Question about Plan Builder’s plan for me

Training
1

Hello, gang. This is my first year of structured training and using TR. I have many years of racing in these legs but kind of always just rode my bicycle.

I plugged my A race into Plan Builder which is a MTB Stage Race at the end of May. I’ve completed my first Polarized Base Block, my FTP went up 15 Watts, and I’m already a week into Polarized Base II.

Following the 8 weeks of Base II is an 8 week Build phase. After the Build block and before my Specialty block, Plan Builder has me doing another 8 weeks of Base. Watching all the videos and doing all the reading, I know the cycle is usually Base, Build, Specialty, then race. Being inexperienced with structure, I guess I was wondering if the additional Base phase between Build and Specialty is the best way to prepare for the race.

I’m waiting for my “B” races to be announced for next season so I don’t know how that will affect my training blocks. This is all new to me but I’m already loving the accountability and seeing results ain’t half bad either.

2

I have my A race at the end of April and it also has me doing another base period in there. I’m not an expert, but I imagine the reason is because these races are so far out time wise, there is room to do an initial base to build the aerobic capabilities, then some build to bring up the FTP, then another base at the higher FTP and start the cycle again to peak at that A race. If we stuck to the typical Base>build>specialty>taper, we might be in those phases too long due to the length of time until our races.

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3

Specialty always leads into the race. So if there is a lot more time since the blocks tend to be 4/6/8 weeks it will just repeat base/build/base/build/etc. A bigger base never hurt anyone and you can’t build forever.

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