The AI has certainly stopped giving me the yellow and red days although that’s probably a different system. The workouts all continue to increase after the initial growing pains to push it up and then an ftp bump pretty quickly afterwards. There was one time it tried to schedule an easier threshold workout down from the 6’s back into the mid 5’s and I just set it back to the original workout.
I don’t have any reference for where I should be but I’ve felt good so far at 3 workouts/ week plus an endurance ride and 3 zone 2 rides / week.
I can tell my ability to recover continue to improve and my ability to go above ftp efforts recover at sweet spot and go again is much better.
For instance yesterday I did Keith which is 5x10 min starting at sweet spot spiking to 105-125% ftp for 15 seconds every minute. I completed it with no issues although it seemed like it would have been harder from the surges and this was after an outdoor ride with 5000ft of climbing of 2:30 hr the day before.
For some of the workouts I’ve had to do a warmup ride since some warmups are really short at like 3-5 minutes and that’s not enough for me.
The one thing I see an issue with is the start of every block it starts at a PL 1.x ride so not sure what to set it to there. I guess back to a PL 6? Seems like those should start at a more reasonable starting point no? If it started at a PL 4 would make more sense because it’s hard to tell where it wants to end up at for the end of that block.
I’d definitely recommend respecting and following the structure of your prescribed rest weeks. Although they might seem boring, and even feel unnecessary at times, they are an absolutely essential part of getting faster month over month, and year over year. You’ve ramped up your volume substantially and also very quickly since the start of the year, which means that rest weeks are arguably going to be even more important for you.
Also, I’d highly recommend running AI FTP Detection now before your Specialty phase starts next week. You don’t want to come into a Specialty phase with an FTP that’s too low and PLs that are maxed out. We intentionally try to avoid major FTP increases and encourage high PLs during the Specialty phase, and you won’t have much breathing room if you show up in your current state. Adjusting your FTP now will allow for better training over the next four weeks.
In regard to the workouts at the start of a new phase, those typically won’t adapt until you’ve entered that phase, so don’t worry about low workout levels in the future. Next week is a good example. Your workouts all look low, but once you enter that phase on Monday, those workouts should adapt to suit your PLs and current abilities.
Best of luck with your training moving forward! Remember to rest when you need it to ensure that you can keep training like this long-term!
Ya I didn’t think of how having high PLs would affect the next phase but it makes sense to recheck the ftp to have room for growth. I did the ai ftp detection as suggested and it bumped me up to 311 with a little decrease in PLs. I think a modest improvement like that is good. Thanks for the suggestion.
Are you aware new AI FTP calculations don’t happen if you do a 9+ workout synced to zwift. If you check my calendar I’ve done 9.8 and 9.2 sweetspot in March and nothing was suggested.
I found a gran fondo in May that I’ll do. It’s somewhat close to where I’m at. I need to find some type of races in the south of the us to try and do or some duathlons maybe. Not sure yet. I need to do more searching for tt stuff.
I’m at the end of the training plan now. Over the last 12 weeks my ftp went from 288w to 318w with a w/kg going from 3.47 to 4.1. I lost 11lbs in this time.
I’ve been able to stay ahead of the suggested workouts with the majority of rides being marked moderate with a handful in the hard rpe. I still need more stimulus and tried a threshold workout yesterday at 104% ftp for 64 min total work. 4x16 min with 4 min rest and completed it with no issues.
Now it’s time to back off and start a taper for the hilly century. I’ve done a recon of part of the route and it’ll be challenging to pace with constant up and down. Like doin intervals over 5 hours.
I’ll probably take a day off this week for the first time but don’t hold me to it
I did a 20 min test at the beginning of the plan and the ai got me spot on with the ftp. I’ve just been improving too fast. I’d have to keep doing 20min ftp tests every 2 weeks. Remember my ftp has gone up over 10% in 12 weeks.
O ya, for the next plan I’ll try to plan it out better. This is just a last minute thing. This 12 week plan was my starter plan to see how I do with structured training and it seems I respond really well to it. I’ll try to find an event that fits in with my work schedule and try to do a longer build up but maybe also just jump into some tt races to try them out and see how I do just to test things out if they are close. I know I wont improve at this rate next time. Im probably close to my natural level and gains after this will be hard to come by.
Gammon looks nice. This week the plan is giving me a “taper” since it’s the end of the plan but I’m sticking to the 3 hard workouts and I might add the Gammon to it. Iono about sprinting though. I ain’t trying to go nowhere fast
I definitely realize that. I did the recon ride for the gran fondo and it was a group ride the fondo put on but I was getting dropped on the downhills and blew by them on the uphill I do only have an old aluminum bike with 0 aero features. The classic round tube everywhere. My schedule is super weird as I end up riding close to midnight.
I know I know. I did sprints for marathon training too. I’ve just been following the ftp builder plan. I’ll add one too actually as I don’t know my zones above ftp too well. like what is my new 5min,2min 1min power and how I react to those efforts. If I try to surge a bit with the group on the fondo to stay with them on a 1 min climb do I recover enough to maintain sweet spot and recover? I don’t know.
I do only have an old aluminum bike with 0 aero features. The classic round tube everywhere. My schedule is super weird as I end up riding close to midnight.