+1 for @brendanhousler if you’re serious about going further with your racing.
Haven’t used him as a coach myself, but had him take a look at files for me and he was super helpful and very on point with advice.
If I could just decide on race goals for 2020 I’d be using him myself 
You certainly could, but as fit as you already are you’d probably want to work some more tempo in than the TB plans incorporate, unless you have lots of free time. Pushing out progressively longer tempo and then SS intervals can be very effective for working on the endurance you’re looking for in the off season.
thanks so much Josh, I appreciate the recommendation! Cheers!
One year on after asking this question I wanted to thank you all and give an update.
For many of us, 2020 wasn’t what we were expecting. I tried to make the best of it but I overdid it a bit. I ended up having to take a break from training in July but it wasn’t tragic due to the season being canceled. This bout of slight overtraining was a wake-up call. I decided to start working with a coach and I’m happy to say I have found someone who shares my training philosophy and is investing in my future.
Recently I did some baseline testing with my coach and I have set some lifetime PRs. Having not done true testing for years and zero high intensity for a handful of months I am super happy with the results. As well as happy to see that my bit of overtraining did not cripple me in the long term.
If racing returns in early 2021 I will be heading to Belgium for some racing and then back to the US for the summer. I am so epically pumped for the next season and I hope I can share more results with you in the future.
P.S. @brendanhousler I have been loving your blogs and videos. #nocoast, beta-alanine, and dialing my nutrition with SIS and TORQ have changed me.
hey man! congrats on all the success and finding someone that can help you along the way. Best of luck to you both, and thanks for checking out the blogs!!
This thread has been interesting to read through – definitely gonna try a Tired20 at the end of 4h z2 ride this Sunday.
@bhrylski are you posting your progress anywhere? i’m curious to see how your coach will approach things. no dramas if not
You can find me on Strava @ Bogdan Rylski.
Next time I do tests or if I get to race I will update this thread. I’m also planning on starting a blog after I finish writing my thesis so I will drop a link to that once I get it up and running.
Update: Last week was a big one for me!
I graduated from university with a BSE in Mechatronics and Photonics Engineering, and I did my first “race” of the season.
On 14/2/21 I did the KISS100 B race and it was a crazy introduction to the world of zwift racing. I stuck with the group for pretty much the whole race and only dropped off in the last 2km. I’m sure I was nowhere near as efficient as I could have been and wasted a tone of energy (see all the spikes in the 30s power chart below) but in the end it was an epic workout. I averaged 299 watts for 2h20m which was the real win of the day.
This ended up smashing a bunch of lifetime PR’s for durations between 45m and 2h20m by almost 50W! My next medium term goal is to get to 4W/kg for an effort like this, which at 80kg is 320W.
The best part about it was that, even though it was hard, it didn’t destroy me and I was able to do my normal 2h Z2 workout today (Tuesday, 16/2/21). Over the whole race I had average HR decoupling of about 5% which just goes to show that these hours in the saddle riding Z2 are paying off.
Now, I have another week in my training block and on to a bit of rest. After that, I will probably do some testing in my March block, and if all goes well with travel and accommodations, in April its either Spain for some outdoor training or Belgium for racing.
Update: Testing Week
After a VO2 block in February I tested my 5 and 20 minute power.
Five minute power increased 13 watts from November: 455 → 468
Twenty minute power increased 6 watts from November: 355 → 361
I’m happy with the improvement so far, it’s cool to see my 5min hit 6w/kg and slow but steady progress on the 20 minute effort. Even more exciting to me is seeing my 2hr+ power increase and being able to do harder and harder endurance/tempo rides without them take so much out of me.
