Very grateful to Matthew for allowing us to review his account for this podcast and figure out why he had plateaud.
If you’d like us to do the same for your account, drop your username and a short explanation of what issue you’d like to analyze in the YouTube comments on the video above!
// TOPICS COVERED
(00:00:00) Welcome!
(00:01:05) Case Study: Matthew’s FTP Stagnation
(00:02:09) Analyzing Training Patterns
(00:02:49) Unstructured vs. Structured Training
(00:03:50) Weekly Training Breakdown
(00:07:22) Outdoor Training Insights
(00:16:23) Adjusting Training Plans
(00:18:14) Strength Training and Rest Days
(00:28:22) Early Morning Workouts and Nutrition
(00:36:57) Upcoming Podcast Challenge Race
(00:39:16) Discussing the Peaks Challenge
(00:39:44) Australian Wildlife and Cycling Culture
(00:40:43) Race Strategy and Preparation
(00:46:38) Training and Nutrition Plan
That’s some pretty amazing smooth consistency on your outdoor interval efforts. Even on the best roads with least variation in gradient it’s pretty hard to stay on target that well. What kind of display do you have on your head unit?
I seem to recall Jonathan saying he uses 10s average on the head unit. I personally use instantaneous power otherwise I find there’s too much latency. (I stomp on the pedals & 3 seconds later it tells me what I did. ) I think I do alright, but not quite as precise as Jonathan.
I like the idea of this type of podcast. It’s a bit like a roastmytrainerroad dot com, but instead it’s constructive
Am I understanding correctly that if I strength train twice a week, I should ideally do my intervals and strength training on the same days so I create two full days of rest (or turn those days into easier endurance days to boost volume)? I currently have 1 day of rest and ride 8.5 hours a week.
Correct, if you need to maximise recovery then do strength training same day as intervals. Whatever is your focus, do first, because what you do first in a day will inflict fatigue on what you do afterwards if both activities stress the same muscles. For cyclists who are looking to add some strength training, that could look like a bike workout before work then a strength workout at lunchtime.
I’ve personally found this advice to be good; I find my glutes to be burning more than usual on sweetspot or threshold workouts done the day after a strength session involving legs. So doing strength a few hours after an interval session gives me the most recovery before the following interval session which is usually two or more days later.
Also, look for the TR podcasts involving Derek Teel from Dialed Health. He’s a strength coach who also uses TR for cycle training.
Loved this pod.
The crit place Nate spoke of in Sydney is heffron park. Cav could only win there once! Hard AF.
I’ve done the three peaks and it’s amazing. You’ll experience minimum 3 seasons because you cover so much territory.
There is a bag drop process and return so yeah you can ditch your lights after the first two climbs.
The last climb is insane at the wtf corner. For about 2klms or so people will walk. And the road surface is rough as mate. Also beaming heat from the sun. The gradient and klms quoted in the pod must have averaged out the hard bit of the climb.
The 20klms before the wtf corner is special. Sweeping corners with a mild ascent, hard to hold back. It’s actually a famous motorcycle road.
Do not recommend running ultralight wheels, good choice to stay one something you’re confident on.
Makes sense to be flying into Melbourne, @Jonathan, as that is the capital of Victoria, which is where you said you’ll be heading. Victoria is a smaller state, about the same size as Minnesota in USA.
I think it’s funny whenever Jon brings up caffeine. I’ve managed to bring my intake down to 400 a day
20oz coffee for regular days, 30oz on tired days.
Mid morning coffee #2 ant the office
Energy drink in the afternoon around lunchtime to get through the late day meetings.
Such a balancing game fitting in multiple quality strength sessions when on a triathlon plan, juggling running sessions + Swimming around cycling workouts mid week😅
Loved the breakdown of Jonathan’s nutrition goals for his training, but I’m left wondering how to scale these to my situation. I’m a big guy who might even make @Nate_Pearson look small. 2.03m, 92kg, 3.52W/kg. Using Jonathan’s numbers I need 184g of protein a day and 550g of carbs. There’s a limit to how much volume someone can consume in a day and these number seem off the chart. Do protein and carb numbers need to be adjusted for size or are there bigger people out there who actually hit these kinds of numbers and see positive body comp results?
