I started trainer road July 21,2020
I had done an outside 8 minute test on July 4th and was at 275. It might have been set to high, some reason I decided to roll with it for sweet spot base 2. At the end of that block my first ramp test was a lot different than what I thought it was, my pacing wasn’t that great. Now Each time I do the ramp test I feel more confident for the next one!
After ssb2MV 270
End of gbMV first block… 285
After the second month of gbMV… 290
I missed a couple workouts the second week of the second month in build (life happens)
I’m still pretty happy where I’m at, I feel a lot stronger and able to repeat these efforts.
With hopes of racing there were a couple races that might have happened but since they are now canceled. I’m going back to ssb1mv and going to build this fitness!
I started structured training (for cycling) last year in December targeting a SUB8h time on a 300km ride in June this year (which obviously was cancelled). Before that I did some “coffey-shop-riding” (or should we say pub) with the boys, however nothing serious. That was more or less what I did for the last 5 years. Alltough, I do have a history of hard structured training (being in the national team in orienteering and cross-country running as a kid, but that was 12Y ago).
So, all of the below from the Zwift ramp test:
Dec 2019: 250W, ~3W/kg (83kg).
Jan 2020: 290W, 3.6W/kg (80kg)
March 2020: 310W, 4W/kg (78kg)
May 2020: 330W, 4.4W/kg (75kg)
And in June I pretty much managed to “reach my FTP” when hunting KOMs on longer Strava segments.
During rest of the summer I focused more on other stuff and currently train with an FTP of 290W with a few kg more than in May
Would be cool to reach the 5W/kg FTP threshold next season, however not priority numero uno!
Some good progress here from the last few months
Ramp test August 19th 218
Have manually bumped up as I felt it needed in between ramp tests.
Finished SSB2 with FTP at 230 then ramp test after that came out at 225 on 28th September. Ignored that and continued at 230 then bumped to 240 when I felt like I was increasing workout % more often then not.
Halfway through sustained build and ramp test today was my first ramp win in a while with 243.
Super happy with progress. Focusing on keeping the same consistency over the upcoming months with a XCM in mid January.
Thats a funny combination for me, as 300w isn’t quite off the couch, but it doesn’t require a lot of focused riding to for me to hit that in 20 minute protocol. Hitting 4.0 (6-3, and ranging between 184 and 205lbs) THAT takes focus.
Made some good progress after hitting a plateau during the spring. Gained 14 watts the last 8 weeks and went from 326 to 340 watts. Never been above 334 ever before, so i’m really pleased with myself.
Now it’s time to keep the focus and aim towards next summer maybe doing some races.
Here is my history. My previous experience was only commuting (14km per day…) and some strength training. I was quite inconsistent with my triaining in 2019, still I went from 260W to 313 in that year. 2020 I dropped some weight and increased the FTP to 330W. My goal is now to keep this weight of 87kg, but improve the FTP to 340+ W. Next year I could maybe hit 4.5W/kg if cycling only. Or I start with Olympic Triathlon and focus more on running and aero riding.
After reaching an all-time weight of 220 lbs during the initial lockdown, I forced myself back into structured training after a 1.5-2 year hiatus. The weeks through Aug’20 were at an intentional 500+/day calorie deficit. While I was able to cut some low hanging wins via weight, my workouts were rough, I was sore all the time, and realized no noticeable FTP jump. In retrospect, a deficit this large was too much too soon. I believe that time would have been better spent fueling and getting stronger.
A few months ago I started fueling better on the bike and focused less on calorie intake and more on feel and supplemented my vegetarian diet with protein recovery drinks. I also added supplementary endurance workouts to the mid-volume plans to hit ~10hrs/wk on the bike. My performance has felt great, and fatigue has really only been an issue when accommodating a new FTP.
Heading into the winter, I plan to drop another 3-4 lbs to hit race weight of 190 (holidays permitting…). I will increase weekly volume to 12 hours while maintaining the structured mid-volume training schedule. Hope to be 4 w/kg by the new year!
Wasn’t very strong today unfortunately, 250 → 256 FTP. Wasn’t feeling great last few days, I think I can do better. But for now i’ll just go through the next 6 week fase.
Since I don’t race, I jumped ship right before the taper week of Specialty Climbing Road Race LV and went back to SSBLV2 to simply maintain my fitness. Was able to squeeze out a 5W increase this time around. It’s probably a byproduct of the SSBLV2 program and some additional recovery, but what also could’ve contributed was doing the ramp test “blind”. Didn’t pay attention to time, power, or even cadence until I blew up.
