I’m a masters racer (will be 47 in a couple weeks). I just finished the Summer CX Sweet Spot Plan (I did the advanced plan and struggled to hit the TSS on the weekend long rides). I did a regen week following the completion of the plan and completed an FTP test on Sunday. I started the 6 Weeks to CX Plan this week and it has an FTP test programmed for Saturday.
At the risk of asking a stupid question… Should I FTFP, or do some sweet spot (or something else) instead of repeating the FTP test?
A little background: My CTL peaked at 106 at the end of the Sweet Spot Plan and I was feeling pretty fried. I’m following the Intermediate plan for the 6 Weeks to CX, and my CTL is down to 91 after a really solid rest week! I was a Road Cat 3 when I took an extended break from racing 6 years ago. I haven’t been training regularly since then (just sporadically here and there), just started riding consistently again in April.
Since you just completed and FTP test, it is not necessary to do another one.
For that scheduled FTP test on Saturday just do a sweet spot workout such as 2 x 20 minutes at sweet spot and rest 10 minutes between. You can finish with the anaerobic one minute intervals that are prescribed at the end of that workout on Saturday too. Then do sunday as planned.
Yeah the intermediate plan works best for most athletes. Some see ‘advance’ and want to do the most and think it will be better. But in fact sometimes it can be a hinderance. It gives the normal person too much work and does not allow enough time for recovery. Seems like you are really benefiting from the lower workload (91 CTL compared to 106).
It becomes even more important in an intense plan like the CX plan. Not carrying the extra workload and being a little fresher will allow you to go harder on the high intense intervals which is key for interval training. You will get the most out of it that way.
Like @Lacey_Rivette stated no reason to do another FTP test. Just do a 2 x 20 minute sweet spot effort. You could even make the first one a threshold effort. But you do not need to repeat a test. Don’t over do it here again so you can be ready for the work to come the following week.
And there are no stupid questions! Knowledge is power.
This is way more structured than any training I’ve done in the past, including the couple of seasons I worked with a coach… wish I’d found you guys before I got so old!
@Jake that’s exactly what I was thinking… I’m slowly coming to the realization that I’m not in my early 30’s anymore and I can’t just flog myself and wake up feeling fresh the next day. During the Sweet Spot Plan I would get unreasonably sore from the plyometrics and struggled to absorb the training enough to hit the following workouts the way I would’ve liked.
