I’ll play. 36 year old male with a 10 year background in tri (and was a runner prior to that). Topped out averaging 14-17 total trainer hours per week for a two month period leading up to an Ironman in 2017. Had my best FTP at this point (320). FTP hovered in the 300-310 range for the past two seasons.
Had an Achilles injury and took 2 months off (only aqua-jogging and lifting). After it healed I decided to spend 2019/2020 season just biking
298 (3.79 w/kg) started riding ~10 days prior so not completely off the couch SSB LV1 + extra 120 min endurance ride/week 316 (3.99 w/kg) SSB MV2 324 (4.07 w/kg) Sustained Power Build MV Part 1 328 (4.16 w/kg) Sustained Power Build MV Part 2 331 (4.2 w/kg) SSB MV1 + extra 60min endurance ride/week 337 (4.29 w/kg) SSB MV2 + extra 60min endurance ride/week 343 (4.4 w/kg)
I am so looking forward to this level of volume some day. Even though I’m going on 43, I’d love to see just where the limit is… will probably coincide with IM training as well.
Kudos to you on your improvement - really impressive!
Exactly 6 months into TrainerRoad. Really happy with my results so far. I’ve been averaging about a +4% gain with each completed block, and up almost 41 watts overall since I started. Had one spot where I kind of stalled early in this year, had a bit of work travel to contend with and just wasn’t as compliant to my plan as I should have been. I back-adjusted my prior FTPs based on the difference between my virtual power readings and my Favero Assioma duos so that all the #s are apples-to-apples.
Hope to get up to 300 watts this year, and I think I can do it.
Just completed Base 1 - Jumped from 195 to 203. Small victories… But I have to say outdoors I’ve bested some of my old PRs on Strava, so hey, I think I’m moving in the right direction.
Yep I can. Note that the second SSBMVII was not a full season. I also had a two week period in Jan when I traveled and was sick right after, and a one week period in Feb where I traveled.
SSBLVI
SSBMVII
Travel + sick 2 weeks
SSBMVII (shortened time 4 weeks I think)
Travel 1 week (include about 6-7hrs outdoor riding)
General Build
just finished week 3 of SSBMVII
I’ve increased my volume over the last 4 weeks, and now average 9-10hrs/week. Modifications to the TR plan include a Monday and Friday ride of 1-1:30 in Z2, adding 30 mins to Tue/Wed/Thu rides, and swapping Saturday ride for a 1-1:30 local virtual race (averaging close to 1IF) and then topping up to get to 1:30 if race is shorter. I can feel the fatigue a bit, but overall body adjusted to the load pretty well. I do plan on inserting a recovery week next week before moving to week 4 of SSBMVII.
I just started SSBMVI and planning to do SSBMVII right after.
I will have a half distance tri in 6 weeks after the finish date of the SSBMVII so i’m still deciding if i do sort of 6 weeks build on Sustained Power or Half Distance, of course with some tweaks aiming towards the race.
If the race is canceled due to COVID still (very likely) i will go to General Build or Sustained Power (still deciding) after the SSBMVII.
Currently @ 210w FTP / 69kg… really need to improve on that… hope it works. i’m confident.
It will absolutely work. The key is consistency - other than being sick, I don’t think I missed more than 2-3 workouts in the entire time. Over the last 4-6 weeks I’ve started switching things up a bit as mentioned, but still try to follow Tuesday/Thursday/Sunday at bare minimum, and add volume or change the workout structure elsewhere. So far I’ve saved my recovery days (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) for outdoor rides, though now that I have a power meter (just waiting on a new brake so it fits), I’ll be incorporating more actual outdoor workouts.
End of SSB1 LV turning into MV by the middle of the block. 3 months of nothing on the bike leading into SSB. 200 to 221 watts in the ramp test on about 5 hrs sleep. 10.5% gain in 6 weeks.
If only it didn’t take 3 months of losing all my bike fitness to make those sort of gains.
