Help me decide which plan to do next

Training
1

I’ll be doing the Sea Otter Classic road race this Friday and I am trying to figure out which plan to do next. I started doing TR (my first indoor and first structured training) in December 2022, using the low volume criterium plan builder plan. After Sea Otter I don’t really have any other events scheduled. To date I mostly like to either ride around with others or go for Strava KOMs for fun (VERY unstructured). My bread and butter is Strava segments of ~1 minute in length. My sprint is around 1,400w, I haven’t tested 30s or 60s recently but they were about 850w and 700w before TR, 5m 365w, 20m 322w, with my supposed FTP around 300w based on that 20m power. I usually ride about 3-6 hours per week. When I ride outside I usually go 30-60 miles.

The low volume criterium plan seems to be two V02 rides per week and one threshold ride during the build phase, with two anaerobic rides per week and one V02 ride during the speciality phase. With my FTP in TR set to about 290w I managed to get to PL levels of 6.8 threshold (ex. Montalban), 8.9 for V02 (ex. Tenjo), 11.0 anaerobic (ex. Gardiner +1). Through this training I was surprised my FTP was still set at 290w with these PLs and adaptive training on, perhaps it’s because of the focus on V02 and anaerobic? Or perhaps I’m just relatively weaker at threshold and SS vs anaerobic/sprint as compared to an average enthusiast?

For my next block I’m considering a couple options:

  1. Continue with low volume criterium plan, or switch to low volume rolling road race to mix it up slightly? It looks like rolling road race would be a little more V02 and less anaerobic vs the criterium plan.

  2. Try low volume climbing road race, seemingly with two V02 rides and one threshold ride during specialty (specialty climbing road race seems to be build in criterium?)

  3. Try 40k TT, which it seems is just all threshold during specialty

Would the 40K TT plan help me build my FTP more than climbing road race or rolling road race? I’m mostly just doing this for fun and fitness and would like to stay on one of the low volume plans. I occasionally add a zone 2 ride in from time to time or will trade my scheduled weekend ride with a group ride when desired.

2

I’d choose whatever plans looks the most fun and interesting since you’re not training for anything specific. That will likely not be the one you just completed. They’ll all get you to pretty much the same spot FTP wise. Might be a good time to experiment with a plan you wouldn’t otherwise do if you were training for a race.