Cycling Fitness / Training Advice

I think, getting the vibe of "I have no time" and "the season is pretty much over", trying to embed a decent workout and building it into "a program" and "knowing how to make the session work" are very good goals.
There's probably 4 races left in the cross season. If it manages to complete.

Given we're going to be in this situation of lockdown until the early summer (probably right?), then a subscription to trainer road/zwift, a plan of 1 hour sessions doing sweet spot, with a weekly "I have to get out of here/do some tekkers" will probably be ok till then. Then start adding anything horrific.

tl;dr
this time next year fizzy will be podiuming.

Sorry yeah i was assuming the tail end of the cross season was finished as the current covid restrictions would extend beyond that. If your still hoping to race and have little time an interval based approach will give the best bang for your buck in the short term. 4 hours base training rides aren't totally necessary for you as your races will only last about an hour. 2 hours is fine or even 90 minutes if you can include your over/under geared efforts or some microbursts into it. Then 2-3 hi intensity interval sessions a week. If you can squeeze 3 in a week make one of them technique based like but still including some sprint efforts. If you've got a month thats 8-12 sessions so you can get some progression and gains in that.If your doing the session you mentioned earlier i would suggest every week increasing the intensity of the easier stretches that way as you get closer to your race the session starts to become more like a traditional over under session and feels more like a race. If you have a turbo with power i can recommend a couple of 2 week blocks that will give you a real short term boost but these are truly horrendous.

Yeah i agree as you said i have to get out of here/do some tekkers is really important. I spent 3 months once almost entirely on the turbo building fitness whilst totally neglecting my handling skills then my first time in the woods i crashed badly so it's a really good idea to keep your speed and bike handling synchronised if possible.

Never start a turbo session in January until you've dropped your FTP 20 watts

Oh I'm sure I've added some kgs too and it's more like a 70W drop from last year's peak.

I did already do a 45min turbo this morning though, so testing low has advantages. #motivation

Yeah, did that already. Not a month though. One or two pathetic workouts is enough.

I'm 25w down on this time last year and 50w down on my peak. It does mean I managed to do the first week of SSB high volume without too much trouble, not sure how many more weeks I will do it for though. Just thought I would see what it was like.

It was dropping it 30W and failing that prompted the FTP test which lost me another 10W. :D

I did SSHV+ last year until I raced in August. I guess it worked to the extent that I was getting higher FTP power numbers than ever but it didn't work in that I collapsed hard in my 12hr due to lack of time on bike, hydration isssue, etc - basically stuff that I would've sorted out with more time on the TT bike outside...

I spent 3 months once almost entirely on the turbo building fitness whilst totally neglecting my handling skills then my first time in the woods i crashed badly

Are you me?

😂 It was a bad one too. We need to get as good at taking advice as giving it out. Good to know I'm not the only one.

That assumes you have some handling skills to begin with.

fuck off andy 😘

He’s big enough to defend himself.

oh no thats just my jealousy of your fitness

I like to give myself additional handicaps to overcome in life.

He’s big

For posterity

Posteriorty?

I'm thinking waaaay too far ahead on this one but, here goes. Got three TT's I want to not be shit at this summer, mid-May, late-June, mid-August. I've always tried to peak for say a 3 or 4 week period when there's a bunch of stuff I want to be a bit less slow.

They are 25 miles and 6/7 weeks apart each. Clearly I can't try to keep form throughout. Is it as simple as just boshing 4-5 weeks training and 1-2 weeks taper between them? Probably not a proper 2 week taper, just a bit less volume/getting up at 5.15 to train. Or is there something I am missing?

6 or 7 weeks is plenty for a proper 4 or 5 week block and an easy week. Could even do three week build, week easy, two week build.

You think you’re early? I’ve been on the turbo since December and I’m not racing until September 2021... hopefully.

How much of my FTP will I have lost due to not doing any riding or training since September 14th?

20 watts

Will I win a prize if I’ve guessed right?

You'll win a whatsapp picture of me after trying to do a training session at my peak power minus 20 watts

Fiddy