Edit: The good bike has lived on the trainer for the past six months with very little maintenance. After doing a quick inspection and comparison between PM and Neo2 I should get a free 3% bump if I replace my chain and clean things up. Hurrah for free watts!
Ramp test today. I did SSB1 MV as the lockdown has given me more time. Went from 253W to 268W. I have been also doing some Zwift rides and managed to actually hold the old ftp for an hour on a zwift ride so hoped I would get a bump. Intervals icu fitness graph is also shown which shows the increase in volume from when lockdown started.
Did the second ramp test today, went from 311w to 331w. Pretty happy and I hope the coming workouts will confirm this.
After the last ramp test I worked out for a couple weeks and then the cycling came to a stop (life happened) for 5 weeks, 6 weeks ago I started again with a SSB block and now after 6 weeks I am coming back into some sort of fitness.
now the weight has to come down a couple of kg’s (now ~86kg)
I’m 22 now, and though I’ve ridden a bike pretty regularly since 11.y.o, I only started structured training in 2016. My approach to nutrition in the first couple of years was pretty appalling, as was my consistency generally. It was only last year that I actually followed a vaguely periodized plan (commuting + SSB, then various build phases), but that was hampered in May with finals and subsequent months of binge drinking and a full 5 weeks off travelling.
During the latter half of 2019 and 2020, with help from the TR podcast and Friel’s Training Bible™, I’ve been as consistent as possible and really tried to train with intention. Getting the hours in around a work routine rather than a uni routine has been a challenge, and ratcheting up the TSS without completely burning out with work definitely required some planning, but it’s absolutely beginning to pay off. This is the first year that I’ve felt competitive in every race, and contending podium positions - just a shame about 'rona really.
Winter 2016: 218
Completely unplanned 20 minute Wattbike effort in uni gym @ ~230
February 2018: 232
First ever test with TR, or on an decent turbo setup. 2 X 8 minute protocol.
January 2019: 285
After a year of intermitent training and avoiding tests by upping the FTP setting as I saw fit, I reluctantly did my first ramp.
April 2019: 311
Cycling trip in Italy, following a couple months of relatively focused training and a few races. Managed 331 for 20 minutes during Florence Gran Fondo, decided that warranted an FTP update.
Exams + partying + 5 weeks off following this
Janurary 2020: 311
Ramp test. Felt super motivated for the year, and was reasonably happy to be at this number given the previous winter.
March 2020: 315
RPE begininng to get low, so bumped the FTP setting.
May 2020: 327
Finally did a 20 minute on the turbo. Absolutely brutal, but managed 345 for 20 minutes.
I’ve fluctuated around 69-70kg throughout, rarely above 71, lowest was 67 and that definitely wasn’t great (I’m ~6,3). So currently ~4.7w/kg, eyeing up the big 5 as a goal for the next 12-18 months
Really hoping racing starts again I thought it’d be helpful to share my process; it’s definitely been interesting pursuing training like this around studying and transitioning to quite an intense job…
In the last 4 weeks I’ve compared 3 different FTP tests: On April 14th I did a free ride 60 min and managed 362w. On April 20th I did a ramp test and managed 369w. Today I did the 20 min test and managed 371w. I’m quite happy with the consistency of all 3 and the 20 min test was definitely the toughest one.
FTP Test yesterday. Finished and knew I could have gone further. I don’t perform well with ramp tests. Often find I do better in race simulations and goals.
Was in fairly good shape last year (FTP about 310-320W at 75kg) doing unstructured training. Lost it all over winter.
Did the ramp test and got 261W on 11 March. Did a couple of random sweet spot workouts and then got ill. Did very easy Z2 rides until fully recovered on 31 March and started SSBMV1.
Completed SSBMV1 with a manual FTP increase to 272W part way through. Just retested and got 293W at 83kg. Pretty happy with the increase but need to work on the weight! Pretty happy with a >10% increase from SSBMVI, but terrified of the SSBMVII workouts with the new FTP.
I thought it’d be helpful to share my process; it’s definitely been interesting pursuing training like this around studying and transitioning to quite an intense job…
