyn Any feedback on good programmes you’ve used?
Depends what you like. If you drop custom build or specialty phases on to your calendar for different cycling disciplines you can get an idea of what they’ll have you doing. Sometimes, if cycling isn’t paying your bills, it’s good to just try something new for fun, with the fact that it might improve your fitness being a bonus.
They’ll all have some VO2 Max work, but different flavours. See which ones you like the look of. The same goes for Anaerobic work. Best of all, once they’re on your calendar you can edit the workout and change it to a different subtype and the AI will swap in a completely different style (eg replacing VO2 Max on/offs with traditional intervals) at a suitable level of difficulty, which is a super-cool feature, I reckon.
Thanks will do some modelling. The FTP plan suggests a further 3% increase in a month from now so it will be interesting to compare with other plans for more general fitness.
Not sure when your goal race is but a 2 Month Getting faster for Zwift Racing is a fun one. Hard Start Sweet Spot and more mixed intervals. If you are looking for variety.
If the race is relatively soon I’d probably do a custom plan builder and treat the race as a TT.