Sounds awesome, best of luck!
Dave
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I wanted to do a workout today as an FTP calibration effort while still being a workout first. I did a 2x20 at 104% of the FTP I’ve been training with. Effectively this is #6 of the Seven Deadly Sins.
“the seven deadly sins…
…er, ways of determining your functional threshold power (roughly in order of increasing certainty):
- from inspection of a ride file.
- from power distribution profile from multiple rides.
- from blood lactate measurements (better or worse, depending on how it is done).
- based on normalized power from a hard ~1 h race.
- using critical power testing and analysis.
- from the power that you can routinely generate during long intervals done in training.
- from the average power during a ~1 h TT (the best predictor of performance is performance itself).
Note the key words “hard”, “routinely”, and “average” in methods 4, 6 and 7…"
Today: (2x20 at 180W in ERG and RPE 8/10 or “Very Hard” ending with something left in the tank)
Last FTP type effort 45 minute test in August: (1x45 in slope and RPE 9/10 of “Extremely Hard” not a lot left in the tank was really glad for this one to be over)
I’m very pleased with this and think I’m getting better. I’m confident I could have held the 180W for ~ 40 minutes if I had been sufficiently motivated. I think 180W as FTP should be ok for my 90% sweet spot intervals.
Dave
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This sweet spot block has been a spectacular success. I’m in the recovery week now and have been 100% compliant to the plan. FTP has gone up to 180 W. I’m recovering well and feeling good. I plan to repeat it in February: Trainer Day
I feel like I’ve wasted so much time. My FTP has stayed in the 170-175 range from late 2023 until the end of 2025 as tested in 30 to 45 minute efforts. I had listened too much to the influencers following the advice intended for much higher volume athletes than me and not doing much intensity at all while riding a lot at “zone 2”.
I’ve learned lower volume athletes should not avoid intensity. What they need to do is training that is hard enough to cause adaptation, but not so hard that they can’t recover. Riding mostly zone 2 on 5 hours a week sadly isn’t going to lead to very much improvement.
I’m not saying my plan is even any good, but there is evidence it is working for me and I believe in it.
Dave
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is the key to it.
I can make a strong case that using all of those 5 hours per week for Z2 (HR) training would be reasonable to include in the base phase of a training plan.
Just imagine the possibilities if/when you get to the point of including the appropriate amount of threshold, then VO2, then anaerobic in your plan!
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I’d say here it’s a case of specificity. Meaning FTP is all about that threshold range, which includes sweet spot. So if you want to improve your FTP, Sweet Spot is a perfect workout. Just like anything, it will stall in progress as well, and you’ll need to have some more variety. I always say, if it’s working, do it. Seiler’s study saw better results from Zone 2 and VO2 max for people doing six hours a week. But then again, everything depends. It depends on your personal weak spots, let’s say. Anyway, congratulations. That’s fun.
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I think you’re right, but given I’m coming from a place of being not well trained there should be considerable growth possible even at lower volume. I’m at 2.5 W/kg now there is no reason I shouldn’t be able to get to 3.0 W/kg.
I expect to go mostly unstructured in 6 weeks or so, we’ll see how the outdoor season goes.
Dave
Another GCN video that pretty much sings the praises of tempo training.
Watch it from around 15’ to 15’45” and you could be forgiven you were watching the Steve Neal Fatmax video
Enough time has passed I think I’m able to make some observations with where the bread and butter 2x20 L3/L4 winter base training ended up.
Target family of rides:
Overall HR vs power data: (2024, 2025 first half, 2025 second half, 2026)
2026 is a little bit better than 2025 second half based off the Power vs Heart Rate outdoor graph although the key ride is the same.
Either of those are much better than 2025 first half or 2024.
I think at my current volume what I choose to do doesn’t really seem to do much to change FTP, etc… Maybe if I was willing to turn myself inside out with hard intervals I could improve it, but that hardly seems worth it.
