I’m happily resigned to not going for any short-term goals other than getting more fit and enjoying riding. I’ve been prioritizing lifting 3-5x/week and will likely continue that trend. I just finished low-volume sweet spot base I, and my ramp test went up just over 10%. I was doing low-volume to prioritize hitting all the prescribed workouts and adding longer aerobic rides 2-3x/month when I was able.
I still don’t think I have time (given my other commitments/priorities) for mid-volume, and I’m learning toward rolling back to the beginning of sweet-spot base I on low volume and maybe try adding more consistent aerobic volume (1 longer ride per week). I think that more than 2-3 days of intensity will impede the weight training and that the extra intensity days on the bike would also suffer from the weights.
So, this year: enjoy riding, build aerobic base, get stronger. Next year: try some more races. My power profile is skewed toward respectable peak power, 20-40 second power being my comparative advantage, and 20±minute power being weaker on a watts/kg scale.
How would you proceed for the next few months?