So I’ve watched many try and fail over the years, now it’s my turn.
Many will question why, many will tell me to do something else instead, many will plead for Z2 and outside riding…their calls will go unheeded and fall by the wayside.
Do at least the load you did in 2020 and better recovery, and no I not saying more Z2 as you asked for that to not be the answer.
More load, more recovery, get creative.
My max is almost exactly the same and there is a direct correlation in high load and a period when I focused a lot on recovery so I could adapt to the load.
It took ~ 16 hours for me. To get to 295w.
On 10 hours per week about 270w
On 8 hours per week about 250 - 260
On < 5 hours per week bike, I was mainly training for a Marathon I dropped to an all time low of 225 - 230w
Yeah, I’m looking at an almost new approach. So likely an MV plan, start 5 rides per week on General Build.
Languishing on 248, on an inconsistent LV General Build just bumped up to 251, MV I can get up to 260-270 relatively quickly.
From a load perspective, Garmin wise I do about 1000 average training and peak up to 1500. I didn’t monitor TSS last year. Average ten hours per week in season, swim bike and run. Probably looking at upping bike to 6-7hrs per week and 3hrs on swim and run (easy pace) and lifting(maintenance).
it’s not the question of suggesting z2 outside rides, it’s because that’s the only sustainable way.
If you want to ride 15 hrs a week in high intensity indoor, go for it and burn yourself out within 2 months. 6-8 hr/wk is not enough for high goals, there’s no magical receipt.
With that in mind, be creative and put 12/14 hrs a week in a sustainable way. Whatever works for you.
Might be interesting to experiment with it during indoor season – push it unsustainable way high now and extend TTE sustainable way in coming spring (i.e. reverse periodisation). This is what I am planning myself actually to break through plateau.
But also need to consider that frequent high-intensity workouts may compromise your immune system and throw you back again…
For sure is doable, risky, but doable. I’m saying risky as it’s easy to go a bit harder than ideal, or neglect the recovery a bit and boom, you just realise you’re in a hole when it’s too late.
Yeah, that’s for sure – during my 1st year I was on loop with SSBHV, knowing nothing about CTL/ATL etc. Progressed very nicely but during summer lost motivation twice. Looking back fitness graph, I was actually continuously in high-risk overtraining state for 6 months
That’s exactly the point, and that’s why z2 works. The likelihood for burning out is quite low, you can put more miles; and it’s mentally interesting as you can just ride for fun. Lets be honest, going outside, or even indoor, always following workouts steps, target power, etc. sometimes is annoying.
I always insiste in this point, if you get up in the morning trying to avoid that hard workout because it’s a pain, you’re already in a hole, even if your CTL, FTP or whatever metric you want to use is telling you otherwise.
Ride a bike must be a pleasure, not a painful task.
Completely agree. Plus my own goals are long-distance discovery rides anyway, so I have already gotten Z1/Z2 in relatively big volumes (14-20h/w, + occasional up to 28h/w)
And thanks to acquired fatigue resistance, I hope to be ready to experiment higher frequency slightly more intense block. Whatever outcome is, it’ll be interesting…
The times I’ve comfortably had an FTP greater than 300w were:
When I first started structured training and did Zwift’s “Build Me Up” twice back to back. That only lasted a month or so though.
Once I had been riding for ~ >10h a week consistently for the better part of a year. This has been more stable with the majority of fitness maintained even after like two months off training.
My thought would be to take whatever volume you’ve been doing, and increase it. If you can find a way to do this without doing low-end work while also not burning yourself to the ground within a month or two then more power to you.
Make sure you are anal-retentive about recovery if you try to do this by just doing lots of high-intensity stuff. Make sure you have time for more than a full-nights sleep every night, as your need for sleep will increase - especially after intense workouts. Make sure your workouts aren’t so late in the day that they impair sleep. Eat all the carbs, all the time. etc.
And if you start feeling like garbage, being unable to sleep, having heavy sore legs all the time, a low mood, and start failing workouts that seem like they should be achievable on a regular basis… then don’t just try and push through it.
I’m with you on the goal, but would be happy with 20 minutes at 300W as it highly correlates with ability to routinely hang with A group on Wed night. In 2022 the 300w time was 5+ minutes, this year I pushed that out to 8+ minutes. Getting closer but seems so far!!!
My 2020-2023 ftp increase was done under a coach, a lot of little experiments in the first 2 years, and with very little progression, except for slowly increasing volume up to just under 8 hours/week average in 2022. And very few intervals to go along with very little progression.
I was also lifting pretty regularly that year. But it started interfering with my workouts so beginning of July I was squatting 5x5 65kg then I cut back to 30kg. On the day of the 293 test I squatted 5x5 47.5kg.
That’s about half my max, and I’ve tried to replicate the “magic squat” on ramp test days since and never got a boost since, so probably a red herring. I think at least once a week lifting is a good idea though, before a TR workout.
Edit
Hoping we’re not to focussed on covid year with no work and all play…but it looks like mid May to early August 12 weeks were the key so MV SSB and SusPB MV got me there with a fair dose of running and lifting not helping FTP.
Sleep data is patchy, weight wise I was 7.5% lighter.
lie down whenever you can… lunch breaks, watching TV before bed
eat clean
hydration, stay on top of it
relaxation / deep or square breathing
no alcohol at all, you migh fall asleep fast after a drink but its not quality sleep, alpha not delta sleep.
warm bath if the helps you relax (it does me)
cool sleeping conditions, slightly cooler than might seem normal, or what you prefer when you first go to bed assuming coming out of a warm living room.
following a warm bath with a cold or temped shower to lower core temperature
Probably something else Ive forgot, but those are the main ones and the lie down one makes an amazing difference for me.
