I’m in the last week of the adv Strava plan (<15 mins). It’s gone really well. I’d seen my 5 minute increase by more that 30 watts in a two week period from 343 to 375, though the last two weeks I saw a drop in that as the punishment began to tell. Before I take another ftp test and have a go for koms/or is it advisable to take a recovery week? I did this last time after 18 weeks of SS and it worked well. Also what plan should I do next? I’d like to do some long stuff, keep my shorter power up and continue Improve my ftp. The local TT is likely to open up soon so it would be good to target that as well.
Great job and congrats on the improvement! You put in the work and it is showing.
So with the completing of the plan I would recommend you taking a rest week! So take it easy like you did at the end of the 18 week SS plan.
As for what plan to go for I would suggest sweet spot 4. Really best of both worlds. You will continue to work on your 3 - 5 minute power with Vo2 max intervals, but also get that important aerobic work with sweet spot work and longer sweet spot rides in on the weekend. So that one should set you up well! Also with this plan is sweet spot intervals the day following Vo2 max intervals. Get on your TT bike or in your TT position for these intervals to prepare for that possible TT.
Thanks Jake - I’ll pick that plan up. Definitely feel stronger, though noticed my legs were knackered the last week and a half. So my output was lower than previous weeks. I’ll probably do the final rest week from SS 18 week plan to segue into the new plan as the recovery week from the Strava plan involved tabatas. I’m thinking that would be a bad idea for recovery! Happy to hear the contrary though.
Recovery week from the last week of the SS plan sounds good! Its about lower the overall volume and TSS. So just short and sweet. The few efforts help keep you sharp! But does sound like you can use some recovery. Sort of like a mid summer break before you forge ahead into the next plan!
So I’ll do Monday off, Tuesday 1hr 15 m z2, Wednesday 1 hour tempo plus VO2, Thursday off and Friday 1hr 30 mins SS Saturday I’ll go on 4hr SS group ride but I’d like to have a crack at a PR early on. I’ll then have two days recovery for my fTP rest.
I’m then going to start the SS Plan part 4 advanced as I’ve got the time at the moment. With this is okay if I slightly adapt to throw in the odd century, time trial or PR attempt? I know this isn’t strictly following the plan but this year’s season is going to be short so want to capitalise on any gains through July Aug and September
You should try to throw those type of events in on Saturdays ride if you can. This way you can keep Sunday easy. This way you are still able to go into Wednesday fresher. That is the idea of the whole plan. But yeah a century, time trial, PR or etc is fine to do on Saturday.
So I did the ftp test after a recovery week and I moved from 317 to 320 (my highest ever). Not a big jump but I had jumped 20 watts from the start of the year. I’m not sure why it was such a small jump after the Strava plan but fairly happy and more determined to make bigger gains If that’s possible at 47. However my five minute power improved by 30 watts so pretty pleased with that.
One thing I did note was an increasingly higher heart rate. Normally my hr for for a 20 minute test us 161. In May I recorded 166 and this time 170. The max was 175 which is my max I think. Is this increase an improvement? Is it hr drift?
I’ve started the adv SS 4 so let’s see with that. Some big hours in that! Thanks for all your help so far
Could be heart rate drift, could be because of caffeine, could be because it was hotter, there are a few factors that effect heart rate. But really great to see you able to push yourself even with the higher heart rate which usually means you feel like you are working harder!