Planning Training for W19/20 and next year

Training
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Hi All,

I’m a 49yo male and have been a long time user of TR and have seen some good gains in FTP, however while training fairly regularly my consistency has not been great and I had some significant life changes earlier this year which really knocked my fitness back. My current FTP is 236w but I fatigue quite quickly and my head is still not fully in the game (I was over-compensating for not regularly training with a false high FTP and too hard sessions) and I suspect I was very close to being overtrained and may have just stopped at the edge of the precipice.

I’ve dialled my training back and am looking to get back to consistent quality training.

With that in mind, my wife and I have booked to ride in the French Alps next year (July) and I’m looking to start my training for that as soon as possible so I can start low and slow and build up gradually. I want to ride the Cols reasonably hard so looking at the best training plan selection between now and then.

My plan is as follows (all low volume as I like to run and want to keep at least 2 runs in a week):

Sweetspot Base 1
Sweetspot Base 2
Sustained Power Build
Climbing Road Race Specialty

Given that I do like to run would it be worth doing something like a Half-Distance Base and Build and then doing a Climbing Road Race specialty instead? Would that work as well?

Thanks in advance,

James

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I will be there as well!

I think your plan is good, I usually do that, and sprinkle a mix of CRR and Century

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I did the first 3 plans as you played out a couple seasons ago and it worked well. SSB 1+2 then Sustained Power Build are solid training all the way. I doubt anyone would go very wrong with those three in a row.

If you currently lack durability, meaning ability to hold say 80-100% of FTP for long durations, rather than climbing road race, consider 40K TT or even Century plans. For the length of climbs you are talking about, it’s not 2-3 min VO2 work, but rather time at a good percentage of FTP that will make it more fun.

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