Im atm. doing some medium volume training plans, and did so last year too. Last year i came from surgery, and 1 month totally off exercise into med vol - to train for LaMarmotte. I started at 238 and ended at 298 - which i was pleased with.
Im doing some med vol again - after a year where i havent trained so much, because of another surgery which held me from doing proper training in off-season - and just now - a couple of months back i got my motivation.
I started ramp test, and tested 244 couple of months ago, and last test was at 258. With maintaining and doing med vol over the winter, and added some extra hours in the weekends - what would you think is reachable? in terms of FTP come april? Currently at SBMV2, going into build in a couple of weeks.
I weight 82kg and my goal is to cut 4-5kgs off.
And whats your experience? Is it posible to hit 4 w/kg with med vol?
When i started trainerroad ( 2 years ago ) i went from 229 to 265 on mid volume base than did low volume build and continued low volume ( because of baby arrival ) and was able to add another 15w to 280 W and reached 4W per kg . Back to Mid volume base hoping to edge closer to 300W
What is reachable is difficult to say just stick to a plan and pay attention to recovering well ! gains are made during recovery ( food , sleep etc) so sometimes less time on the bike can be better
There were/are 2 problems with medium volume (for me at least; YMMV).
If you add much to it at all, recovery starts to become a challenge.
If - like me - you want to keep in longer outside rides ‘for fun’ (rather than as outside workouts) then to match the TSS you end up cutting some of the tougher scheduled interval workouts. That catches up with you a few weeks later when you can’t complete intervals (at least without absolutely burying yourself).
I think if you’re really committed to the program, it’s great, but beware of the unintended consequences, I suppose (not a great phrase but you catch my drift, hopefully)
This year is the first time I’ve done mid-volume, previously I have done low volume. My FTP has been stuck at about 270 (just made it to 283 last week ) , but my weight has gone down from 85 to 80kg.
I don’t think the FTP stagnation is due to the plan, but is more likely due to my diet and probably not recovering properly.
I’m very new to the world of cycling but I believe with proper strength training, nutrition, and recovery, your goal is very much reachable - even on the low volume plan. The reason I say it’s possible in the LV plan is that I listened to the Successful Athlete’s podcast with Jon Kaslow who increased his FTP by 80W on the LV plan (I forgot what his exact numbers though).
I began using TrainerRoad in May 2020 with a plan to race BWR San Diego in Nov 2020. I started with SSBLV1 then decided to try SSBMV2 and continued to Sustained Power Build MV. After finding out BWR was postponed to May 2021, I took it easy in Oct, then reset SSBLV1 in Nov. The reason I decided to set my plan to LV instead of MV is that I wanted to add MV weeks as I see fit. That way, if I find that I do not have time to complete an MV week (which I noticed happens a lot when I planned for MV), I can revert to LV and still feel like I’m hitting my goals.
My starting FTP in May 2020 was 156W / 1.85 w/kg and I am now at 215W / 2.74 w/kg. My goal is to reach 250W / 3 w/kg by race day, so it appears my hybrid LV/MV plan is setting me on the right track.
) , but my weight has gone down from 85 to 80kg.
w/g on MV. Realistically I think my next summer I can hit maybe 4.2-4.3w/g.
units 