What next? Suggestions

#1

I’ve made good progress using coach jack ahead of my event on 6&7 May and so am starting to think what I’ll do next.

I’ve no firm events currently booked in though I’d like to try a few 10m TT’s before boiling down to the British hill climbs in September and October. If I get a gravel bike may do a few gravel events too but have no wish to train/keep training for any 4-6hr epics.

What would all suggest I do? I’ll give myself a few days to recover after the West Highland Way and will either do a ramp or some critical power tests but thereafter I’ve no clue. Help…! :grinning:

#2

6 posts were split to a new topic: Coach Jack next winter or something else?

#3

Hi Daniel. Need more info. Like a screenshot of weekly hours from strava or intervals or something as well as what plan you did and what sequence number you ended at. Also did you have any base period before starting the CJ plan? How do you feel now? What type of training do you want to do? How much indoor vs outdoor?

#7

I should say some people like to do hard winters and just fun spring/summer outdoors. That’s another style and in the case a winter build period with CJ would be good. CJ is really optimized for a build period and good at peak period.

#8

Well, new challenge :slight_smile:
Integrate TD with Fitatu app. It would be great if the calories would be transferred to Fitatu. Garmin, Strava and others are there already.

#9

So many questions lol.

By way of background I spent the beginning of last year having some 1-2-1 coaching before a loss of motivation and home life changes put the kybosh on things, spending the rest of the year (until end of October jumping from 1 platform to another). Eventually I got a virus ( it COVID) and had for the most part 2 months entirely off the bike. In January I came across Trainer Day and have so far stuck with it.

In the 2-3 years previously I’ve jumped around from xert to trainerroad to zwift and back never really sticking with one platform but training reasonably consistently.

The only real racing I’ve done is UK hill climbs (look it up if you don’t know about it). Basically these are short uphill time trials from 1min upto 15-20mins. I’ve done a circuit race but really didn’t like the wheel to wheel action and a few club TT’s which I’ve enjoyed. I also occasionally mountain bike and in fact my event in May is a mountain bike event but from a fitness perspective indoor and road training has been far easier for me.

I live in Sheffield in the UK which is hilly (for the UK anyway) and so like a good bit of climbing. As I’ve alluded to above, I’d like to do some short TT’s before boiling down to have a fair crack at some hill climbs I. Sept/Oct and maybe even qualify for the Nationals if possible.

I’m just 43 and so a vet in terms of category and generally can manage 6-8hrs training a week (though I’m hoping to add a couple of commutes into my routine).

I’ll try to post a few screenshots from intervals. Let me know what else you might need.

#10

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#11

I want to say I started with crunched power with base, build and peak phases (but I could be wrong on the programme).

I’ve followed it as best I can where life hasn’t got in the way. I’ve done 2 indoors workouts in the week and then a longer outdoor ride on the weekends. I’ve started to do a few of the mid week rides outdoors in the last few weeks where possible.

I enjoy a long ride at the weekend and like my intervals in the week. I’m not a big fan of sweetspot type workouts.

Fitness wise feeling strong. I feel I’ve got good endurance but haven’t done anything to test where I’m at above that if that makes sense.

#12

So CTL of 15 up to 41 in 3.X months looks good. Really this whole PMC looks good. You might have a month or so right now that you could do a hard peak if you wanted but you are generally coming to the end of a period of fitness improvements. So if you want hope of a second period of increasing this year, I would say if you have an opportunity for 2-4 weeks of base (lots of long outdoors at easy pace would be ideal) followed by a second build and peak period you could hit late summer very strong.

If you are feeling really fresh right now. I would do a peak period including an SFR or Dynamic Force workout. If you have some hills that are fairly steady grade for 5-10 minutes or more this is ideal or a good indoor trainer. These will give you lots of hill climbing strength. But other than adding this low RPM workout you could repeat this last plan for a build after base period.

Does that make sense? If you post a picture of your last week of CJ plan that would hlep too.

#13

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Thanks Alex. I’ll have a proper read later but see the attachments.

#14

Oh you are doing dynamic force, nice :slight_smile: So really in all honesty you could do a base period for 2-4 weeks then probably repeat what you did if you liked it but maybe start at level 4 this time (I am guessing you started at level 1). So you will drop back down again but not all the way. With proper periodization you can keep repeating the same plans over and over again and keep getting stronger each year (well until you hit your peak). Pros tend to do the same thing over and over if they stay with the same coach (other than specific event training).

#15

Brilliant, thank you.

Would you replace one of the midweek rides with the club 10 mile TT and do an easy ride there and back to get the volume in?

#16

A weekly TT if you are pushing yourself super hard would require a lot of recovery, so if it happened to be that you did the TT and were going to take the next 2 days off anyway then it might be ok. My guess is every other week TT might be better and could really be great but recovery has to be a primary focus. I can have my Coach friend Andrea verify I am 100% correct or if there is something better. We should send him the complete plan though to see.

#17

That’s really helpful @Alex. Thanks for your replies.

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#18

Just out of interest, is it worth doing some testing prior to starting a new block? I suspect I’m stronger anaerobically so if that were true, the type of training would. We’d to be altered to maximize performance yes? (Compared to someone with a similar FTP but who might be stronger aerobically)

#19

It’s an interesting question. So some other platforms will tell you this is important. Coach Andrea says it is not very important. Meaning you don’t need to go to failure or even close to failure in training to cause adaption in training. Also going close to failure requires excess recovery. Although a period races does help or fun failures/ fast group rides. It’s more about doing the right process than it is maximizing your training. Start out a little easier and keep increasing each week.

It’s funny as it is actually the same in weight training. Super strong guys don’t go to failure, body builders go to failure. That said you might want to do some type of test to verify your W’ just for reference, also if you have a super high W’ as compared to your FTP you might want to increase your your starting level before a peak period of training so it’s not way too easy. So it’s useful but not critical.

#20

Brilliant. Thanks as always

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