I’m looking for some advice on what to do next. I’ve just finished the LV gran fondo plan which worked quite well for me - I’ve had around a 25% FTP increase since January. I’ll qualify that by saying it was starting from a very low base following a year of a couple of bouts of covid, and general lack of motivation.
I’m not doing anything competitive, nor do I want to. My goal is enough fitness to get up sustained climbs without gassing out and I’m not there yet. At present I can sustain a multi-kilometer climb in th 5-6% range, but below that cadence and speed drop dramatically when I’m watching the power and trying to stay at/below threshold, and while we don’t have 20km alpine monsters at a steady 7%, we do have plenty in the 2-4km range with gradients all over the place - it these that tend to kill me.
What I can see from https://support.trainerroad.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001766351-Re-build-Off-season-or-Maintenance-for-Your-Fastest-Season in the " Off-Season Focus on a Limiter" section is to schedule a build phase then do another speciality phase. I presume Sustained Power Build + Gran Fondo/Rolling Road Race would be the best bet. Does this seem reasonable? My town is also blessed/cursed (delete depending on the day) with short steep climbs, which I seem to have a tendency to avoid, so outdoor hill repeats are a possibility.
Another thing to factor in is that I be doing - ahem - a lot of Z2 on holiday in the pan flat west of France for the 3 weeks from next week. I presume I should just let AI FTP do its thing on that?
Any suggestions on the validity of the above/alternatives welcome!
Climbing Road Rice will be similar to Gran Fondo, just taken up a notch in intensity.
Rolling Road Race pairs better with General Build, I think, and will get you better at the punchier stuff.
If it was me, I’d do General Build; and then choose my Specialty based on how much I enjoyed General Build.
If I loved GB, I’d do RRR. If I preferred SPB, I’d do CRR.
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Hey there! Nice work with the FTP increase! 
It sounds like you’re trying to build up your ability to sustain and manage high power, so I think focusing on Sustained Power Build and Gran Fondo or Rolling Road Race Specialty would be great!
The Gran Fondo plan will feature more purely sustained power workouts, while the Rolling Road Race plan will incorporate bursts at higher intensities to simulate attacks one would experience in a mass-start race. If you’re having trouble with climbs that change in gradient or want to have some extra punch for when things get really steep, it may be worth considering the Rolling Road Race Specialty plan.
I’m jealous of your trip to France! You could still do your TR workouts as Outside Workouts, even if you’re on a flat road. If you’d prefer to do some unstructured/Z2 riding, though, no trouble – Adaptive Training will recognize if you’ve skipped (or “ignored,” in this case) workouts to get you on the right track once you resume structured training.
Finally, since you’ve been training since January, it may be worth considering taking a full week or so off the bike during this time. It can give you a nice mental and physical break to allow you to get itching and motivated to get back on the bike for your next training cycle.
Hopefully this info helps guide your decision! Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks for the replies folks - just getting back to reading them today as I’ve been travelling for work. So my initial thoughts were sort of ballpark from what you both say. @ZackeryWeimer - you’re correct in my overall goal. I also need to shift a bit more weight which will do no harm. This is underway and I’ve shifted 5-6kg since the start of May (using MyFitnessPal which with its Garmin connection compensates automatically for exercise calorie requirements). Another 5-6 would be good, 10 I’d be delighted with. Short term it may be undermined a bit by 3 weeks in France 
I think I might give the RRR a try this time for variety - I did the Gran Fondo speciality both last year and this and it’s done well both times - before being derailed by covid last autumn. I’m determined not to let the gains slip this year though if all stays well. I understand better how the plans work now. For the LV plan I’ve found big gains when I’m able to mix in some decent outdoor spins when feasible - or additional workouts when not. If I could continue something like the rate of progress since the start of the year (should be feasible given the low initial base) over the next 4-6 months I’d be delighted
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