Cycomanic wrote: ↑Fri Apr 02, 2021 9:02 pm
I think @iheartbianchi nailed it, you were riding 80-85% FTP for 2.5h that's lower sweetspot range for 2.5h and then you had some bits with 150% FTP in there. That is a very taxing endurance ride, and in fact generally not really considered terribly productive.
Everyone has been given you advice, but I think the big question is what are you actually training for? You say you want to get stronger, but what type of stronger, do you just want to kill it on your bunch rides? Do you want to race? Endurance events? I think a lot of what you should be doing depends on those goals.
Regarding your comment on sticking to a plan, I'm in the same boat. Back in the days when I was racing, I was always someone who got fit quite fast, but I struggled keeping my training structured. So often when I was getting better initially I upped my training load too much and then ended up burning out, because I increased intensity/duration too much and started to stagnate at the same time. Recently I've been getting back after a long time off, and I'm now using xertonline (I'm not associated just using it) and I've found that after reading there material I find myself better at sticking to things without having a rigit plan. The interface is definitely not as slick as some of the others and it does require quite a bit of reading (listening to podcasts) to understand the concept behind them. So it's more a way to teach yourself how to self-train, but you must be willing to make some time investment yourself.
Another alternative is to get a coach at least for half a year, he/she would be able to give you much better advice on the dos and don'ts than any one of us on the forum here, because they will actually see a lot of your power data and here how you feel after certain rides.
BTW regarding your numbers, I think that's quite good numbers for someone who started riding 3 years ago and didn't do any endurance sport before. Especially because considering your background you likely carry quite a bit of extra upper body muscle around with you compared to many others.
This is all great info. And yes, I do carry quite a bit of upper body mass, but over the years it has reduced, much to my wife's disappointment.
I listen quite often to TrainerRoad's podcasts, but I've never used their program. I recall listening recently about their adaptive training that incorporates your "off-plan" rides and adapts the plan accordingly. I'm really looking forward to when that is rolled out.
Right now, my goals are, unfortunately, quite varied. Short term, I've got a 40 minute crit tomorrow. Intermediate term, I have a couple road races in May that end on a half mile 7% hill (~2min power is ideal for the final). Total duration of the road races will likely be 1.5-2 hours. There's a 10k TT, but I've never done a TT and I'm not buying a TT bike, so I may pass on that one. Long term would be fall gravel races. That's where longer duration will be important. I'll be doing BWR Kansas at the end of October and that's 111 miles (178km). There are several others in the fall of various duration, but I've yet to pick and choose which I want to do.
Edit: To clarify, I really just started competing this year (I planned to last year, but that didn't work out). I'm still trying to find what suits my capabilities best. The crit's I've done so far, while I'm not terrible at them, I think they're suited to riders with higher absolute power. I have a decent power to weight, but my absolute power is still lower than most people in the same cat. I'm hoping the road race with steady power in a bunch and finishing on a short steep climb will better suit my abilities.