I am one week away from completing the CX Off Season 24 week plan. Unfortunately I was not able to follow the plan to a ‘T’ due to family, work and travel but I was able to do most of the plan.
Once completing this plan I will have 11 weeks until the first CX race. So with that, what plans do you recommend I do? I was thinking Six Week Till Cross then Cyclocross Intervals, but what do you think?
Hi Ross -
Traditionally we recommend the summer cx sweet spot followed by the six weeks TILL Cyclocross. But my question to you would be: What’s your training load (CTL) right now from your off season plan?
That answer will determine if we were to recommend our summer cx sweet spot OR something else. I don’t think you want to do our six weeks TILL cyclocross until its actually 6 weeks to go 
Hi Frank.
Sorry for the dumb question, but what is CTL? Thanks
Not at all, CTL = your Chronic Training Load - its a chart in TrainingPeaks that comes with your plan:
https://fascatcoaching.com/tips/setting-performance-manager-chart/
Frank, It’s at 25. Is that bad?
Where I fall short in completing the plan is the longer weekend rides - its difficult for me to find the time .
Thanks
With a CTL of 25 do the Summer Cyclocross Sweet Spot and theeeennnn the six weeks till cyclocross plans.
Re: the weekend, yea, we hear you but by riding consistently 5x’s a week even for only a hour you should be able to double your CTL and possibly push it up into the 60’s.
Hopefully OK to jump on this thread as I have a similar question.
I will finish 18 weeks sweetspot at the end of July with a CTL of ~ 80 (aged 58) if I #FTFP. This leaves me 6 weeks to the start of the cx season, which will be pretty much racing every weekend from September to Xmas (no specific A races, I just want to race as much as possible).
Would you recommend cx intervals after the sweetspot which would take me to September followed by cx in season, or would it benefit me more to add in the 6 weeks to cx plan, followed by intervals when the season starts?
Nice work #FtFP’ing
Do the Six Weeks TILL Cyclocross plan and then the Cyclocross Intervals plan .
The 'TILL" implies the training you should be doing six weeks prior to your first cx race 
!https://fascatcoaching.com/training-plans/cyclocross-training-plan/
Frank,
Should I purchase the Basic or Intermediate program due to my time constraints during the weekend? During the week, I typically work out for an hour before work and can do that 4 days a week. Does the intensity of week day rides drop in the basic plan or should I stick to the intermediate plan and adjust for weekend rides?
Choose the basic if you have 4-8 hours per week to train or
Choose the intermediate if you have 8 - 12 hours per week to train
If you have 8-12 , those hours will make you faster than 4 - 8 hours from the basic
Hey Guys!
This has got me thinking about my next steps too.
I am finishing up the CX offseason advanced plan this week with a CTL of 77 after the final rest week. This leaves me 15 weeks until the start of my local series. I have been FTFPing hard since January and want to capitalize on my gains over the summer. I would like to make the jump from a Cat 3 to a 2 this year.
My plan was to jump straight into CX summer sweet spot. Leaving 9 weeks after for six weeks to CX/intervals?
Not sure which plan to choose. I am also on the fence of choosing one of your coaching plans but alas I am cyclist in my 20’s and therefore broke.
Hey @FRANK
I’m in between choosing Six Weeks Till CX or CX Intervals.
Background: I got injured in summer, so coming in a little late to the season but got my CTL back up to a good level. The good news is first A Race is not till first weekend of Nov, so still some time. I will be training through all my local races with the true goal of Tacoma. Which plan do you think will set me up better? Thank you.
Sorry about your injury @akaio32 but glad to hear you are better. If you are going to be racing during your plan do the cyclocross intervals bc you can get your run training from the races and the skills practices.
If you aren’t racing do the six weeks to cx - its got so much running that if you are racing your legs will feel like jelly.
Hope that makes sense!
Makes total sense Frank. Thank you!