I’m more/less pleased with where I am at this point. We’ve slightly changed the key ride route to closer to 2 hours 20 minutes and I’m been finishing these in good form. I’ll take RPE 6/10 or “Difficult” in intervals.icu speak and be happy with it.
I want to keep focusing on riding outside whenever feasible until end of the season and then in the late fall when it is cold again work towards trying to consistently keep the volume up. If I can increase from 4.5 hrs / wk to 6 hrs / wk I think there’s room for further durability gains with something like the Ferrari thread.
The 2x20 L3/L4 experiment was positive. I called it a “spectacular success” in January and while that seems like probably hyperbole now, there was value in it.
Dave
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Background from Dr. Coggan in bold, this is a collection of quotes that I had shared earlier in the thread:
FWIW, over winter 2013/spring 2014 I trained in the sweetspot for 1 h/d, 6-7 d/wk, for 24+ straight weeks. I dubbed it my UniModal^tm training plan.
I built my FTP up to w/in a handful of watts of historic maximum by doing nothing but level 3 efforts practically day-in and day-out (i.e., the UniModal^TM training plan) I was doing all of my UniModal^TM sessions on the ergometer, i..e, as isopower efforts at ~90% of FTP. As a percentage, that’s right on the level 3/4 border, but in this case intensity factor is a better way of looking at things, so really right smack in the middle of level 3.
I’ve detrained this summer due to not training enough (sickness, house projects, and a cut) alongside probably not training hard enough.
I’ve been thinking about the Unimodel workouts Dr. Coggan talked about above and tried one today that isn’t that far off his intent.
Duration: 45 minutes vs an hour.
Intensity: 88% of estimated FTP rather vs 90%, IF still well within the zone 3 range (0.81).
The result overall was good. I could probably do this a few days in a row before needing a recovery ride. If you use Steve Neal guideline of 83% HR max I was well below that also.
45 minutes fits well within time constraints of a normal weeknight. I much prefer that to an hour, but I’d be open to 90% vs 88% of FTP.
Dave
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Nice flat lines on that graph - good execution.
This type of workout is great. Stacking them back to back is what makes a real difference. 1+1+1 = more than 3 when it comes to the benefits gained from doing this sort of work on consecutive days.
Starting from a detrained state, maybe do 1, then take a rest day, then do 2 consecutive, then take a rest day, then do 3 consecutive, then take a rest day (etc).
Unless you are really motivated and have the time, I would hold it at either 2 or 3 consecutive work days, then a rest day.
6 to 8 weeks of that would be a nice block that you would certainly feel the benefits of.
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I don’t really have any cycling goals right now. I ride on the weekend with Jessica and train indoors on week nights after work.
I think maybe I’d benefit from a goal even if it is a silly one.
So here it goes, build towards climbing Alpe du Zwift at a steady power.
I currently weigh about 75 kg. I’m too heavy at this weight and need to do a cut. I was on low carb for ~ 4 years, went to a mixed diet this year and while the food freedom is nice, it is difficult for me to avoid slowly gaining weight. I should weigh 68 - 71 kg. I plan to return to low carb.
My FTP is not great. I’m somewhat detrained right now and around 170 W. I want to work towards holding 150 W (88% of FTP) for a long time. At my current weight I’d need to hold 150 W for 100 minutes per Zwift Insider (2 W / kg) to successfully climb the Alpe. I’m confident I could actually do this now, but it would be painful.
Plan: Implement a similar Unimodal^TM approach as described above with 45 minute weeknight workouts and progressively do longer 150 W durations on the weekend. Climb the Alpe on Saturday, February 12, I think this will take ~ 105 minutes.
Dave
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An objective can certainly help.
Another way to consider this one is on an improvement basis.
Do the Alpe ride now (or anytime soon), to set a benchmark. Then train towards beating that benchmark on 12 Feb.
