I have done this training plan last winter and has very good results, so therefore I started it again recently.
Currently I am at the end of week 5, going into week 6 next week.
However, it often occurs that my trainings only become available Tuesday morning. Even now, when I finished week 5 on Friday, the first session of week 6 is only open on Tuesday morning.
Does this also happen to other people and is there are a particular reason?
If anyone would have a solution, this would be great. For sure when the weeks with 5 sessions appear, a Monday workout would suit me.
Hi M, I also started Build me Up at an FTP of 124 (I am a little daunted by all of your steep ftp’s!). Just wanted to give you a thumbs up. To be honest, I’m on week 2 and finding it challenging already. Then again, I was never the sportsy type, am almost 50 and have a very busy working life as a single mom. I’m wanting to complete it though in order to come out strong and fit in Spring, but I think I might be overreaching a bit.
Kind regards,
Hi, I’ve literally just done my 20 min FTP test after completing the 12 week build me up program. Due to time contstraints and fatigue on the very last workout I only managed 75% of the program. My FTP has gone up by 1 Watt !!! 229 to 230W. Really disappointed in myself as I expected much more. Im a relatively beginner but been riding a couple of years. The last year I’ve been seriously with a serious autoimmune disease but I’ve been fine since last March so I’m not convinced it’s down to that. I used the turbo and Zwift to help my recovery over the year but definitely wasn’t fit before . Any thoughts on why I haven’t improved? Is 75% completion the reason? I gave my all the sessions I did . Cheers Dave
Maybe try a ramp test to see if that improves your ftp. As maybe you weren’t trying as hard as you could. Only other thing I can think is your ftp was to low during the program. I’m on week 10 and upped my ftp by 10watts after about 6weeks and find the workouts fairly hard although Iv yet to fail or lower the level. Done a road ride last week and felt much better after my training
I’ll try the ramp test next week. Haven’t been outside as the weathers not great. I felt I could have pushed a bit more on some of the training rides but the penultimate week killed me. Maybe fatigue?
Rampe test has no interest
20min test (CP20) is better but not perfect to really appreciate the progress.
You have to do CP5, CP20 and CP120 to get a global idea of progress.
Maybe your FTP is same but yo gain much endurance and can maintain more power during 2/3h
In any case, you have to be sure you are totally rested for make good test.
I find doing a 20 minute time trial better as I feel it gives you more motivation to push than the usual FTP test. I guess everyone is different though
2 weeks singletrack slayer and loving it. Coming off a few rounds of ftp improvement, my ftp is jumping about 25 points every 6 weeks. Singletrack slayer will take longer to test out but I’m just so hooked on this program. I do admit, I often can’t squeeze in 7 days a week so I just shift the workouts out - I never skip them. So the 10 week program will likely take me 12-15. This is my first off-season where I train seriously so I can’t wait to see how it transitions. I’m trying to squeeze in 2-3 general upper body lifting routines a week so I have the strength. Does anyone incorporate lower body with these 7-day/week programs? That sounds REALLY tough.
I might need advice. I’m in week 5 of the program and did Escalation today. I was expecting a big challenge as I heard here before this is the first really hard training. However, it felt relatively easy as did the past 2-3 weeks once I settled into the program. I upped the first 7 of 10 final really hard intervals at 150% FTP by another 10% to make it even more difficult. I already had a tiny FTP increase at week 3 (auto detection) and I’m unsure what to do now. I think I have three options:
Do nothing and go with the flow, it might get harder with the 5 trainings p.w. weeks ahead. Risk, missing gains.
Up FTP training by training when it feels right. Risk, not putting in a big enough challenge and wrong zoning.
From memory a bit, but I found the following week was where it started to get really hard and that was mainly due to it going to 5 a week and just not having enough recovery time rather than the individual workout. This could also be due to me being in my mid 40s and taking longer to recover than when I was 20!
The other thing is how did you set your ftp and how accurate do you think it is? I’ve done a mix of 20 minute and ramp ftp tests and I’ve also ridden for an hour at my ftp so I’m fairly confident of what it is.
I found those last VO2 intervals on escalation very difficult (but do-able). If you’re boosting the difficulty by 10% just to make it feel like a workout, and also getting FTP increases by auto-detection I would guess your FTP is set a bit low.
What type of activity were you doing when it auto-detected an FTP increase? (and as David asks I’m also interested in which FTP test you used to set it in the first place)
Thanks both. I did the last FTP Test (classic version) when finishing the FTP Builder in middle Dec 2021 and this set my FTP to 239 (from default value). As I took a break from cycling and went skiing instead I did not feel the need to do another test by the start of the program in January. The latest auto-detect increase came from a Tour de Zwift race (short version). I just checked on Trainingpeaks and it was a 24min ride with 250W average power, which bumped my FTP by 3 to 242 and it was actually last week, so week 4 of the plan.
