Hi All,
I was wondering if I could ask for some advice :).
I have been cycling around 2k km per year for the last 6 years. This has jumped up to 5k km this year due to lockdown!
I have a reasonable base fitness but have never done any kind of structured training so was interested to try in out a Zwift training plan in the hope there could be nice low-hanging fruit to have a decent increase (and because it’s getting cold outside).
I did not do the formal FTP 20 minute effort before commencing but I did a 20 minute uphill effort on Zwift in a free ride with setting my FTP in mind. This is 215.
I have just completed the first 4 weeks of build me up, missing one session due to illness. I found some sessions reasonably difficult during the first couple of weeks, but have finished all without dropping stars and felt I could have done another interval at least when completing purple unicorn yesterday, which some people have flagged as a very challenging workout. The previous ‘unicorn’ effort in week I found quite tough towards the end.
My questions are,
i.) Does the plan take foregranted that your fitness and FTP will be increasing across the 12 weeks and account for that completely with more intense and progressively difficult workouts, even if some of the longer workouts feel a little easier than they should at times?
ii.) Should I do a formal FTP test this week and potentially start the training plan again if there is a considerable increase?
I have seen some topics where people recommend using the bias button to make workouts a little more difficult, but this seems a less tangible way of measuring and benchmarking where you should be at in a structured program.
Am I just being a little impatient and just chill and continue at current FTP as workouts and workload do look like they are getting more difficult? I just really don’t want to waste the next 8 weeks if I should be re-benchmarking and going back to start again.
Thanks for all advice