Im 33 years of age, and been riding bike since 2015, allthrough i didnt do structured training until late 2017/start of 2018.
Since birth, ive either played soccer or basketball - or trained with weigths. Im getting my sleep, and I eat relative good, and dont drink very often.
In 2018 when i first started structered training on TR, I raised my FTP from 240 to 290 and 78kg. In order to achieve that, i did low volume base > Short power > Criterium as i saw it most fit to kills the kills here in Denmark.
This year allthough - (Or after 1½ monts of doing nothing because of operation) I started up again, on mid vol. with the to base sweetspot, and moving to sustained (because I attended LaMarmotte this year, i wanted to focus on more sustained efforts) So ramp test result 1st of Dec was at 231. I did see (ofc) some quick gains, and after two months i got an estimated ftp at 260 (still missing 30 since last year, where i did low vol) moving forward to may this year, i finaly hitted an FTP of 290 again - after alot more training than i used to - and i see myself kinda plateaued? What can I do? After LaMarmotte, ive have been recovering and i’ve moved on to more vo2 max intervals - and short power again - with my background ect. and childhood being competetive all up until to day, i would figure that I should be able to see higher FTP? (Genetic wise) - and eventhough i upped my vol quite abit, I cant seem to reach 300? I dont have time to notch it up to high vol - since I do long rides in the weekend.
What would you focus on? (And futhermore, i workout in the gym 2x a week)
Search function, but also you need to look at what other stressors you have going on in your life. Early/Mid 30’s is when adulting starts becoming a real thing and work/spouses/mortgages become real stressors which need to be managed and accounted for.
My concern is though - that even though i have more training load than ever, i dont raise my FTP. I have been training very different the last couple of months with mixing both vo2 max and more steady in the sweetspot zone. Still i have only gained 1 watt, from last season. At this time of year, i have been more structured and even trained 60 hours more than last year atm. So pretty frustrating
but have you improved other metrics? 1 min power, 5 min power, time to exhaustion has weight decreased/increased. training illicits many more adaptive responses than just FTP.
One thing you need to remember is FTP isnt the be all and end all… What you might find is that your 2-3 minute power has increased while training VO2 or while training sustained efforts you 3-4hour efforts like during LaMarmotte has shot up.
In terams of dealing with plateaus I find the best thing to do is target specific power PB’s at different times like 5minutes or 30minutes.
My weight is the same at about 77 kgs. On the power curve, i dont have set any PR - or, i actually did set a 3m PR for 440watts this weekend - but that was from former 438 in 2018. 2018 seems to be the season were i did set most of my PR’s.
I dont get the feeling im better on any metric this year. I still get cramps when riding hard for a couple of hours (which the muscle endurance training should be good for) and i dont hit my peak number to the hills in denmark like last season - so overall - im probably alittle better in sustrained, but not much - and i lack some in 1,2 and 5 minute power it seems.
What were you doing differently in 2018 to what you’re doing now? Both training and lifestyle outside training?
More work will only make you stronger if you’re recovering from it. Ramp it up too quickly (in terms of either volume or intensity), or do so at a time when stuff outside cycling (sleep, nutrition, stress, etc) is preventing you from recovering and adapting properly, and you’ll plateau or get weaker.
E.g. I hit a bit of a plateau last summer, took 3 weeks almost completely off the bike in August, lost a chunk of fitness in the short term, then 4-8 weeks later through late September and October I hit a bunch of all time PRs. Clearly I needed that break more than I realised.
Well. In 2018 i did do the base, short power and then criterium - but all at low volume while hitting some group rides in the weekends.
This year i followed mid vol. plan with more steady - base > sustained > climbing road race. Perhaps i need a break for some time, allthough i have been very good at taking time of the bike too - never more than 5 rides a week/13 hours(my max week) and the avg. time a week is about 8 hours for the year. I also have been taking recovery weeks - but most time of the bike have been 5 whole days after LaMarmotte. Followed by a week of only 2 rides. I can also see on my rest-HR that i should be rested since the resting HR is 34 this morning.
Perhaps i should take a block of vo2 max intervals? Or a whole week off and start from that again?
do you have training peaks? it would be easiest to see the raw data rather than just make guesses. if you like (and anyone else reading), I do free power file analyses and we can see what’s going on.
