Time to lock in - Opinions on plan please?

Training
1

Just come back from France trip, stayed in Bourg-d’ Oisans, here’s some context.

I did a ride most days, couple of trail run/ hikes for recovery.

Managed to get up the Alpe d’Huez and complete the official strava segment in 59 minutes (i wanted sub 1 hour so very chuffed as it was red hot)… held 300w for the hour (at 178 pound weight).

I did a ride from Bourg to top of Galibier solo at a very strict zone 2 (200/210w) in 3 hours 20, averaging 135bpm HR and 200w (the descent back was UNREAL, near enough an hour from the top back to my chalet), again, red hot.

Lots of other riding like Croix de Fer, Deux Alpes etc, if you’ve ever been on the fence about going, just do it, unreal (trumps Dolomites for me personally - Corvara area)

I’ve got the love back for cycling and I want to reach 4.5w per kg, I’m going to be dropping to 171 pounds, very very slowly, no massive calorie deficits etc. I’m currently sitting at 320w (aiFTP) and 178 pounds.

I’m going to be doing the Fred Whitton for a 4th time next year (club spot) and I’m going for 6 hours 30 (done 7 couple years ago). That’s not until May so loads of time.

Question… do I do FTP training plan blocks leading up to 6 months out from Fred where I put that as an A race, if so, do i do a little 4 week block now after a lot of base training I’ve been doing (I road run, fell run, trail run and road/ gravel cycle) and really focus on TR workouts and see where that puts me (predicted 336w in 4 weeks with a 4 week training block) or do I put a full 12 week base/build/specialty in?)

I work 12 hour shifts (2 days, 2 nights, 4 days off) so tend to select masters plans due to night shifts, I’m 38 years old.

Thanks in advance.

2

Do you plan on taking any sort of downtime or offseason between now and Fred Whitton?

If so, maybe two longer plans could be a good option. One from now until the end of the year or so, and then another one from post-break until the event.

This would give you a good few cycles of base, build, and specialty, and likely set you up really well for success in May.

Let me know your thoughts, and if you have any other specific questions I can help out with. :+1:

3

So from looking at the plan builder, a full Grand Fondo plan wants 24 weeks (8 base/8 build/8 specialty), if i put that to start 23rd November, I think that gives me a really solid block over winter (i live in UK) and I spend most of my time on the turbo then anyway so can really lock in (i tend to go Gran Canaria Nov/ Dec and Mallorca March/ April ish.)

Is the FTP plan going to bring FTP on better than just ‘TrainNow’? It doesn’t look to me like there’s a huge difference between the base/ build and specialty blocks.

I don’t tend to do any off season, I sort of mix fell running and cycling… i just chop and change through the year depending what I’m enjoying, this would be the first time in a long time I’ll really focus on cycling