I am 30 years old, recently coming off an injury and interested in some structured training for the first time. I have cycled a pretty good amount over my life, but I have never measured progress or done structured training. I am a bit out of shape as I havnt been able to do much for the past year due to medical reasons. I performed the FTP test recently and it seems I am right around 128W as a FTP currently.
I setup a simple coach jack training regime and I have been doing it for most of the Decemeber so far, and it feels great to be getting active again. So far I have just been doing the programming using Watts, but the exercise workouts have been really easy. I know that the first part of the plan I picked was for base building, but im trying to understand how easy or hard workouts are suppose to be so I can get some good results. I don’t mind zone2 workouts at all and im fine going on an easy long rides for a while to build up my base, I am just not sure how “easy” its suppose to be.
I wound up reading some articles on the forums and I am left a little confused as to progression. I have seen reccomendations for the HR+ training mode instead of power to pick resistance, and I have also seen suggestions for just doing more FPT tests early on. I have also seen suggestions that it might just be beneficial to do z2 work for the first 16 weeks or so.
If anyone has some advice for me regarding doing more regular FTP tests or doing some sort of test for maximum heart rate and going the HR+ route I would greatly appreciate it. Also, if anyone has a reccomendation for base building or some other structure that would be great. I don’t have any events or plans coming up, I would just like to get in much better shape to faciliate some bike packing plans I have for next summer!
The FTP ramp test graph looks strange. What is the circled stuff? Normally once you “pop” you’re done and you start easy pedaling to recover. It is weird to see power stay near the test maximum for ~ 8 minutes after the test peak.
Do you think you went deep enough in the ramp test or did you have more left to give? 179 BPM is a high HR so it appears you did a good job.
What Coach Jack plan are you doing? Can you share details of the workouts that seem easy?
If you’re doing workouts at the middle of zone 2 (65%) that would be 83 watts. If your workouts are lower power than that or under or very short it could explain why they feel easy. Zone 2 should be pace that you would feel comfortable riding outside for a relatively long time.
It could also be that you’ve made some FTP gains. Given your age and break from cycling I think you could advance quickly.
I think Coach Jack is a good place to start. It is important in my opinion to pick a training plan that is fun.
Dave makes a good point about the FTP test graph. For most people, when they reach failure point on the ramp test, they are in no state to then go on and do another 10 minutes with power exceeding the level they got to on the ramp.
On HR+ / aerobic base. An easy way to start is to use the Maffetone formula to set the target HR. In your case, that could be 180-30 = 150 as the “do not exceed” level, so you could you set HR+ to 140, maybe 145.
Follow the instructions in this TrainerDay video to do a HR+ workout, it is cued up to the right spot
Thanks for the look at that first FTP test! I had sent the workout to my head unit instead of using the phone app for the firs test (My phone was not working at the time). The test didnt automatically end and I thought I was just suppose to try and send it for the whole duration haha.
I redid the test this morning and really tried to push it:
Nicely done, if your last minute power was 203 W then FTP is ~ 152 W and your new zone 2 is 99 W. It makes sense that 83 W would seem easy, that would be the top of your new zone 1.
HR+/Coach Jack power controlled should feel about the same. Typically with power controlled workouts the power will be constant and HR will increase some during the ride. During HR+ it is the opposite the trainer will reduce power to keep your HR constant.
Do give HR+ a try. I regard it as TrainderDay’s crown jewel and rate it very highly. But, it isn’t the only way to do base / aerobic training and the Coach Jack plans are good too.
The key thing to focus on at this early stage of your training plan is, imo, establishing consistency.
The most important thing is that you be consistant with your training, and that you choose one method and stick with for at least 6-8 months.
There are many ways to get better. Maffletone, polarised and sweet spot are some of them. They all have their pros and cons.
@dthrog00 Made a good comment about your test. You did that again, and it made a difference.
For testing, the same principle applies: there are many tests. Pick one (or two) and stick with them.
Coach Jak can help you perfectly. I like the ftp ramp test and the zone 2 test. They show you the whole picture.
There are two thresholds that matter. Your aeroob threshold and your anaeroob threshold. That’s what these tests will show you. If you see that you’re in the right powerzone, but the heart rate zone is structurally not getting to the same level, you need to test again, because you’ve probably improved.
