What next (or more generally, what kind of structure throughout the year)?

Training
1

Due to work/family obligations, I generally am only doing solo outdoor or indoor rides during the week. I also do 1-2 strength workouts a week. I don’t race at all. I’m looking to generally increase my overall fitness, and increase my FTP to get faster on my rides.

I’ve been doing a 2 month “road - general fitness - increase FTP” plan via plan builder, and this has been pretty productive so far. But I am now thinking about what to do next to increase my gains.

Do I begin another 3 month “increase FTP” plan after this one ends? Do I just continue that same cycle thereafter, i.e., base, build, specialty –> base, build, specialty? Or should I be doing or thinking of structuring my training in other ways through the year?

2

You’ve already limited yourself slightly by saying you want to increase your FTP to get faster on your rides.

That’ll work, obviously, but it’s not the only way to get faster on your rides. You could get faster by increasing your short power to blast up 1 minute climbs or through some rollers.

Besides, a change every now and again is good, physiologically and psychologically. Sometimes the best plan is the one that’s the most fun.