You could go so far as to earn rewards (from yourself!) based on how much you beat the benchmark by.
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Yes set a difficult but reasonable goal something that demands consistentcy for example. Something that sounds fun but you can bail if you need to.
Mine is my marathon in 7 months and increasing long run 1km per week getting to 30km in training. If I get close to 30 it is total success. Or even if not I have a nice trail half marathon next fall literally in my “backyard.” It goes 50 meters from my house at one point.
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I’m in week #2 now. Given I’m making a dietary change I need some adaptation time so I’m keeping it zone 2 the first 4 weeks. I’ll start ramping up the time at sweet spot after that. My plan link a couple posts above works.
High level I’m working towards 45 minute WO’s Tuesday-Thursday, 90 minute WO on Saturday, and 45 minute WO on Sunday. Monday and Friday off. ~ 4.5 total hours weekly. It isn’t cold yet so I’ll substitute outdoor rides on the weekend.
While Dr. Coggan was able to do his Unimodal^TM 6-7 days a week of 1 hour and no recovery weeks, I can’t do that. My target is 3 key sessions a week and 2 easy rides with a recovery week every 4th week.
My planned money weekday workout is the 45 minute session with a 1x30 sweet spot interval. The Saturday workout gradually builds time in zone in duration: 1x10, 1x20, 1x30, 1x40, 1x50, 1x60, 1x75, 1x90, 1x105.
Per Zwift Insider it will take about 100 minutes at 2 W/kg to climb the Alpe. I’ve dropped some weight already and my target power now is just over at 2.04 W/kg now.
I doubt this is very interesting, but I’ll post occasionally for accountability 
Dave
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This is interesting. I love that you set a goal. More and more a date and event feel like can be a key to aiding in consistency/motivation.
I just changed my goals. I wish they were more stable… but I realized a spring marathon just does not fit my life. I am planning a spring half-marathon and fall 2027 Gran Fondo. Big outdoor winter running does not appeal to me. 1/2 makes that easier. The Gran Fondo is my A race and the one I care about the most.
I got insider info on the event details that I can’t announce yet so when I get the thumbs up I will post the full idea (not that anyone cares). I am super excited as it looks like an amazing event. The basics 100km ride and I found 3 friends already to ride it with me. All of us struggle a bit with consistency with similar size and power so I believe a team goal will help and we can do our own team rotation group. 8km 600m climb at the end that we can race each other to the finish.
Thanks!
The Grand Fondo sounds like a good plan to me.
Dave
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What about the new treadmill?
I’ll do 5K on a treadmill maybe 10, but I surely don’t wanna work up to say 20. Although I haven’t tried it yet so we’ll see. The weather has been nice so I’ve been doing everything outdoors and I’m focused on cycling more than running at the moment but this winter will be more running and I’m still running anyway.
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The transition back to low carb is going great overall, but the cycling performance side has been more difficult so far than I hoped it would be. I already did this for 4+ years from late 2021-late 2025 so I have experience and hoped I’d still have “the machinery” to burn mostly fat, but that hasn’t been the case so far through 3 weeks. 4 weeks is typically referenced as the transition timeframe so maybe I will be past it soon.
I’m up about 8 BPM for the same power so far based off indoor trainer data.
I’m down about 7 lbs so far. 4.4 lbs of that was the first week and is water weight, but I think some is fat as I’ve kept losing since then. I’m knocking on the door of getting back in the 150’s instead of 160’s lb range. The power needed for 2 W/kg has gone down from ~ 150 W to ~ 145 W.
Dave
Good job on the weight loss. The way I view this stuff is if I am meeting my primary objective my secondary objectives are optional and I don’t care. So I would be happy with this if weight loss was the primary objective… You were Mr Anti-low carb but glad you are able to change your beliefs based on new learned info… (I assume you decided this was best path forward for you). Maybe just more out of shape? You put 1/1 to 9/6 but I assume something else could have changed between those dates.
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