On the right track for increasing FTP?

That actually looks pretty good. With 14 weeks left until your key event, you may not need to do the L5 work quite yet. At one time per week, it probably would not hurt but at the same time you could probably wait until you only have 8weeks to go to do that stuff. That would allow you 7weeks of training in that area (along with continued FTP work) and still allow for a 1week taper before the key event. At this time of year, I don't know that doing a lot of L2 is that effective. I do not do a whole lot of it anyways but I would just stick to doing mid to low L3 work even on your longer rides unless you are feeling overly fatigued.

Once you add in the L5 workouts I think it is good to have a recovery day where oyu just do light spinning and one day that is off the bike completely. If the ket event is going to last 45-50minutes, doing a ton of L5 training is probably not necesarry. The last thing I would do is to ride that course now and figure out what kind of cadences you are going to have to hold to keep your desired watts for the TT and try to train with that in mind. Nothing worse than not feeling comfortable in whatever cadence you get stuck with during the race.
~Nick

Thanks Nick. It's always good to have other people look over what I'm doing. As far as the cadence I'm pretty set with that. I've done similar climbs and found that I do best around 70 to 75 rpm. I'll also ride the climb a couple of times before the event.

CAAD3 said:

[font=Arial]So how does this look?[/font]

I kinda agree with Nick, in that I would probably hammer the sweet spot/L4 hard for another 6-8 weeks and then start adding more intensity and less duration. Doing SST within a 60-min workout seems like a bit of a waste, though, so maybe that's what you're looking at.

Also, I would probably do my 2x20 workout at 95-105% FTP, and the 3x20 workout at the 95% (or, better yet, do them both at 100% FTP as a regular 'test' of FTP).

frenchyge said:

I kinda agree with Nick, in that I would probably hammer the sweet spot/L4 hard for another 6-8 weeks and then start adding more intensity and less duration. Doing SST within a 60-min workout seems like a bit of a waste, though, so maybe that's what you're looking at.

Also, I would probably do my 2x20 workout at 95-105% FTP, and the 3x20 workout at the 95% (or, better yet, do them both at 100% FTP as a regular 'test' of FTP).

Ya I would say that unless you are going out for 3+ hours, you are safe to ride in L3 instead of L2. If you are limited on time then 2x20's at L4 are a great way to improve FTP. I did those a lot over the winter when I was crammed for time.
~Nick

ccrnnr9 said:

Ya I would say that unless you are going out for 3+ hours, you are safe to ride in L3 instead of L2. If you are limited on time then 2x20's at L4 are a great way to improve FTP. I did those a lot over the winter when I was crammed for time.
~Nick

I think I'll change the L2 to a L3 workout on Sunday with some L4 and NP thrown in to keep it a little interesting. Now if I drop the L5 work on Tuesday what would you recommend? I assume more L4 but to be honest I think I'll find it difficult mentally to do another day of L4 workouts. How about L5 efforts at the lower end of the zone? Then with about a month to go increase the L5 workouts to the upper range of the zone? Or since the event is 45 to 50 minutes long and is a constant grade ( very few accelerations) should I just not involve that much L5 in my plan?

Thanks

CAAD3 said:

I think I'll change the L2 to a L3 workout on Sunday with some L4 and NP thrown in to keep it a little interesting. Now if I drop the L5 work on Tuesday what would you recommend? I assume more L4 but to be honest I think I'll find it difficult mentally to do another day of L4 workouts. How about L5 efforts at the lower end of the zone? Then with about a month to go increase the L5 workouts to the upper range of the zone? Or since the event is 45 to 50 minutes long and is a constant grade ( very few accelerations) should I just not involve that much L5 in my plan?

Thanks

At least for the time being, I would try more L4. I know it is monotonous (sp?) but that seems like the best option to me. You could try a 1x40min at 90-95% of FTP. That may do a good job of simulating what you will want for your TT. It can be good mental practice.
~Nick