Protein should be adjusted for body size, and really lean mass. Carbs should be adjusted for the amount of work that you’re doing.
If you’re getting 150-200g of Protein Per day (minimum), then ~100+ g of Fat per day, then you just add carbs to get to your total daily energy requirements.
For me, carbs can be 100g, or 1000+ in a day so it’s next to impossible to think about it in terms of an average, it needs to be indexed for the work.
Thanks @BCM, I did leave out important context. I’m training 8 hours a week with TR and pushing 460-470 TSS during my active weeks with 275 TSS during my recovery weeks. I’m trying to up my protein to get into the range you reference, I’m close to the bottom of it, but it just feels like all I do is eat. I’m sure there is a psychological component at play because I eat so much more than the people around me even though I’m generally fitter than many/most of them
Carbs aren’t based on TSS, they’re based on kCals burned and total work which is dependent on raw FTP and really the average power you’re putting out for a workout. Yes, as you start doing more work and needing more calories, it’s a lot. Plenty of threads on this here, but bagels, rice, etc. And, fuel on the bike like it was a race if you’re having a hard time getting in enough carbs.
Protein - a scoop of whey protein powder 2-3 times a day helps a lot. I have one very first thing when I wake up, and very first thing after every single workout and that’s an additional ~50-60g right there.
For what it’s worth, I’m at a 320-340 FTP, and TSS has been as high as 700+ during big work weeks in season. My normal training weeks right now are 500+ in base, so that’s a pretty high calorie burn at my FTP. 10-15 hour average, highest going 15-20. I just don’t have a problem eating a lot, never have.
For an event like Johnathan is planning for, what type of event would this come under in plan builder?
I have something similar planned and put it in as a Gran fondo with an expected time of 8 hours. The plan it has given in the calander does not go above 4 hours a week with the longest ride being an hour.
I feel i must have misunderstood the plan building process somewhere!
Someone might have already mentioned this, and if so apologies.
I saw a Cav post on Insta recently that said “Don’t look for the effort, let the effort come to you”
The chat in the podcast reminded me of that…
When you create your training plan you do have the ability to tell it how much time that you have available and want per week, and I think that the initial suggested volume is probably based (somewhat) on your historical training load
As an example - I just created an example plan for myself that has two Gran Fondo events in it on my calendar, and it initially gave me 7:15 with a 2:30 weekend outdoor ride, but I was able to modify that in the planning process.
You do want to be careful to scale up slowly though - gradually extend the volume with more Z2 as you get closer to the event don’t just go straight to a higher volume than you’re ready for.
@ZackeryWeimer can probably help with a little more detail than me.
The suggested volume is based on your recent riding. As BCM mentioned, we advise against rapidly increasing your volume – it could lead to excess fatigue and burnout quickly.
Your TSS will likely increase through the course of your plan as you increase your Progression Levels. At the moment, your volume won’t increase automatically (though this is something we are working on for the future!), so you’d have to manually add volume if that is one of your goals. You could do so by using Workout Alternates.
If you increase your volume gradually over time, you can try changing your plan/plan volume after you establish a new “baseline” volume. Changing your plan will trigger Plan Builder to reanalyze your recent training history, which, if you’ve manually added volume, may push Plan Builder to restructure your plan with some extra hours.
Again, though, make sure to build up that volume slowly! Try adding about 30 minutes total to a given week – that could be done by riding 10-15 minutes extra on a couple of your workouts. Also make sure that your recovery weeks stay nice and easy. If you start to notice a lot of red/yellow days from Red Light Green Light appearing on your Calendar, consider easing up a bit as that’s likely a sign that you may be ramping things up too quickly. If in doubt, always err on the side of extra rest/recovery.
This article has some more tips that might be useful for you:
) I think I do alright, but not quite as precise as Jonathan.
