Hi guys,
On the plan it stipulates on 3 different weekends to ride your desired hill (goal hill) and repeat it 3 times starting with full gas and marginal decreases in intensity for the other 2 efforts.
My goal hill is approximately 17-18min long. Won’t 3 efforts at that intensity cook you not ony on the day but over a 5 week period which they are spread over?
Everytime I have given it a crack I barely feel like riding home let alone repeating it again twice 
Sam
Hi Sam,
So doing a hill that long would equate to nearly an hour of full gas effort. That would be a lot and pretty maximal. You should try to do it at least twice. With it being 17 - 18 minutes the first time you would ride around 100 - 105% of your FTP. Similar to a field test. Then the second time would be more of a sweet spot effort, maybe 92 - 97% of FTP. Is this a lot? Yes! But this would only be a 20 minute threshold and 20 minute minutes of sweet spot on a weekend ride which overall isn’t much more, if any, workload we prescribe in any plans.
After your first attempt make sure you do recovery easily on the way down and maybe also have a gel to help fuel you on your second attempt. Just go out and give it your best shot.
Hi @Jake. A question regarding the Hill interval training plan.
Does it has v02 intervals (as 3 4 5 min) in it, or it’s more supra threshold/ftp/sweetspot intervals ?
thanks Nico
The climbing plan is more threshold, FRC (above threshold), and sweet spot burst. The 5th week does 3 minute and 5 minute Vo2 max efforts.
Our road race plan has more of the 3 - 5 minute Vo2 max efforts and threshold type efforts.
Thank you very much for the response; I already have (and completed) the road race plan. Now I’m back to base, with ss3.
I could go for the hill climb this summer; I’m in doubt between strava kom and hc plans.
Nico
The short Strava plan has the 3, 4 and 5 minute VO2 max efforts along with threshold efforts. While the longer strava KOM plan has more of the above threshold efforts of 7 - 10 minutes, threshold and sweet spot burst. The biggest difference is the Vo2 max efforts. The short KOM plan focuses on them while the longer one does not. So really depends on what you want to specifically hit.
Heya, question on FRC Hill Interval workouts. I don’t use a power meter, so for the 10 or 12minute intervals are these pretty much just below “all out”? Kind of as hard as you can remain steady state without an anaerobic dig to the top.
Also in selecting a hill to do these on is it okay if the hill is a little lumpy? Just try to keep the effort steady as possible. Like maybe not ideal but it’s kind of just the case of what we have here (everything is like 15min climbs, have to travel an hour for a mountain).
Yeah FRC you should be empty when you finished. So it is basically full gas. Though you do want to get through the effort where the final few minutes you are still holding power over your FTP. So you don’t want to be just dragging in those last minutes. So pacing slightly important since it is a 10 - 12 minute effort. Really going to be just a little harder than your field test effort when you are talking a 10 - 12 minute effort. Hope that helps explain it a bit.
You have to use the hills you have available to you so lumpy is fine. Personally I have nothing over 4 minutes. So I will start 6 minutes before the base of a hill and use the final 4 minutes on the hill. Just have to make due with your terrain.
I’m in the same boat of trying to decide between the Hill Climb plan and the Strava plan. I’m still a bit confused as the answers seem to contradict depending on the forum thread, likely because both plans could fit the bill. Here’s my situation as I switch out of 18-wks of SS. My primary goals, mostly Strava segment based, are:
40-60min hill climbs and 15-25min hill climbs
Would the Hill Climb or the >15min Strava plan be best?
Also, as I transition out, it looks like the ending field test on the SS plan would be a normal week 3 (build) week. Should throw together another week 3 using existing workouts, take a rest week, and then commence the new plan, or is there a better way to do this?
Many thanks.
The climbing plan and Strava > 15 minute segment plan are basically the same plan. The focus is on efforts that are greater than 15 minutes and climbs that are longer. They have all the same workouts, weekend climbing intervals, and a climbing test midway through. So you can go with either one.
As for how to transition from one plan to the next my suggestion would be to complete your previous regeneration week after completing the 18 week sweet spot plan. Or you could even just repeat week 18 of the sweet spot plan to complete a 3 week build cycle and then do the previous regeneration week. This way you go into the climbing or Strava plan fresh. You will have a test with the first week of the new plan so no reason to test the week after the 18 week SS plan.
Perfect. Thanks, Coach Jake!
is there a plan which primarily focuses on increasing VO2MAX?
I would recommend our Phils Strava KOM plan < 15 minute climb plan. This includes 6 weeks of Vo2 max intervals each of the 6 weeks. It focuses on your power for efforts that are less than 15 minutes. On the weekends are KOM segments. Since you are not going for a specific segment I would recommend you choose a few that are in the 3 - 8 minute range that you can go full gas on! That would help train your Vo2 max power.
Hi, I have just paid for the hill climbing plan and sent an email as I didnt think the efforts looked like what I wanted (3-8 minute efforts) but haven’t had a reply. Is it possible to switch me to the road race plan given your comment about 3-5 minute VO2 max efforts?
Or even Phil’s plan?
What’s the difference with the < 15 minute climb plan and the > 15 minute plan in Phils Strava KOM?
HI @A.Garcia - *choose whether you want to go for Strava PR’s greater or less than 15 minutes because “ the trainings ” for either are different:
Greater than 15 minutes includes a lot of threshold, supra-threshold and sweet spot work. The training plan for segments less than 15 minutes includes a lot more VO2, anaerobic and short threshold work.*