Good morning coaches, hope you are doing well and fast
Just started and applied for annual subscription for coaching and i am very psyched!
I have bought SS1, SST2, SST3 and SS4 polarized and configured them on TP. I am half way thru SST1, coming from a big mileage this year around 7k miles and i absolutely love it and looking forward to FTFP.
Predominately i ride on Zwift from November to late March due to the cold weather outside here in Eastern Europe and i have bought the trainer friendly 4-8 hours training plans.
Just a little bit history of me, i am 34 years old and have athlete background of alpine climbing, mountain trail running, for as long i can remember and cycling these 2 years more frequently with some occasional races.
My start 2020 :
March - 217 watts FTP ( 3.1 w/kg )
May - 230 watts FTP ( 3.2 w/kg )
July - 240 watts FTP ( 3.5 w/kg )
November - 255 watts FTP ( 3.9 w/kg ) with 65kg of weight when i started the SST1
I kinda skipped the 20 min test at the start considering doing the trainer only i did 2x8 minute test and reduce 10% off the average power rather than 5% of the 20min one. From the 4 weeks so far i have one sweet spot group ride canceled in the middle of training due to HORRIBLE winds that i almost fell off the bike and am FTFP’ing so far
One question that i have is should i increase the plans duration of hours and when ?
I don’t know how this goes with coach @Jake but if i am overstepping some boundaries please let me know
Thanks a lot!
Happy to help you out with the coaching subscription! Congrats on the improvements you have made all year so far and the big mileage year! That is fantastic! One great aspect of cycling is if you put the work in you, you will see improvements!
So it is winter right now and so early in the training process. I would not worry about increasing time right now. Just continue to focus on getting each day and keeping the training consistent. You did that really well in the first 4 weeks. Use the extra time you may have now for recovery, ride prep, food prep, stretching, yoga and other things.
Lookin gat your past training it appears you mostly averaged around 400 TSS per week. You did have several weeks bigger but that is the ball park of where you were. The plan loaded in is quite similar, basically 450 - 500 TSS on average power. You don’t want a big increase from where you were before, but it is good to get a bit more. If you stick with the training and stay consistent you will get a higher CTL (overall workload) then you did before.
Now if you want to add time, especially when you get later on into Sweet spot 2 and 3 you can add some zone 2 time. I would most likely recommend those to be after intervals on Wednesday or Thursday. But mostly just increasing your weekend rides. The best weeks to do this would be the week before regeneration weeks. This way when you put more time in you will have a rest week and the extra work will not fatigue you from the upcoming training.
Another thing that can be beneficial to add to the training is a bigger week, like a training camp week to give you a boost. You had a few bigger weeks last year. This is something we can plan with the coaching subscription later on. If there is a time when you have off of work, vacation or etc we can put in a big personal training block. But we can discuss that later on when spring comes.
Just continue to FtFP and you will be good as is! Trust the process. You have been doing fantastic by far. Well other than not doing the 20 minute test and doing 8 minute efforts.
Thanks a million for the expert review coach!
I did the 2x8 because i felt like those 20 min are for more experienced cyclist, but i promise i will do the next field test with the 20min ones!
I will follow your advice and slowly add Z2 miles after Wednesday/Thursday rides for SS2/3 and weekends. For the training camp i can’t wait to add it to my schedule [especially Spring when i can ride outdoors], or you can forward me plan from FasCat or whatever works when the time is right i can add more hours from my time.
Will continue to FtFP to SS Vol2 and 3, add the Z2 volume and see how it goes, motivation is high.