I’m in the final week of my FTP Builder Plan. I feel so proud of all the sweat I’ve put into it. It was tough, not going to lie.
Now I have some questions about what to do next.
This week is recovery week, and after that, the plan ends. I have in mind to take a few weeks off because, honestly, I’m tired, lol, but still, it’s fun for me to prepare what’s coming in the next month.
If I want to do an FTP test, when ideally should it be? Based on the last AI FTP suggestion, I’m at 260 w/kg (male, 62 kg, 172 cm height). I skipped it because I thought it was too high and continued riding at 254 w/kg.
Is the last recovery week of the plan worth it, or can I skip it and just rest?
It’s getting pitchy cold and dark here, so I’m planning to do mostly indoor rides and hit the gym hard.
I go to the gym often, but since I started cycling more seriously, I haven’t put so much weight into the bar as I used to. I want to focus on that for this winter, and less on cycling (?) if that makes sense.
Do you all follow a specific TrainerRoad plan for off-season that lets you spend more time in the gym? Or rather, change the priorities a bit?
If you’re planning to take time off the bike, I’d do my next FTP test when you come back to training. If you find you’re ramping up quickly and your training is ineffective, you can always take another test, but that’s one of the big advantages of TR…your FTP can be a bit high or low and the PL system will help manage that.
If you’re planning to take a few months to just focus on the gym, but still ride a bit, I’d work with the Plan Builder to create a plan for that. I know one of the goals you can choose is “Maintain Fitness” and you can adjust how many workouts you want it to prescribe per week.
As amateurs, I am all for doing what we want, what is most fun for us. That said, there may be some contradiction here. If you are wanting to improve your cycling, the offseason is a great time to do that. Weight training can be an important part, but what I often see is that many amateurs take significant time away from structured training (2-3) months, and then wonder why they are not progressing year over year. So weight training can increase, but if you want to improve your cycling, don’t forget the bike work.
I agree that you’ll need at least a few days of easy riding/rest after your final tough week before being in prime shape to perform well in a fitness test. Doing it after or at least towards the end of your recovery week is probably best.
In terms of offseason gym work, if your goals are to get stronger and balance life fitness, then strength training is hard to beat. If you’re getting back into the gym to realize new gains on the bike in the coming season, then I agree with @KonaSS in that keeping up with cycling to some extent is going to be important.
