Build Me Up (12-week training plan)

So, I have just finished Build Me Up and I am pretty impressed by the plan. Prior to starting, I had an FTP of 288W which is about 4w/kg and I was hoping to try and increase that a bit to around 300W. I tried to follow the plan as closely as I could and largely managed it I think, with the following exceptions:

  • Aspire - I did the last three unders of the third set at 90% to give me a little extra “recovery”. The overs were still done at 100% though.
  • Circus - I found this one seriously tough, so went down to 95% after the first set, and then down to 90% for the second half of the last set.
  • Purple Unicorn - I don’t think I was sufficiently rested for this one and so reduced it to 95% mid-way through the second set.
  • Breakfast Returns - did not fancy this at all so skipped it completely!

It’s also worth mentioning that I was trying to get in some longer easy rides in December to hit my annual target of 10,000km, and I was also racing pretty hard on Thursday nights in WTRL TTT (Latte).

I didn’t find the plan too difficult at the start but it definitely got a lot harder towards the end; particularly the 2 hour workouts and 15.9/LOX. I don’t think the racing and extra rides helped as I definitely felt fatigued a few times during the plan. If I did it again I would try and make sure I took the scheduled rest.

So yesterday I had a crack at the FTP test at the end of the plan. I did it on Ven-top and decided to quit the 5 min block before the main test with 4 minutes gone as I started to feel a bit of lactic acid in the legs. On the 20 min test, the aim was to hit 300W for the first 15 minutes and then look to push on in the last five. Surprisingly, I found that I was able to maintain 310W until 15 minutes and was then able to gradually increase it over the remaining time and then go all-in with a minute to go. I was extremely happy with an increase to 307W (4.3 w/kg - 323W average over the 20 min test) and feel like I gave it everything and paced it reasonably well. I had to pause it just after the test as I physically couldn’t turn the pedals any more.

Anyway - happy days - I would definitely recommend! :+1:

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@Ed_Lazda

I was able to get through the 150 percent-ers, but by the end I was just barely keeping it above where it would start telling me to spin faster. haha.

Thanks for your input. You are obviously a pretty experienced cyclist, so I’m going to take your experience to heart. I’m getting into the meat of the BMU plan myself right now, and I’ve been doing some “extracurricular” rides on free days. I think if I’m going to get the most out of the BMU plan, I ought to to use those days the way the plan intends and rest. Or - at most - a proper “recovery ride” with nothing above Zone 1.

I will say it is sometimes a challenge to remember the importance of rest days in building fitness. But I’ll be very happy if I end up with a ± 20 watt boost in my FTP at the end of it all.

I think you’d be fine with a recovery ride if you felt like it. I would sometimes have TTT on Thursday nights (flat out for 45 minutes or so - HR in the 170s), an hour BMU session on Friday and then longer BMU sessions on both Saturday and Sunday (1:30+) - I definitely wasn’t getting sufficient rest on those last couple of weeks.

One thing that bugged me though, and is common with Zwift training plans, is the enforced amount of time between sessions. More than once I planned a session at, say 9am on Saturday (because Zwift told me the session would be available on Saturday morning), only to get all set up and then find that because my previous ride was lunchtime on Friday, I couldn’t do the training session until 11am. Not hugely convenient when trying to fit training around family life etc.

Yes, the lack of flexibility in training plans is not ideal at all. I’ve just started the BMU plan, but have done it before last April and many times ran into this.

Good news from Zwift HQ:

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That is good news!

Has been great reading this.
Starting build me up tomorrow.
Currently ftp 231 & 97kg

I think I made a mistake.
Day one done and it’s telling me I need to do 2 more by Sunday ( tomorrow).
Is that right?
Is the week Monday to Sunday?

Yes, it’s Monday to Sunday. Are you in the actual Week #1? Or just the “Prep Week?” I did a similar thing and started on a Sunday, so I only have 1 ride listed for Prep Week even though I’m pretty sure there was at least one more.

If you’re in the actual Week #1 that has four workouts, then it might be worth starting again on Monday.

Don’t forget you can change the bias +/- 10 % if its too tough change it by either using the companion app or the up and down triangles on on the bottom of the screen

I just finished this plan. I did miss a few workouts because of life. I wish there was more flexibility. However, I gained 10 pounds during the 12 weeks and my ftp went up by 1.

Go figure.

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Just seen that it was week 0.

Only just started this one. Had my 2nd training session today. Halvfems, it was very hard. The change in cadence from 90 to 60 at 210w was very hard. Is it like this for the 10/12 weeks?

If you use ERG mode, when your cadence drops to 60, you are inviting the death spiral. I’d recommend disabling ERG mode and using your gears (or an occasional resistance adjustment) to meet your power and cadence targets. The acceptable power band for getting a star is pretty wide.

I leave ERG mode on, but I pretty much live on the 3rd or 4th largest gear in the back (largest gear in the front). That seems to be the sweet spot for me to keep both the low and high cadences in a tolerable range.

This was a change when I first started since when I was out on the road I was usually on the two smallest gears in the back unless I was going up a really steep hill. lol

Is it just the low cadence that’s the problem? If so, I had similar issues. I naturally ride at 90-95rpm and so those portions of the early workouts were fine, but I found it a real struggle to ride at 60-70rpm. I decided to treat the power targets as my primary aim (as they get you the stars) and then try and vary my cadence as the plan wanted, but not to such a radical extent. So, instead of doing 60rpm I might target 75rpm. Part of my thinking was that I was getting knee pain at very low cadence and wanted to avoid injury whilst still progressing with the plan. However, as I went through the programme I found that the low cadence work got a bit easier as I trained more at it. Also, with hindsight, I think it’s a really helpful aspect as it develops the muscles and trains you to put more “force” into the pedals. It also teaches you that a slightly lower cadence (say 85rpm) will often result in a lower HR than 95rpm at the same power.

Saying all that, I think it’s really important that your FTP is accurate before you start - I don’t think the early workouts should be that hard (the really difficult workouts come towards the end).

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Hi @David_Dickens !

How’s it going now? I ended up having to do the FTP test again to get an accurate result, which in turn made a huge difference in my ability to do the BMU workouts. After getting artificially high numbers doing the Ramp Test Lite, it was suggested that I do the FTP Shorter test, which is about 45 minutes total with a 20 minute test block in the middle that you do while not in ERG mode. Hope this helps!

Ride On!
Beth

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I gave up :see_no_evil:
The weather is starting to get better so I’m not going to have the 12 weeks to do it because I’ll be out on the road.
I have only got ftp increases when I’ve been doing the 4 week ftp booster.
When doing the booster you have these 60 minute free rides. Every time I did these I got an increase and then again at the end of the booster I did the 45 min ftp test and got a result of 231 watts.

I’m going back to do the booster again because I can fit it in over the 4 weeks.

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The “Cucumber” workout was pretty rough tonight. Maybe because yesterday I did “Kirizuma,” which was another 1:30 workout. Or maybe I just didn’t get enough calories today. Either way, it was the first time I considered just not trying for the goal cadence toward the end, but I didn’t give in! :wink:

Next week has a 2 hour workout. My backside hurts just thinking about it. I hope there’s some slower cadences in there to give me a better chance to stand up!

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