This is a crosspost from reddit, who suggested I might get helpful answer here:
I am looking for advice on how to get (a lot) faster. I like to do local fondo-type events (road, gravel, ‘easy’ MTB races), as well as travel with my road bike.
With a few exceptions, I usually finish in the bottom third of the field in events. I do not possess any gifts for cycling, but I am determined to overcome my seemingly poor genetics .
Current fitness:
I am currently at 218 watts FTP, which at 69kg equates to 3,16 w/kg. I’m a 36yo male.
In terms of power, that is probably up there around the most fit i’ve ever been, but as I have historically been around 65kg, it’s still a bit off my best w/kg. fitness. I’ve been at or around this level of fitness since the end of february, when I came back from a loss of fitness over the fall (lack of training/motivation)
Training history:
I bought my first road bike in 2016, and i’ve been training more or less regularly since. There has been the occasional pause, but never longer than 3 months. I’ve been doing structured training with Trainerroad on/off since around 2020. I usually average 5.000-7.000 km’s pr. year.
Throughout this calendar year, i’ve been training 6+ hours pr week, following custom plan builder relatively strictly. As mentioned, I have not seen any significant progression since february.
Over the winter i’ve been adding in weekly strength training, but as spring rolled around that went out the window.
Both my professional and private life allows plenty of time for recovery and generally does not add significant stress.
Link to training history here
Note for any deep-divers: I had two periods, in the spring of 2020 and spring of 2021 with quite good power numbers. I suspect this was caused by an overly optimistic set of PowerTap pedals more than sudden heroic fitness
Fuelling:
I usually shoot for 60g/hour on Z1/Z2 workouts and about 100g/hour in all other workouts. Outside of workouts I probably eat healthier than the general population, but also tend to go a little overboard on the amount I eat (which would explain why i’m 4 kg’s above my ‘normal’ weight)
I love greens and veggies, and my diet is mostly vegetarian or pescetarian.
I don’t drink or smoke, and I don’t take any medication.
Goals:
I would love to occasionally finish races with one of the faster groups, and consistently be in the faster half of the finishers (barring any mechanicals etc.)
I occasionally ride with a small group of friends, all of whom is notably faster than me without any structured or consistent training at all - I would really like to be able to hang on in those rides, and maybe even not be last up the hills. I guesstimate that would probably take around 3,5-3,8 w/kg FTP, so quite a significant jump from my current fitness.
More than anything, I feel like I am investing a lot (both literally and figuratively) only to come up ‘slightly below average’.
How should I change my training and lifestyle to achieve these goals over the coming fall/winter?
This is something I noticed as well. It’s hard to tell based on your training history if you’re actually following a training plan or not. It seems like although you have really good consistency with your riding, you don’t have quite as strong of consistency with your structured training. I’d recommend doing your best to find a plan that will help you work towards your goals and then follow it as best as you can. You’re really good at knocking out your workouts outside, so you’ve already got that! 
This is great! You can definitely do well on a vege/pescetarian diet. The focus here should be on getting enough protein and carbohydrates throughout the day. Even though you seem to be fueling well, you’ll still need to consume enough of all three macronutrients day after day to nourish your body and many athletes actually struggle to get enough protein and carbohydrates in during the harder Build phases of their plan. I’d maybe do an exercise of some macro counting just to get an idea of what you should be getting in on a daily basis for nutrition.