From what David says I might want to keep it as is and see how comfortable I’m going through week 5 before making a judgement. Maybe I use the recovery week 8 to squeeze in another FTP test with some reasonable rest, as I do not see a spot before to do so.
You can also check out https://intervals.icu/, it can load your rides from strava and analyze them and come up with an estimated ftp for you based on any efforts over 2 minutes. I don’t understand any of the magic involved in this and have only just started using it but it’s estimated ftp for me is inline with my most recent ftp test which in turn is close to my most recent best 1 hour effort.
Yeah, intervals.icu would be good to try (it’s free but has a suggested $4/mo donation) and might actually show an increase from what you already got in Zwift. Totally understand you don’t have time to put another FTP list on the calendar.
I am on the 10-week, not the 12-week, so my 6th week might be a bit different but for me the 6th week wasn’t that bad. Things seem to get much worse starting in the 7th/8th week on the 10 week plan
If you were doing a complete full gas effort for that TdZwift race then you might be pretty close in terms of FTP, but if you had any time settled in a draft or had any matches left at the then it probably underestimated your FTP.
Another thing you could do is keep your FTP the same and bump up next week’s workouts by a super small increment (1-2% or something in the companion app) to see if they feel about right. There aren’t any Z1/Z2 workouts in the plan, so none of them should really feel like a recovery workout.
Given your comments it really sounded like something was off so I took the remainder of the week easy (the two trainings pretty much felt like recovery) and squeezed in a Ramp Test yesterday. Well, mit FTP raised from 242 to 280 which is more than a significant increase. I’m not sure why this happened over xmas and just 4 weeks of the program but I’ll take it.
Downside, I have some pretty tough work ahead. Thanks again!
I am a relatively new Zwifter & just finished week 11 of BMU. I have some questions for week 12… when I log in to Zwift, it has the FTP test as the first workout of the week. Is that right? It makes more sense to me to do the test very last. Any advice?
I had the same question when did this, I don’t think the sessions are in a particular order, on the companion app, it shows as last but is different on the windows zwift app, so I did this last, I just made sure I was fully recovered to give it my all.
Wow, that’s quite the increase - yeah the program will feel a lot different at 280 than it will at 242
One thing to keep in mind is the ramp test can over or under-estimate FTP by a bit (Zwift uses a scaling factor of 75% in the Ramp test, where for some people for instance a scaling factor 72% is more appropriate, for some a 77% scaling factor would be etc.). So if you find you’re getting wrecked like I was when I had set my new FTP don’t feel bad bumping it down a bit. Of course if you’re getting through everything then it’s all good.
I did it a month or so ago. On the companion app it was showing the ftp test as first, but when I logged in with Zwift in the last week it was last in the suggested list and I did it as the last workout of the week.
Finished BMU yesterday, with FTP test on Sunday, and a rest day between each of this week’s 4 activities. Lost less than 10 stars total across the 3 months (all but one due to power meter signal drops ), but completed all 50 of 50 workouts. To address several people’s questions, yes you can do the week’s activities in any order, so I’d try to plan the week ahead around long work days, and longer workouts typically not running consecutively, unless at least one rest day in between. This might not have stuck to the BMU creator’s strict view on how to follow the plan, but I wanted to ride every single activity - mission accomplished!
Started last week of Nov '21, through 3rd week of Feb '22. Took part in biweekly Tour de Zwift rides, aligned with weeks 7-10 of BMU. Weeks 9&10 got a bit rough as the week’s TSS were getting up there, so no TdZ on week 11 was a bit of a relief - the first rest day in 15 days, and with week 11 having a 7% lower TSS than 10, vs the ‘standard’ TSS increase of 18% from week 10 to 11. For anyone looking for more info on the projected weekly TSS, see more on that here.
So now to the good stuff - the results:
Besides learning superior pedaling, bike position, and breathing techniques from the program’s “coach” I also read up more on how to fuel & how much water to consume while riding + in week 10 got a pro bike fitting (my bike seat was only about 7cm too low ). All of this helped contribute to my increase.
Last week of Nov: FTP of 224 (3.15 w/kg)
Seemed a bit low after a couple weeks, bumped it up to 235.
Highest FTP to date ever of 243.
New FTP 252!!! Stretch goal was 250, the extra 2 watts just icing on the cake
Now 3.78 w/kg Solid B ranking
A 28 watt FTP jump, or 12.5% increase
Lost 10 pounds over the course of the 3 months, spanning end of year holidays - first off season actually gaining fitness!
I hope others can find similar benefits, and that my post might help a couple future visitors of this thread. Kudos and Ride Ons for all!
), but completed all 50 of 50 workouts. To address several people’s questions, yes you can do the week’s activities in any order, so I’d try to plan the week ahead around long work days, and longer workouts typically not running consecutively, unless at least one rest day in between. This might not have stuck to the BMU creator’s strict view on how to follow the plan, but I wanted to ride every single activity - mission accomplished!
). All of this helped contribute to my increase.
Solid B ranking 
