Quick review of my experience so far with trainerroad. I started in November of 2019. My first ftp test was 293w. My A race was a 60k mtb race in June of 2020 that never happened but in the build up to that, I hit a peak in my fitness early and ended up over training. I spent most of the summer aimlessly floating around in specialty and racing random races while being fatigued and overtrained. At one point my ftp was up to 338 but I was failing a lot of workouts. By the end of July, beginning of august, I had enough, I took a week off the bike and hit reset. Started a new plan in august via plan builder for my A race in June (same mtb race as last year).
I started the new plan at an ftp of 319w. The plan goes in this order (all mid volume):
Sweet spot base vol 1
Sustained power build (current phase that I’m working on)
Sweet spot base vol 2
Sustained power build
Sweet spot base vol 2
Specialty cross country marathon
After completing my first base block I tested at 338w
After the first half of build (3 work weeks) I tested at 348w
I’m still feeling fresh and strong. My concern is going from this build phase, to base mid volume 2. I don’t want to burn out, and I feel like I should do another block of base vol 1 at my new ftp. I made huge gains in my first base phase, and I mentally enjoyed it. Yes I will lose some of the top end that I gained in this build phase, but I still have another build phase, another base vol 2 phase, and specialty to tune up the top end. I hit a new vo2 of 63 (per garmin measuring) this morning and I feel amazing, but I now know that I can certainly dig myself into a hole.
So, should instead of going from build to base 2, can I still benefit if I go from build to base 1 and complete base 1 at a much higher ftp. I think it would really give my body time to adjust and make this new ftp really stick.
I’d like to know your thoughts and/or experience on this!