I’m hoping I can get some help and sent in the right direction. I’m trying to find a 12 to 14 week (power based) FTP improvment plan
that is trainer specific. I can get on the bike 5-6x week over the winter. 1hr-90min sessions with 1 longer ride 90+mins
once a week.
I basically want to get on the trainer almost everyday for 12 weeks and hammer out some intervals and see my numbers
climb!
I looked at the Hunter Allen programs and they look good but seemed geared for outdoors.
Why not just do 2x20’ twice a week at 95-100% of FTP. One day do 10-15’ of VO2 work, anyway you want to break that up. Two days of sweet spot 80-90% work.
You should see some great gains with that.
This feels like death, but is strangely enjoyable.
Yup, I’ve been trying some of flanagan’s advice and like it as well. It is surprisingly
hard though. After my first 2x20 workout, I thought “that wasn’t so bad and really
efficient, I like it”. Then somehow I found myself avoiding doing it again for a few
weeks For me it takes a bit of mental energy to make myself do it, especially
tempting is to bail on the second 20 because I “went too hard” on the first…
Yep. It’s definitely harder than one would expect. I made it a couple months before I needed a serious mental reset. I’m back into it now, but have found some success with a little more variation. I still try to stick to the principles of the Flanagan stuff. Week goes something like this:
M: Easy Run
T: 2x20@95%, Easy run
W: Long Run
TH: 1x20%105%, rest of the hour at 85% as able, short run
F: Sufferfest video (different one each week)
S: 2x20@95%, brick medium run
S: As long as I can/have time at 85%, maybe run if I feel okay
The videos have really helped break things up and provided a little extra motivation. Still getting lots of time between 85-105% over 5 workouts. And the easy runs are really easy, just trying not to lose run fitness.
Edit to add: all of this is on the trainer unless the weather is just too good to pass up.
Lots of good advice so far. I’ve only been training with power for 2 years, so I might not have to do as much as someone that has been at it for years. Personally, I’ve seen alot of gains in the last two winters by doing 30-40 minutes at 100%, split amongst 10-20 minute intervals, 3x a week. I always ride an hour to 90 minutes, and if I’m not at 100% I’m either recovering at 65% or riding at 85%. Based on my current level of commitment and willingness to suffer, IMHO, 3.5 hours a week on the trainer is plenty.
A typical week for me might be something like:
Monday: Off
Tuesday: 2x15(4) Remainder at 85% AM / Run PM
Wednesday: Run
Thursday 3x10(3) Remainder at 85% / Run PM
Friday: Run
Saturday 2x15(4) 2x15(2) at 85%
Sunday: Long run
After about 8 weeks of this, I need a break so I step back a bit and then go again. Repeat until it doesn’t suck to ride outdoors again.
Haha…sorry, 100% a compliment. It’s straight forward and gets all the focused workouts in. IMO, it’s better then the zillion week plans. I’d just say ever 4 weeks retest FTP.
Yeah, I test about once a month. It’s actually not completely necessary given the correlation of the 1x20@105%. That usually works out to a near maximal effort for me. Whenever I notice a big jump, I adjust my other numbers accordingly. When the test rolls around I’m usually spot on. This gives me more of a linear FTP adjustment than only updating once a month via formal testing.
After 12 weeks of the “Flanagan Plan” I’m happy to report some solid results.
The plan is simple and if you put in the work you will get faster.
I was able to swim 3x a week and run 3x week. All workouts
done inside. So looking forward to getting outside.
Jan 22: Coggan 20min Test: 300 watts
April 13: Coggan 20min Test: 338 watts
For me it takes a bit of mental energy to make myself do it, especially