nemeseri

I've been cycling for 2 years now, and now, for the first time, I hit a plateau. So I think it's time to employ a training plan instead of hard commuting, riding up mountains randomly and going to group rides.

I read Friel's bible, the racing and training with power meter from Allan & Coggan and the time-crunched cyclist from Carmichael. My power meter for my bike should be here any day now.

My goal with training is to continuously keep my FTP growing (during plan) and maintaining (during the period between training plans). Basically something that helps me through this plateau. Racing is on my radar very early next year.

I'm not sure that I'm ready to plan a full season with Friel's book though and since Carmichael provides a ready to go plan in his book for commuters, I was thinking it would be perfect for me to try out. My only concern is whether those plans make me able to improve from plan to plan. They seem to be high intensity bursts to your body that helps you peak very fast, but putting less focus on the foundation of the basic fitness. What might be ok.

Do any of you guys had success with those plans? Was it a short living improvement or a real bump in your fitness that you could maintain in the recovery period?

Ygduf

You're going to keep improving for 5-6+ years if you keep training consistently. You may not be plateaued now, you might just be improving more slowly.

Regardless, yes people have had success with those and other plans, and yes, if you are improving in duration efforts outside vO2 max times, the improvements are in muscular function and endurance and should be maintainable long-term. Even short-duration effort improvements, once achieved, are much easier to get back to. It's why doping is so unfair, basically for the lifetime of the rider.

revchuck 

I started out with Carmichael's time-crunched program, and it's a good introduction to structured training. Note that Carmichael says that it works well for events less than three hours, and that if you can manage more than eight hours per week that a more traditional program can work better. I went with the first edition of the book, so there are things in the newer edition I haven't seen, like the program for commuters.

Figure out when your first race is going to be now, and backwards plan from that date to come up with a start date for whatever plan you decide to go with.

You're in a race-rich area, so start looking around now for race-type rides to participate in. Getting used to riding at that speed with that many folks will a big help when you start racing. Additionally, folks there will be free with advice, often given at high volume.

nemeseri

Thanks! Well it's really tricky. I rode in the past weeks around 9-14 hours a week, but I commute 4-5 hours a week. I push myself during commute and based on my HR it might be useful.
So while my total hours is at the border of the traditional plan requirements, it would be too much to fit structured workouts into this schedule. It seems easier to use the commuter plans from the book as a start.

While I definitely want to start racing early next year, first I want to get an idea of a training plan. And I don't really care if I peak without a particular event. Now I only want something I can use as a jump pad every time instead of repeating the same workouts every week without changing the load and intensity.


Well the problem is that I built up my weekly load to a level where I feel I have to start using training plans because otherwise it's going to be boring. Also sometimes I hit surprisingly good PRs out of nothing, but on the following week I struggle to get an average time on my favorite climb. Probably the reason is my hovering form, fatigue and fitness level, so I have to introduce my body to some sort of plan to keep getting better instead of digging myself into a hole.

Ygduf

using the powermeter to just log your training will help remove some of the randomness. it's pretty easy to track when you're "Fresh" vs. when you're acutely fatigued.

Racer Ex 

There is wisdom in this.

Depending on your circumstances a coach can knock a lot of time off the learning curve. Regardless, the two maxims to keep in mind are:

1) Train to the type and duration of races you're going to do and

2) The answer to a poor race or workout is not always "train harder"

Do not fixate on FTP as some kind of holy grail. Triathletes have nice FTP's but most of them get shot out of the back in fast races. Speed kills.

nemeseri

Thanks for the advices. Well I'm thinking about getting a coach, but first I want to try a plan that might work. I know that when it comes to racing FTP is quite secondary. But it's also awesome to get better results during long climbs (I love climbing and leave everybody behind on a climb). I know that I should focus on my weaknesses, and get better results there, but it's so tempting to get even better at what I love. Racing will change this. I know.