Best build phase TR plan for hill climbing?

kevin_stephens
kevin_stephens Posts: 184
in Indoor training and turbo forum
Now that the sunny weather has paused its time to get back on the turbo. My aim is to further improve climbing on my local Peak District Hills. I guess the Sustained Power Build is suitable? Are there any others out there?
I want to climb hills so badly;
and I climb hills so badly

Comments

  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,312
    What you mean by improve climbing... do you want to climb faster or climb more of them?
    Also, different zones for different climbs... can be anything from zone 4 to 6 (or 7).
    How are you doing for weight? Pointless to train power without addressing body weight... you are losing 3-5 Watt per extra kg of fat
    left the forum March 2023
  • kevin_stephens
    kevin_stephens Posts: 184
    edited April 2020
    Climb faster and more of them in a ride. Peak District hills go up to around 300m of ascent and are often cat 3 or 4 and last less than an hour so more than FTP usually ridden at or near to threshold. My local 40km loops include around 1,000 m of climbing. Of course weight is important and is coming off slowly with my 2 hour intense hilly rides, but not sure I’d want to use a TRainer Road programme to lose weight???? More to gain fitness to assist weight loss when we are allowed to go for longer rides. Working on reducing body fat from 22% to 15%
    I want to climb hills so badly;
    and I climb hills so badly
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,312
    You can't achieve everything, but it seems to me you want to do more rather than fast... going fast and doing 1000 mt in 40 km is probably in antithesis.
    For instance yesterday I climbed 107 vertical meters in just over 4 minutes at nearly 5 W/kg, but then I was completely spent...
    So you probably need to work in zone 5 (VO2 max), whatever that is for you... if you have an idea of you FTP, you can plot where you need to work. There are loads of workouts, but that seems to me the zone to target, rather than threshold...
    The good news us the higher the zone you target, the more painful it gets... :D

    And again, losing weight takes priority in climbing, no point in having a lot of power if you have to slog 10 kg of excess fat up a hill
    left the forum March 2023
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,435
    kevin_stephens said:

    Now that the sunny weather has paused its time to get back on the turbo. My aim is to further improve climbing on my local Peak District Hills. I guess the Sustained Power Build is suitable? Are there any others out there?

    Hey, I'm a longtime TR user. You could try the new plan builder they have, although I've not used it before.

    Sustained power build is pretty suitable, although I ride a lot in the Peaks too and I like General Build as we have a lot of varied terrain, slope gradients etc to deal with so a mix including some shorter duration intervals is good. I've done sustained before and did see good results, although to be honest if you follow any sensible well structured plan properly (which I think the TR ones are) you are going to see positive results.

    What I've heard suggested by the TR coaches before is to look at what your weaknesses are and pick a plan which focuses on those.
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,435
    kevin_stephens said:

    Climb faster and more of them in a ride. Peak District hills go up to around 300m of ascent and are often cat 3 or 4 and last less than an hour so more than FTP usually ridden at or near to threshold. My local 40km loops include around 1,000 m of climbing. Of course weight is important and is coming off slowly with my 2 hour intense hilly rides, but not sure I’d want to use a TRainer Road programme to lose weight???? More to gain fitness to assist weight loss when we are allowed to go for longer rides. Working on reducing body fat from 22% to 15%

    If I follow a TR plan and watch what I eat properly I lose weight very reliably...

    Yes gaining fitness is the main goal but weight loss is a nice side effect.

    The plans are structured in 3 phases, base>build>specialty, and the base phase is the best suited to weight loss as it includes a lot of sweetspot (generally) which is less intense and easier to manage with calorie deficits. When you get into the later phases which have more intensity it is harder because if you don't fuel for eg, a VO2 workout properly, you end up not being able to complete all the intervals.
  • pamplemoose
    pamplemoose Posts: 85
    Like bobmcstuff says, it's very possible to lose weight during the base phase of TR plans, particularly if you choose one of the low volume plans and then also supplement that with some gentle outdoor rides. I finished SSB1 (Sweetspot Base 1) in Feb/Mar this year and lost 3kg while adding 9% to my FTP. I did the low volume version which is 2 x 1hr rides and a 90 minute ride indoors, then also did a very easy (like Z1/2 easy) 2 hour ride at the weekend.

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