Well I’m on my way with day one in the books for 18 weeks of Sweet Spot. This is the first FTP test I’ve taken in 5 years and the same goes for doing any sort of structured training. I ended up with an FTP of 264 and I’m STOKED. My previous results 5 years ago had me at 225. I’ve been riding hard on my own the past couple of months and just recently started seeing numbers begin to change for the better. I also embarked on a weight loss effort last fall and have dropped 30lbs to date.
Riding a 2019 Salsa Warbird with the same old Stages power meter from 2015.
Thanks for allowing me to ramble. I hope to revisit this in 18 weeks and see some improvement.
Continued personal accountability. Starting week 2. Still re-learning to train with power. Overall power averages are within the required zones, but still finding a lot of fluctuation above and below. Plenty of variables, wind, terrain, figuring out how perceived exertion relates to maintaining steady power, etc. Finding that I’m hitting Strava PRs with much less exertion, which is surprising at this point. I suspect proper pacing has a lot to do with those results. Anyway… Continuing to FtFP.
Week 3… Day 1 SS intervals felt great. Day 2, zone 3 intervals extremely fatigued. Power wasn’t there and heart rate was elevated. Jumped on the Whoop bandwagon so my sleep is good and recovery is yellow. Thinking this is all part of the accumulated fatigue of the training plan.
Keep FtFP’ing @john.turkal ! Don’t let the whoop knock you off your plan. Rather you make adjustments to your lifestyle to BE recovered to DO your plan,
Got it, Frank. The Whoop is purely to give me some insight on rest habits. I figured I’d feel the fatigue hit at some point, I just didn’t expect it to hit so hard on a fairly “easy” day. Looking forward to that regeneration week.
Regeneration week complete. Felt really strong on the last SS Group ride and crushed some climbs compared to previous efforts.
Started SS Block 2 this morning with SS Int with bursts. Tough but attainable. Felt a little sluggish out of the gate but after the first set my body woke up and felt good. Overall feel good and motivated to FTFP on block 2.
Rest day reflection. So far the Sweet Spot program is working. Being able to maintain power for longer efforts and better recovery being a key noticeable result. An unanticipated benefit to this training is the improvement of my ability to pace during my rides. Maintaining power in the SS band on most segments yields PRs. A lightbulb turning on moment when I was used to just going out and riding to failure.
Still plugging away with the training and seeing gains. I violated the FtFP rule and my group ride was waaaaay over my TSS for the day. Monster riders on gravel bring the pain. I suspect my Stages PM is on the fritz as Training Peaks informed me that my new threshold power is now 345. Thats an increase from a 20min FTP test of 264. Granted there was 4000ft of climbing in this group ride over a 45 mile duration, but the pessimist in me says something is up with the old PM. Nevertheless… Getting back on track tomorrow. Also ordered a gen 3 stages to replace my gen 1.
