Some background:
The unpredictability of life had always made it hard to stack and good base build phases. Sure, I would be able to get a good 6 weeks but some life stress would derail me and I couldn’t follow that up with another 6 weeks. It always seemed like 2 steps forward and one step back.
We made some life changes and I have been able to train with incredible consistency since mid November. I only saw an FTP raise of 7 watts and have since decided to dial it back 5 watts as everything was just too hard.
I completed 95% of the workouts with 100% compliance and got some really good recovery in there but was failing to see the FTP ramp one would expect after 6 months of super solid training; perhaps the best 6 months of my adult athletic career.
I have avoided group rides since April of '19, avoided COVID and got vaccinated. The lockdowns and general COVID stress prevented me from executing much focused training in 2020 at all, but I was still able to race a few triathlons and saw my AP and NP numbers slip each race as expected given my ‘training’.
First group ride back I got a few power PRs but nothing earth shattering as I was more focused on re-learning how to ride in the group. Ride 2 came with much more success!! I didn’t ride specifically hard, but when I was cooling down I was an IF of .96 and wondered what the ride would look like.
Came home to this:
FTP has more or less stayed the same but something is very very different in my fitness! Excited to go with the faster group and see what else there is in the tap. Also racing next weekend so I’ll get my first real snapshot of my fitness in comparison to last year.
Good job!