Hi GreenRyan,
Welcome to TR community. Recently I was new to this community and found it to be supportive.
You will find a lot of information, some of it contradictory. Not everyone responds the same way, so somethings that work for others will not work for you, etc.
As you learn I think you will observe that one of the truths that you hear a lot is
“Stick with the structured workouts.” I know that seems obvious, but two things can happen. One is you can overtrain because you were feeling good. And that works for a while, usually a short while if you are like most of us. The other thing that happens is you skip workouts. There are times to listen to your body an other times to stick with the plan.
I would counsel staying away from short-cuts. In other words start with Base plan and don’t skip it. That kind of goes with sticking with structured workouts, doesn’t it?
Listen to the podcasts and learn. There is a so much to learn from the TR team and their guests. It is really an education. Over time you will glean a lot.
Now this may sound contradictory, but stay attuned to how your body is responding to training stress. And if it is not working, be willing to change the plan. When I started with TR the ramp test gave me an FTP that was above my abilities. So, I dialed it back. And for me that was wise. And surprisingly it worked well in the early stage of structured training. (Ramp test gave me an FTP of 216 and I couldn’t do it. I felt ill at the intensity. TR made it easy to adjust FTP or intensity of a particular work out, so I did. I dialed my FTP to 195 for a period. Now FTP is up to 236.
I recommend being patient. That is not the advice we all like to hear. But if you stay with the workouts, over 3-6 months you will see significant progress.
Consider including stretching and strength training in moderation. You will be happy you did.
One of my biggest lessons was to learn to be less stupid. What that means to me is if you are feeling really good, don’t change your workouts to be harder, stick with the plan. If you are not feeling well, be patient and don’t rush getting back on the bike or tackling big workouts. I had a period of about 6 weeks where I couldn’t work out. I was able to ease back into TR workouts and start working again. And if you look at my progress it doesn’t seem to have set me back.
Good luck to you and please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions, want to bounce something off of me.
SoaringBear