How do I participate in races when enrolled in tt tuneup training plan. There are hardly any breaks between the sessions and I’m totally worn out I can’t miss the session or it dings me. Do I have to wait until I’ve totally completed the plan?
You could potentially replace one of your workouts with the occasional race, however that particular training plan is 6 days a week for 8 weeks if I recall correctly. You may be better off just finishing the plan and then race a bunch before training again.
Yes, I finished the plan about a week ago and my FTP went from 212 to 240 !!! I think that’s pretty amazing??? but then I’ve never trained before. Boy oh boy was it ever intense and painful. Made the FTP ramp test seem like a cakewalk in regard to pain and effort levels. Maybe I conducted the test wrong but I think I got it right. What with these sort of gains in FTP I’m tempted to enroll in the TT plan again… I mean what with these sorts of gains maybe I can get up to 270!!! but then maybe it’s the law of diminishing returns. The only thing that’s stopping me from enrolling again is missing out on the races. What’s the point of training if you can’t race. Do you think I can conduct a level/degree of racing that I can continue to see this rate of improvement in my FTP? It also seems odd to me that my average watts in the one race I’ve done since having finished the training plan that my avg. watts were higher in the race than any of the average Watts I saw when doing the training plan. Maybe it was the adrenaline and the thrill? I loved it Would this mean that focusing on a lot of racing would improve my FTP or is there so much specificity and structure in the training plan that no amount of racing could replace it? I’m torn between what seems to be two choices. Any remarks?
When you say the plan “dings you”, what do you mean? Regardless, you have options. It’s not like you are locked into anything. Do a few weeks of unstructured training and enjoy some racing. Then get back to structured training. Even when doing structured training, maybe every so often substitute a workout w/a race. If your workout is going to be threshold, then do a flat race. If the workout is supposed to be VO2max, then find a race w/some short ramps/climbs. After having completed a plan, you should have a better idea of how structured training works as well as a better understanding of your own fitness. Don’t be afraid to experiment, keep learning, and keep improving.
Thanks for the guidance and quick response. I didn’t feel too confident about how proceed. I feel more secure now. Okay off to the Races for me!