I recently did a climb where I was just over 5w/Kg for just over 20min. I’m was so damn excited. Iv’e never been this fit (thank you TR!) and I have 8 weeks before I go on a long road trip. I just want to do a 20min test before I lose fitness where TR shows my W/Kg at 5.00. I just want thew screen shot, and I just need to do it once. I’m in my mid 40s and I might never be this close again.
I’m up 5lbs this year, but my power is up even more so I think I’m at a good weight. I’m scared that trying to lose weight will reduce my power too. So my plan is to do try to raise my power by 5% in the 8 weeks. I just had my recovery week, so I’m ready to go.
What would your approach be if you only cared about getting a 5% boost in 8 weeks?
I have a climb by my house I do repeats on - But the longest efforts I can really do on it are 13-15min at ss/tr. I can do longer sustained efforts, 1.5x a week
Iv’e been in contact with TR about AI FTP detection for me. For some reason it has my FTP really low - Has been for months. They told me to manually enter my FTP as 95% of my 20min power.
Congrats on the 20 min @ 5 W/kg. Please tell us what your apporach is going to be and give us an update in 8 weeks time!
Here’s what mine would be:
Maintain your current volume and overall intensity, but move toward a polarized approach - quality sessions each week plus z2 for volume. Try to increase outside riding.
First four week block would focus be 2/week vo2max with a sweet spot maintenance session.
The second four week block would be 2/week sessions aimed getting as much practice at target power as possible (ideally >8 minute intervals), but making sure not to bury myself. Not being afraid to bail mid-ride on z2 days.
Do a taper week with a practice at target power but leave some in the tank.
I recently did a similar thing by hitting a big 20min PR. I didn’t necessarily plan to do it at the onset, but I did a leg check at a certain wattage 3 weeks before and almost hit 15mins and then knew if I was fresher I could stretch it to 20.
Looking back I did
2 week just endurance - no intensity
1 weeks sweet spot twice a week
1 week with SS one workout and 3min at 20min power pace → 1min off x 6-8 reps
1 week with no intensity but the ‘leg check’ workout where I held the power I wanted as long as possible
2 weeks of ‘over under’ at like 85% under 115% over
1 week of the 20min pace reps as before
1 week taper (no intensity) then 20min test on the weekend
This is by no means a formula and they’re workouts that I respond really well to so take it with a grain of salt. I’m more of a punch rider so I don’t do a lot of long intervals and I never do more than 2 ‘workouts/intensity’ days per week.
I was in same boat - hitting this and posted to Strava lol. May not be this fit next year so gotta YOLO!!
If you are just trying to be able to hit 5.26 w/KG (95% = 5.0 w/kg) for 20 minutes, and aren’t worried about carrying this fitness, you could try a risky strategy of pushing really hard for 6 weeks by upping both volume & intensity - I would do a combination of SS & VO2 (just be careful to not go too far with this) - and then backing way off for 2 weeks to freshen up so you can hit the one key ride.
Effectively with this strategy the 2 week taper you would be losing some of the fitness from the 6 week period, but trading this for freshness so you can go all out for the 1 ride. This is a risky strategy, and not intended to get you to a sustained 5.0 w/kg, but could get you your goal on a single ride.
Good luck and let us know what you decide to do and how it turns out.
Batter yourself with supra threshold intervals and just “train to the test”. You’re not going to gain 5% real fitness at that level in 8 weeks (IMO) unless you have some low-hanging VO2max fruit which is unlikely, but can you power through a 20-minute effort and raise that specific power by 5%? Maybe?
Thanks everyone! I’m glad most of what I have been considering is in at least one of the replies. I’m definitely going to be riding a super fine line of over training and burnout on this one.
Today I just did 4x15 at 90% to make sure the legs still had it after 10 days of recovery riding. I’m taking every other Wednesday off for training during this - I plan to slowly build the TSS and make sure to rest and sleep as much as I can. On those days the current plan is doing a 4-5hr ride mainly in z2 and then going out to some bigger climbs to do some longer 20-40min SS efforts.
Iv’e been neglecting VO2 efforts the past 2 months so I think it’s time to bring in some 4-8min efforts. I’m currently thinking maybe a day a week of those repeats, and the a day of SS/TR.
I’ll have to see how I’m doing in a few weeks because there is a very good chance I am riding a peak right now and it could just fall, or I could have just hit the perfect TSS for me and adding anything will just be more than I can actually take in.
I have a hard time sleeping if I hold my HR near max for too long in the evening so I’m going to pick and choose when I do supra threshold intervals. My assumption is they take longer to recover from - Is that right? I was thinking that maybe cool mornings and days where I have at least 2 rest days until my next training day is best.
Block of suprathreshold intervals with hard start over-unders was the magic bullet for me of getting almost a 5% bump. But this was after a high cadence VO2 block.
I extended the time in zone for suprathreshold to 40 minutes in last workout.
13-15min climbs by your house is your training ground for this - I’d build sessions of target let’s say 330 for round numbers - starting at 4-5 x 6 mins - into 4-5 x 8 mins, into 3x 12 mins for 2-3 weeks into 4 x 12 mins, into 2x15 mins - and boom 1x20min.
Outside of that - normal volume/sweet spot work + 1 VO2 session.
I would rather focus on resting more closer to the event. Rest is underrated here it feels like. I bet after a good 6 weeks prep, doing long SST intervals, you can do it.
fyi in same ballpark with 5w/kg+. The above is my usual approach.
I agree with the suprathreshold approach. 6-8 minute reps at your current 105-108%. I am a big fan of 4x8mins, as the recovery isnt that bad. I’m usually ready for a longish z2 session the day after, but it is individual of course and depends on what your weeks looks like. I am usually more cooked after 5 or 6 reps that I also sometimes do. 5-7 reps for the 6 minutes are good. In addition to this I would do some 20minute intervals at, or slightly below your current FTP. Combined those two sessions should give specificity and mental preparations. If you still have some potential to squeeze out of your VO2 max you could throw in some VO2 max specific stuff like 30/15s, 40/20s, 2-4mins, but the suprathreshold and 20mins will work your VO2max anyway and is more specific for what you want to achieve. I’m currently at 5,21 at 71,4kg, and not peaking until 2 months if that helps warrant the advice in any way.
If you are used to three sessions per week than for example 8mins, 6mins and 2x20mins would be good. You should not do any more than this. The rest should be endurance to add up training stress. But if you are the adventureous type you can do a block of five 3x13x30/15s one week. I have never tried it myself, but know people ho has with great effect. If I remember correctly it is three in a row, one rest day then two in a row and a rest day. Or at least that is the “protocol” they did (and do) in Lillehammer/Norway, and the one that makes most sense. I did six SS sessions in a week winter 21/22, just to try it out and it was nice. Maybe worth a shot And as others have mentioned already you should taper for it. Taper like it is your A-race. If doing “the block” I would do that as the last week before taper. Gradually taper two last weeks (you wont benefit from any overreaching that close anyway), but tapering as everything else is individual so you probably know well what works best for you.
And as others have mentioned already you should taper for it. Taper like it is your A-race. If doing “the block” I would do that as the last week before taper. Gradually taper two last weeks (you wont benefit from any overreaching that close anyway), but tapering as everything else is individual so you probably know well what works best for you.