314W @ 168lbs = 4.12 W/kg @2nd November 2020
Was 304 @163lbs = 4.10 W/kg @ May 11th 2020
Its been an interesting year, not been following a continuous plan and its all been base type workouts since May. Had various weeks off due to work and life. Tried some build plans Jan to April but wasnt prepared or couldn’t accommodate with life stress so went a bit backwards so stuck to more base workouts all summer
I didnt decrease my FTP settings during the summer as was a bit stubborn and was just doing Z2 - sweetspot workouts so pushed myself to recover to the same level. I thought i was going to be going backwards since the period May - Aug was so turbulent but i then started a SS90 progression and its really helped the last 4-5 weeks. Was hoping to have just maintained FTP but i went up so am very happy.
My FTP test on 18th Nov 2019 for reference was 264W @ 173lbs 3.35 W/Kg
So by doing around 7 hours per week doing 90%+ of my time on a trainer, i’ve increased FTP by 50W in just under a year
I was down to 163 lbs and that is more than doable and could be less but my diet or lack of is not on point. So that is my target and easy improvements.
My next goal is to get weight to 160lbs by spring and FTP up to 327W for 4.5 W/Kg. Got to aim high
Just started again after an injury of an inflamed tendon behind the shin. Still with physiotherapist, but he allowed me to start cycling and swimming again. No running yet for the upcoming months.
Started in August 2019 with Trainerroad, so let’s hope that my FTP goes up faster than previous year. Still hurts to see the graph though.
Thank you for the kind words. Let’s hope indeed for a quick return.
As for the training I did, it was a bit of a mix. I did do a couple of Olympic and one half triathlons before Trainerroad, but never with a written down plan.
01 August 2019 - January 2020
I actually started with only base from August 2019 until 2020. As I did not train before August 2019 for about half a year and never had trained with a plan, I thought it would really benefit me to do a really long base and apparently it worked. Started with Base-Sprint, went to Base-Olympic, went to Base-Half, but then decided I wanted to do Olympic distance races in the summer 2020 (go figure with Covid-19 ) and went back to Base-Olympic.
January 2020 - April 2020
I’m not sure but then around January 2020 the plan builder released and I really wanted to try it. And instead of stagnation it even helped me further in the first few weeks, but then around March-April I found out that my body was tired. I think I was too enthusiastic about the Plan Builder and as it does not have the ability to plan in full rest weeks (unless you remove some weeks yourself) I think I went too hard for too long.
Around March it was I first felt my tendon coming up and as Covid-19 put me in lockdown I tried to train through it, but that was a stupid decision. As I’m still struggling with it now.
Moral of the story
Should’ve just went easy once al my races were cancelled.
Plan builder does not work for everybody. It’s a great tool, but for me personally nothing I will use for the next year as planning the predefined blocks into my own calendar works fine by me and gives me the ability to put full rest weeks between them.
I really need those full rest weeks every 6-7 weeks of training or I get an injury.
Base training really works for me next to running & swimming.
So sadly, not an easy ‘do this and it works’, but I still hope you get something from this!
Awesome, nice to know you had those results using the triathlon plans.
Were you using the low, mid or high volume plans? I’m currently doing the Olympic mid volume plans, but taking it easy on the running, because I too become easily injured, specially once I increase volume or do too much intensity on the runs.
Going for a ramp test today. Last one was in march so Im wondering how will this go. Current FTP was setted by trainingpeaks at 270 based on a virtualrace in may. Since then I’ve been doing a lot of endurance the last few months and no TR since april. I Guess I can only expect something close to 240w. Lets see…
Eveything I did was mid-volume. From my experience running helps a lot with the FTP increase, but as we’re both easily injured I think we both know what a pain a lot of running can be. From my experience previous year you cannot do your running too slow. In the morning at 7AM in the fitness, the last thing I want to do is do interval on a treadmill, so I just did very easy runs for months and it gave me the perfect base to start from by January/ February when it is time to start training for races.
What I do if I want to increase the volume, is keep the extra volume, but change the running into VERY easy cycling with the same duration. That way mentally it helps as I do the same training week time, but I recover my legs more. Not sure if it will work for you as I’m not a pro
I’m really rooting for you! Don’t overthink it. Follow the plan and take enough rest. That’s what I found out after a year.
) and went back to Base-Olympic.