TL;DR: More endurance, more sweet-spot, more/better recovery, focus on process not outcomes.
@Marked, you’re doing bloody well to maintain 3+ W/kg in “real life” as you’ve been doing. My comments below come from a very analytical and learning-obsessed mindset, since I’m a guide to families in business together, but I have only a year of cycling experience. So, consider my advice but know its limitations.
From this thread, I think what’s primarily limiting your growth are the group rides. 50 hilly miles at a good clip, 2-3 times/week, is hard work. You are really using your current fitness, but that doesn’t leave you with enough recovery, or just simply enough time, to improve your level of fitness.
I have four suggestions for you, two of which are about building a better, stronger base on which to build future improvements:
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The TR LV plans are great, and fast group rides are fun, but both are intense. So neither one is helping you grow your endurance: and as Coach Chad has said often, the physical adaptations you get from long, sustained Zone 2 (endurance) work are very hard to get in any other way. It’s that endurance which will form your base, which you’ll need in order to grow further. Make it a priority to schedule some long Zone 2 rides regularly, at least once a week. 60% of FTP or thereabouts. Harder is NOT better.
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Build your endurance at sweet-spot power levels and it will hugely help you reach the end of the group ride fresher, and increase your power reserve for when you need it, and help you just overall do more work. The Sweet-Spot Progression thread is an amazingly useful read, and I’d recommend you do some of this as well.
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Ensure you’re getting sufficient recovery, sufficient sleep, and good nutrition. We grow stronger and adapt during recovery, not when totally knackered out. You cannot improve long-term if you do not rest.
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On a “big picture” note, don’t focus on the results. To point out the obvious: not seeing an improvement you hoped to see is discouraging! But there are many reasons why you might not improve, and not all of them are in your control. So instead, focus your attention – and derive your satisfaction – from the PROCESS. Look at what you do, when you do it. And then, if you’re learning, thinking, trying different things, and putting forth a lot of effort and doing a lot of work… be happy with what you’ve got, because it’s the result of your best efforts. Sure, you can always try to do better… but focus on what you’re putting IN rather than getting OUT.