burnthesheep

I started my structured training off two years back by buying that book. It was on the shelf at a local B&N we walked through.

It worked for me to get me used to a plan and suffering.

I don't think the specificity was very good for a low level racer or beginner. It was a "rising tides" approach on 6 hours a week. I say the specificity wasn't good because the efforts in a 30min Cat 4/5 crit or road race aren't anything you've been doing in training.

I think the under/overs and 3x3min VO2 was good to raise power but left me with a big sweetspot hole that made hammer rides or a race really just clinging on. My like 2 hour to 3 hour ride average powers were always well below 200w.

Now, in between doing things, I'm sure to do some tough SS. Start at a power I can do 3x12, then 2x20, then 1x40, and finally 1x60 after a few weeks. Some of that is erg mode, some is gravel grinding. I call that part of my training "consolidating my gains".

I discovered the British cycling plan website. Shows you stuff for free, but have to buy to download to TP or whatever. I can take a look at it and get ideas.