The "Training Plan" headache !

falcon66

My last cyclocross of the season is in a weeks time and I am trying to plan the training to take me from that through the next season of club races & TT's and also an XC series. Last season I spent loads of time coming up with a plan, I tried all sorts of different sessions throughout the year especially in the base/build blocks as I hoped this would keep it interesting. I didn't really progress as I hoped.

I was thinking of keeping everything really really simple at the start of this year and also concentrate on my FTP which i still think is a limiting factor. Something like:-

Day 1 - maybe starting with 2x10 at FTP and building up to 2x20 then testing and repeating, always at FTP or slightly above FTP
Day 2 - maybe 2x10 SST and progressing eg, 2x15, 2x20, 1x40, 3x20, 1x60 etc just building time in the sweetspot
Day 3 - maybe another day lower level SST, again trying to build on time in the sweetspot
Day 4 and 5 - building endurance on the road or off road ( also developing skills )


So, rather than a lot of different sessions, this way it will be easy to monitor and see progress. I would be doing the midweek sessions on a turbo. I use a power meter so everything is measurable.

Would change one of sessions as the season nears to do some 5x5mins and then progress through to even more of shorter harder efforts and begin mixing that day up a little as I prepare for approaching races.

Any thoughts or experience much appreciated.

falcon66

Thanks for the reply Luke, as road time is limited i will probably have to build the FTP initially anyway on the turbo, and i think 2 or 3 days working on FTP during the week will be quite taxing for me. Any road rides then i get to do I thought i should try to make them as long as possible and probably at the top of Z2, but maybe if I feel fresh enough and can cope with some time spent in Z3.
My main concern was is working on a 3 day block mid week building to 2x20 at FTP, with another day building to 60 mins or more at higher end sweetspot, and another day at lower end sweetspot, in combination with weekends on the road doing longer rides, the best use of my time between now and the season starting, with maybe a switch of one day to VO2 coming close to the first races ?

milese

madasahattersley wrote:

My favourite ride for increasing FTP is just a nice and simple 2 hours at 90-93% FTP. Sometimes it can be pretty tough when you're not feeling good but when you nail it you feel excellent. Through doing this I got my FTP from 300 in October to about 370 in early June.

I'm just discovering the longer intervals on the turbo, which are greatly helped by having a PM. 90-93% is still tough like you say, but not so tough that you cant watch a video at the same time. I've started watching live music videos to help with motivation and keep me amused, Muse live at Wembley is a good one. I've not got as far as 2 hours though...

What was your typical weekly hours / TSS to get that that improvement in FTP? I first got a PM in October, and would be delighted with + 23% by June.

falcon66

Ok, since I first posted this I have done two blocks indoor on the turbo as follows

Day 1 - 2x20 at 95% FTP
Day 2 - 1x40 at 92% FTP
Day 3 - 2x20 at 90% FTP

Two other days on the road of just over 2 hours mix of Z2/Z3

I realise now that I was not doing enough before, and I feel i can cope with 3 days in a row of higher Z3 / lower Z4. So for the next 6 weeks I would propose to do the 3 turbo sessions on Tue/Wed/Thur and build on longer road rides Sat/Sun with maybe shorter ride or skills day on Fri.
During this 6 weeks would hope also to lengthen or add extra intervals to the turbo sessions to get more time at 90-95%.
After this I would propose to change some of the mid-week days to intervals at or slightly over FTP for a number of weeks before moving on to maybe 3 or 4 weeks including VO2 intervals.

Is this a decent proposal to prepare for the new season ?

I would love to have coaching to take all the guess work out of it but that is not a viable economical option for me. But would maybe consider a training plan if it is viewed as a better option than my DIY plan.

So if anyone has opinions on the above, or opinions on the bought training plan option ( maybe with suggestions where to get a training plan based on your experience ) then i would be happy to view your replies.

milese

Buy a guide book.

I found Joe Friels 'cyclists training bible' helpful. It walks you through the process of self coaching and building a year long training plan based on your strengths nd weaknesses.

Whilst you still need to interpret what it says for menit gives structure and confidence that I'm doing the right things.

chrisw12

falcon66 wrote:

Ok, since I first posted this I have done two blocks indoor on the turbo as follows

Day 1 - 2x20 at 95% FTP
Day 2 - 1x40 at 92% FTP
Day 3 - 2x20 at 90% FTP

I'm stating back again and after doing lots of reading and pondering, this is what I'm doing except I'm not going for a %ftp, I'm doing them as hard (but paced) as I can and looking for week on week improvement in rep one, rep two or both reps, I didn't see the point of limiting myself to a certain %ftp. Saying that what happens, I do get a slight drop on subsequent days.

I see a lot of advice on here about getting in variety, I don't disagree with this but I do think it's worth trying something which is consistent as well. When I stop increasing the power, perhaps then I'll have a re think.