Hey Frank I have just put down this plan to start Monday and it looks good great work.
I have more time to train so I can do up to 18-25 hrs a week.
I have had a very good base build between 18-22 hrs week with sst and good quality work last 4 months. 3 weeks on 1 off feeling very strong Tss 700-1100 on weeks 300-500 off weeks.
This week is full recovery week in prep for 12 week blitz.
Where would be best to sprinkle some extra hrs in if I’m feeling good your advice would be fantastic.
I’m following this plan with hill interville plan as of August the 10th my gravel race is September 26th.
So I will chop up last 2 weeks to suit my tapper.
Awesome @micko119 - good luck with your training and FtFP’ing of this plan!
Go back or go listen to the podcast I JUST recorded on Masters Recovery:
Becccaaaauuuusssse, I specifically spent a third of the podcast talking about why you want to train less to gain more watts. "Less is more &
Quality over Quantity"
So my question back to you is why do you want add more? How is your power output, how is your CTL, how old are you and most important what are you training for (the race on Sept. 26th)
Perfect just what I needed to here.
Very very clear Frank the timing of this podcast is spot on for me.
In regards to your other ?s
I would like to podium my age group ultimate goal
Secondary goal is to improve on last years overall and pb time I’m currently on track for this.
I’m 47 years young ctl is 110 plus this rest week.
Sleep great
Nutrition has been dialed for a long time thanks to fork over knives doco.
Thanks so much Frank and team great work great information and knowledge.
Looking forward to the next block before the event.
Awesome Mick - with a CTL of 110 , you base is real good and therefore you don’t need to ride more. Therefore FtFP and work on your power output - the quality of those intervals and raise your FTP.
Base is GOOD, FtFP to make your VO2 power and FTP power even better. Combine the two together and you’ll be a force to be reckoned with
I completed the 10(5)10 full gas session this morning. To confirm, I take the AVERAGE of both 10 min pulls, including the 5 min rest interval, and thats my 2 min power for the start of my 20 min test - correct?
Just a note of thanks for putting this plan together for us older (epic ) athletes.
I’ve been riding my bike most of my life unstructured. I really fell in love with gravel riding in 2018 and started training to a structured plan 17 months ago. My starting ftp was 205 and as of this week I’m at 245. I’m all about the 3-5 year plan and working hard to continue getting faster for longer gravel events. (I did complete Gravel Worlds 150 last August)
This plan is the first of it’s kind. I’ve used Zwift, Rouvy, Xert, TrainerRoad and I have found all of the plans are built for 20-30 year olds. I work through the base phase of these plans and by mid-build I’m carrying way too much fatigue and feel completely tanked, plateaued and frustrated.
This is the first plan I’ve seen that I feel is built for me. I did the “3 minuters” last night, today I’m winning in the kitchen and prepping for my SS session this afternoon.
Are the Sweet Spot 1, 2, 3 plans good-to-go for a masters athlete or do you have plans to do a Sweet Spot 1, 2, 3 for “Masters Athletes”?
20min test today: 335avg/318 ftp up from 322/308 in feb. Nice gain and felt strong. I was shooting for something in the 340s but no luck this time. Maybe end of summer -
Howdy team.
Frank good talk on phone the other day.
I’m enjoying this plan as it is week 1 did the 3 min Vo2 today and drilled them well super consistent and hit new max HR last min of every effort. All 6 intervills were 2- 5 watts apart and I was on limit at 2:00 min each one.
Quick question I just had a shutdown week of full recovery and I’m a young 47 lol as we know.
Today’s HR for 1 min 203 bmp up from 194 and 5 sec of 207 bpm now I’m a young 47 but shit don’t want to waste these beats might need them later. I’m gathering a full rest week has a lot to do with this as TP is at +40 and my whoop has day 4 of green today also highest ever been on Tue 147 ms.
Just checking that hr this high is kinda normal after quality rest week ? (I not been +5 +10 on Tp since feb 2nd)
Assuming as fatigue builds over the the week my hr should come down and this would not be my new max that I reached today?
Coffe was 4 hrs prior to training and beet juice nitrate 400 was 120-150 min before efforts. (1st time user)
FYI cranks not bent yet but trying feeling super strong and fresh even after today’s session.
Rest is amazing that podcast wow
Looking at planning out my training for next years A Event (Fred Whitton 112 mile, 10,000ft with some 33% gradients). Is it beneficial to slip SSP4 between the 18 weeks of Sweetspot and the Climbing Interval plans?
Majority of the climbs are between 5-10 minutes with a single 30 min climb early on and 15 min very steep climb late on.
Yea it could be - I’d DEFinitely recommend resistance training before your sweet spot phase. But then if you have time yes, by all means bc VO2’s will increase your climbing power and combine with the threshold work from the climbing intervals , will be good.
Hey @FRANK. Just wanted to give a you a kudos on this plan! I just completed the week 4 field test over the weekend and saw a nice jump in my 20 minute power, an all time high! The VO2s are really hard, but obviously paying off. Thanks and good work on the plan!
Without TSS in week days rides it’s hard to get the most out of the PMC. Even if the TSS were low to eliminate temptation to chase TSS. It’s nice to see future progression of CTL even as it drops a little.
Yeah but again you just don’t want to chase to TSS to get CTL. But with an easier side of zone 2 ride you would be looking at 40 TSS for an hour and maybe up to 90 TSS for 2 hours. Why slightly more in 2 hours than just double? Just because with an hour you still have an easy 5 minute warm up and cool down which leaves a full extra 60 minutes of zone 2 in the 2 hour ride.
How to connect the offseason+SS plan to SS 4? The plan ends with a field test. I’m not sure there’s going to be any real difference in 3 weeks of SS4, or should I skip the field test at the end of the offseason+sweet spot plan, add a rest week, then run into SS4 and do the field test as scheduled in SS4? Or do the field test at the end of offseason+SS and do something else for the regen week in SS4? Or just do both? I have to say the field test in SS4 looks really unpleasant with the SS work after the field test.
ctl is 110 plus this rest week.
) athletes.
Congrats!