I was also a 10-14 hour/week guy for a long time and never managed to break the 4 W/kg FTP barrier. Since October last year I’ve dropped my volume by as much as 50% on a polarised plan and my threshold power has improved dramatically over the winter. My endurance power is also well up (at least up to 3 hours) and my VO2 max power is up. I’ve finally pushed slightly above 4 W/kg for a genuine 1 hour effort. That’s despite putting on about 5 kg in weight due to eating whatever I felt like over the winter.

I’m not really sure what to make of this to be honest. Was my higher volume plan just crap or not high enough volume to be really effective? Also my new regime is untested beyond 3 hours, so I could potentially fall apart on a longer effort. I’ll find out over the coming months, but I’m definitely sticking with this plan for now!