Training Questions Beginner

Training
1

Hello everyone, i just signed up to TR few days ago, and I am about to start a Trainingplan soon. But before i would like your opinion on my Training. I will give you a brief rundown of my cycling “career” (this is not really a career), so you get a better picture of my situation.
I used to ride E bike for about 3 years now, avg. about 600 to 1000km a year. Last Year in June 2019 it really hit me (Some call it Brain changer). I start do ride a lot first still on my E-Bike and since Sep. on Roadbike on Zwift. From End of August until now, ride on Zwift about 4000km. I did ride 5 Days a Week for about 8-10 sometimes 12 Hours a week. In this process I lost a lot of weight about 25kg. I am 39 / 1.75m and 75kg now. Ramp Test Ftp from Zwift 274W (TR not done, Real FTP I can ride the workouts 235-250W)
I thinks this give you an idea where I am coming from, and this may help you to answer some of my questions:

  1. Since I still consider myself a beginner Rider would a Mid/Low Volume 6 to 8h a week Traditional Training plan with a lot of Zone 2 Work and more Duration be better for me then a Low Volume SSB Base plan? For my First real season?

  2. Also I started doing some Strength work in the Gym, 2 Times a week for the start, I don’t plan to do this for too long but I think besides my legs where I now have some nice muscles my Core and flexibility is still lacking. This is why I like to dedicate 2 hours to Strength work but that means I can only do 3 to 4 Rides a week, or is it a good idea to ride after the Gym some low intensity Zone 2 for 1h?

  3. Also Since I never had more than 2 consecutive recovery Days since Sep, like I say I do recovery on Monday and on Friday, ride more on the weekend. Is it necessary to take a Full week off at some Point? How much Recovery do I need before I start the new Training plan?

  4. You think the big different in the Ramp test ftp and the Workout FTP comes from lack of recovery or overreaching to much in too short time?

Thanks a lot for your feedback, and sorry about spelling.

2

  1. Being new is even more of a reason to start with SSB. Go low volume to start and add workouts if you are easily handling the workload.

  2. Strength and mobility work is necessary year round in my opinion. If you are going to do a ride with your gym workout, Z2 before your strength work is ideal.

  3. You don’t need a week off before starting a plan. Recovery weeks are built in to the plans. Take a single day off before doing your first ramp test so you aren’t too fatigued

  4. It pretty hard to estimate FTP. There are lots of different test protocols out there. Take the Ramp Test and if the workouts are too hard or too easy make small adjustments.

1 Like
3

Hallo Timothyh, thanks a lot for answering my Questions.

This sounds perfect to me. With the lower training load from the low volume plan, i have some buffer time/Energie for Social rides on Zwift or a Race now and then on the Sunday where no training session would be scheduled.

Any other good advice you can give me, i am still cutting calories but i make sure i have enough Proteins. Maybe it is time to stop this since i am now pretty much on the weight i think make sense. Range 73 to 75kg.

BR and Thanks again