Well, guys and gals…I think I have made a dispiriting discovery about my body’s reaction to structured training. As I have said before, this is ‘uncharted waters’ for me, as I’ve never reached a 300w FTP before in my years using TR as a multisport athlete. I think, for now, that will continue to be the case.
With less than 4 weeks to go, I had a Ramp Test on the schedule for today, and I did AIFTP just for fun to detect where my progress might be and I had a +0 change in my FTP…yup, it stayed exactly the same 
As I am continuing to keep a base around the multisport life, I continue to run and strength train on the off days that I’m not doing my TR workouts, so I have not increased the overall volume of my training, but I have been very consistent with the plan’s TSS and prescribed workouts for the week, apart from sliding workouts between days of the week.
With that being said, I just don’t think I have the volume right now to move the needle to where I want it to be, and that if I want to get to that 300 number, I need to simply do more OR be able to handle higher intensity…and with my off days from cycling NOT being actual rest days (running, strength), but getting in workouts for my other disciplines (mind you, I haven’t even started back to swimming) I’m just not sure if this is possible at this given time.
As the saying goes, If you want something you have never had, you must be willing to do something you have never done. For the most part, my life has always been (at most) 3 rides a week, sometimes 4 and I just don’t think that will cut it to get me to that 300 right now, unless I increase intensity or the length in time of those 3 rides.
While I could stop all other disciplines and really crank up this experiment, that would not be the right answer for me right now as i’m prepping for 2 - 20k trail races (1 in January & 1 in February) followed by a half marathon in April.
While this was fun to experiment, I need to look at the bigger picture ahead in regards to my training.
So, what did I learn from this…
- consistent structured training is never a straight line in progression
- As Thomas Jefferson once said
“If you want something you’ve never had, You must be willing to do something you’ve never done.”
I think this rings very true here, that if I want to get past that threshold of 300, I either need to increase volume or intensity…or both!
I think my body is so used to structured training that it knows where I like to be and my body has hit a point of diminishing returns at 3 rides per week, and if I want to break through that next barrier, I may now know what I need to do to get there. - I appreciate this community and all the different viewpoints, advice, and approaches to training. I will continue on with the plan, and see if I’m just at a stalling point, and MAYBE I will try and mix in an extra ride or 2 here and there.
As Jonathan always likes to say, this is an N=1 experiment, so YMMV…but for me, this is what I learned about myself and my structured training.
Thank you all for the advice up until now, and if there is anything worth posting about that happens going forward I will be sure to report back.
If you have questions, comments, or further advice, feel free to chime in.
Until then, happy training.
Thanks, all! 