Love the pod cast, beers with Chad and the training plans 5 star for all although one complaint which I will get too later.
My question is based on our current situation. I have seen my A race canceled as well as subsequent local race series probably going the same way. Fortunately my A race has been moved to next year but I feel I am nearing peak fitness for this plan, yes I am using Plan builder. Im currently on Base with a made up A race in August to give a structure. Happily I am still seeing FTP gains currently at 311 ( I started around 260 a year ago).
With no “off season” so to speak can I realistically expect to continue to gain over a year. I plan to have a few weeks here and there away from the bike over summer or should I plan a large block, not just for rest but to ensure I remain hungry for training.
Complaint, You mentioned in past pod casts insurance companies who give rewards for keeping fit. We have similar in the UK, Vitality give points for work outs the problem is its based on Age related Heart rate and Trainer road has improved my fitness to the point that some of the easier “rest” workouts don’t give me a high enough Average HR for my daily points. First world problems I know.
I am a time triallist - looks like no racing…I got pretty fit by Feb. Got my TR ramp test FTP up to 298W@60.5kg - did one sporting tt on my road bike in March…all racing was cancelled the following weekend so I have not ridden my tt bike at all this year. I have just knocked intensity on the head and I’m upping the volume…all zone 2 @60-70% HR/FTP - trying to build a big base for next year and see if big volume at low intensity does work as I usually don’t have the time (but I do now working from home at present and the weather in the UK has been great)…that’s what I would advise anyone to do so come next winter you won’t have burnt all your 2021 mental matches
Surely that kind of goes against the TR plans even in base you do very little extended efforts at 60-70% FTP I may be wrong in the higher volume plans.
That said I was considering continually repeating Base phase 1 and 2. I know I can use plan builder and probably will which I am guessing will look like extended base phases.
Your absolutely correct - and in the winter when I am at work I find the 1 - 2 hour SS sessions and the 90min o/u sessions are great for boosting fitness on 7 - 9 hours cycling a week plus a strength session. BUT - it is summer now and I would normally be racing time trials every week. I can’t do that so I am easing back on the intensity and kind of following the traditional base idea , enjoying my riding with no pressure, boosting my mental health and topping up my vitamin D levels. If in the unlikely event racing starts in the next 3 months I’ll put in a 4 week VO2max block. Come next winter I’ll be back on the TR sessions as hopefully I’ll be back at work and the world will have returned to some sense of normality. But I won’t fancy a winter on the turbo if I have been thrashing myself all summer on it when the weather is great…which it is. I’m just enjoying my riding, keeping my powder dry and seeing if extra volume really does make you faster. I hardly use TR at present but I pay because I am grandfathered into the old price and I know I will use their excellent service come the winter…and I like wittering on like this in the forum!
I guess the question is can you turn a “peak” into a new base or does that guarantee burn out?
I love the thought of entering the 4-6 months lead up to next year starting at this level.
I have taken exactly the same approach,. I was building for my A event in mid May and pulled the plug in mid March. I have switched to just long base at 60%to 75% and a couple of longer zwift races twice a week which are high sweet spot threshold efforts peppered with some v02. Mainly on the trainer as I am in Australia coming into winter and also easy to do at home. Mentally much easier than doing all the hard TR build and speciality work with no events. I have also upped my volume from having more time which has interestly given some gains. If racing comes back I think I will just build from a higher/longer base block/s
