Off Season Plan Check

Training and Performance Fundamentals
1

Hi all. With the season winding down I wanted to build a solid plan for the off season. At the moment I’m targeting one long gravel event May 15, 2027, and from there aiming to enjoy my fitness for some other TBD events. I popped this all into Coach Jack and received the following plan:

  1. Foundation: Four weeks of Base++
  2. Build: 20 weeks of Serious Italian
  3. Sharpen: Four weeks Big Days
  4. Race: 1 week taper

This led me to a few questions that I’m hoping to gain some insights on here:

  • I was surprised to see only 1 month of Base and Sharpen each. Is there any reason why either phase wouldn’t/shouldn’t be longer, especially given the very long Build phase?
  • How does Serious Italian stack up against Progressive Sweet Spot or Crunched Power as training approaches? I noticed the weekly stress scores for each were pretty similar across each so is it mostly a matter of preference (especially given my non-pro status?)? Any direct experiences are welcome!
  • What approach could I use to stay “sharp” during peak summer riding season after completing this plan/event in may?

Thanks!

2

I’ll defer to @alex for rationale behind why CJ works the way it does, but I can comment on the build plans.

Serious Italian - Threshold progression workouts (70%-80%-100% cycles) and SFR workouts with very low cadence, like climbing when you’re severely under geared. I think the goal is threshold building and strength development.

Progressive Sweet Spot - Two different versions of progession workouts, A is a progression with 70%-78%-84% and B is 70%-78%-95%. The goal is to build below threshold endurance.

Crunched Power - Depending upon how you set up the days you could get Sweet Spot A, HIIT A, and VO2 Max. This will be a lot more intensity than the other two. HIIT builds from 20-40s to 30-30s to 30-15s. VO2 Max mostly 2-3 minute effort repeats.

I think it depends upon what you goal is and what your limiters are. How are you going to ride the long gravel event? Are you going to stay with early surges and hold on as long as possible or try to stay at a pace that you can sustain?

For summer are you going to be riding mostly outdoors or would you do these workouts indoors? SFR outdoors I think is going to be impossible.

Dave