Email arrived today about this new guide from HighNorth:
and after receiving the download link, they sent another email with supplemental materials:
Bought it partly to leave a tip, because I’ve enjoyed and periodically re-read the free articles on the website.
I was just reading the free sample earlier about periodisation. Was tempted to splash out as well, as they generally do create well written guides and info. Was wondering from the index if it really offered much in the way of new ideas though? Would it be helpful in creating a self coached plan I wonder?
Well first off I wanted to leave a “tip in the jar” for HighNorth’s articles, love 'em. Quickly flipped through it and seems like a handy guide to have on the bookshelf for when I go back to self-coaching.
edit: worth it for the FTP testing section alone 
“In our experience, the ramp test is the least accurate of the three methods…” with, as always, a balanced discussion of pros and cons.
What exactly do you mean by “Others that get individual wko data have workouts pre-designed and just require adjustments to time and power targets.”?
Did I understand correctly that you just get the workout description and have to create the structure to be exported e.g. to Zwift I need to make myself? Seems a bit lazy on their behalf…
Sounds like a plan from Coach Tim Cusick:
You can choose between:
Those are buy once, use anytime. The iLevel plans do require more involvement and decision making, although you can simply write down intervals and do them.
Full list of plans, and details on Undulating plans here: https://www.velociouscyclingadventures.com/training-plan-list
Yep, thats correct. With a Tim Cusick WKO plan, you need to build each workout from scratch based on the description they provide. An alternative are plans by cpt cycling. His workouts are prebuilt, but you adjust the interval targets by looking at your data in wko.
I enjoyed the time challenged undulating periodisation plan. Worked well for me, keeping me engaged in training and I built some solid improvements.
I was just looking at his ‘Base Building Plus’ plans, but its hard to find out anything specific about them - all the sample weeks on his plans are week 1 and pretty much just a load of short z2 sessions, so understanding the differences and how the plans develop is impossible.
Anyone know anything about these plans?
or buy the Classic Zone version, which has pre-built workouts just like TR but in TrainingPeaks, and modify based on WKO and the information in YouTube webinars. Super easy and quick (10-20 seconds) to modify workouts in TP.
50% off sale is on. One thing about Frank, he is consistent!!
I have had a custom 6 month plan created by a coach via TP - Rob Lee, for a goal endurance event in the spring of '22. Despite NOT being coaching, and simply being a plan, he has gone to a huge amount of effort to personalise it and even fitted it around my existing commitments, work schedule etc as well of course to my goal event, weekly hours, preferred days for training, training history etc. He has even held off writing the 2nd half until he has a chance to see how I perform vs the first few weeks of the plan.
His focus is similar to what many have talked about above, with a Base period focused on lots of z2 and z3 work (Coggan zones) in lots of interesting ways, and a transition to Build with a weekly structure broadly 2 interval days and lots of endurance work and some group rides etc. Classic sweetspot does not seem to feature at all…
VERY happy with his responsiveness and the detail of the plan and feels like money very well spent after spending so much energy trying to adapt ‘working man plans’ to my circumstances. I’d be very tempted to work with him as a coach if I could afford and justify it 
Curious if you asked him about this and what his thoughts are/were.
I haven’t received the 50% off email yet. Have you got your?
TBH I haven’t - I haven’t got the final part of the plan yet and was slightly conscious of overstepping the line between coaching and a plan, as I did have several conversations about other stuff. I will ask him next time we catch up though.
If I was guessing it might be because he does include a big base period - now until end Jan is ALL z2/3 work and up to 13-15 hours per week, so I guess there is no need for any added intensity as there is a lot of z3 volume. There are some sessions that include ‘top’ of z3 time, which I guess is bordering on SST, but its not for extended periods and is very much the exception. I’ve only got the start of the next phase but its much more ‘polarised’ (small p) with 2 intensity days and the rest pretty much endurance focused - I guess this is about getting the intensity in and building FTP & TTE with more focused sessions, so no need to shoot low. Overall I recognise a lot from the Tim Cusick WKO webinars in the overall structure so far.
Also note the goal is a 3 day 350 mile >10,000m fondo, so aerobic endurance and muscular endurance are the keys here.
I had an email last night saying ‘put something in your cart and we’ll email you the code’ so maybe its being a little more targetted this time? I#ve done that but not received a code yet anyway… 
I did get an email this morning that the normal 50% off thing was happening.
But I didn’t pay close attention and the sale starts in about 14 hours.
Looks like if you add something to your cart they will email a code back.
I have the long SS plan and the climbing interval plan. Bought them last year and honestly didn’t run them to completion for time reasons. The “intermediate” plan is fairly stout but are good as canned plans go.
ON EDIT: FAST50 is the code.
Got this on Friday:
"… Black Friday and Cyber Monday are around the corner and the sale starts next Tuesday, Nov. 23!
We’ve got an incredible Black Friday deal in store for you. Keep an eye out for an email from us next Tuesday …"
and an email today saying you can load up your cart now and receive a 50% discount coupon tomorrow/Tuesday.
I’ve done Base Building Plus twice, worked really well for me - in fact my two best seasons ever after doing it. And I have done TR and paid for well known coaches in other years.
It’s similar to Tim Cusick’s more regular plans but more indoor focused - there’s a bit more variety in terms of intervals to keep life interesting on the trainer. Also as you go into the plan he gives you the option to swap in Zwift races in some of the weeks.
Had anyone used the FasCat meal plans? I see they’re 50% off currently (along with Fastcat training plans). I’m considering pulling the trigger on one of the meal plans but wanted to see if anyone here had input first. Thanks!
I’ve used the FasCat meal plans for inspiration, as we have always eaten balanced and cooked most meals. Using those principles I’ve been steadily losing 3 pounds a month, and over last 2 months increased riding to 8.5 hours/week (average) and successfully navigated a post-C19 return to fitness.
