Getting back on the bike

Hello folks,

Foremost a happy new year! Bought a Elite Suito last December and a year’s subscription of Optimize. Now that all the year end parties are done with want to get back on the bike. Been a fairly consistent rider until last year though i have been strength training for at least 5 days a week and a big fan of it. Can handle decent loads, my body weight being 64 kilos & 5.35ft. atm, my bests atm. without much programming - front squats: 5X5@90kilos 1RM 105kilos, back squats: 5X5@110kilos 1RM 125 kilos, deadlifts 5*5@130kilos

So the question is do i just hop on the trainer for an ftp test and pick a plan( i was thinking 30 week off season base + weights) or before i do the FTP test do i do something else to get the most out of my current form?

Thanks!

Hey!

It sort of depends on your goals. If you started the 30 week plan today you would be like August before staring an interval plan. If you wanted to do some group rides, events or even races come spring / summer I would recommend maybe just starting with our strength and condition + base plan. This way you get the best of both worlds with building your base and strength. This way come mid April you would have pretty good fitness and then could try one of our interval plans to go from strong to fast!

If you haven’t done much riding in the couple of weeks or longer as it sounds I would give yourself at least a week of easy zone 2 riding to get your legs under you, maybe two. At some point in that week or two do 2 x 10 threshold efforts, resting 5 minutes between, like a field test. This way you can help gage what type of effort you can do for a 20 minute test. This way you don’t go out too hard for the 20 minute test.

But that is what I would recommend in terms of plan to follow at the moment.