So I did my first 12 week plan. I used to cycle (MTB) as my main mode of transportation, but, marriage, kids and career meant I got really out of shape. This was my first go at a 12 week structured plan, and it was all purpose Intermediate.
I busted my butt for 12 weeks, nutrition was good, sleep/recovery was good. But…
I loved the tour of sufferlandria. I swapped a heavy week of the plan for the tour, and felt great, I even doubled up one day and repeated a day twice. I then tried to recover, but clearly didn’t recover properly and the last 6 weeks were tough. I never quite felt right again. When I stuck to the plan, I felt strong when I was supposed to, could dig deep when I was told, and felt comfortable when I was supposed to. Doing the Tour mid plan was not good for me. From now on, I’ll not be deviating from the plan, I’ll still do the tour as it was so much fun but I’ll organize 12 week programs around the tour better so I stick to whatever plan is provided.
I lost a reasonable amount of weight, and I hit my initial goal of 200w at the end of 12 weeks. 2nd time around on full frontal was very different to first time. I gave it everything first time, but this time was different. First time around I was so unfit I didn’t recover much between the different efforts. This time around I recovered much more and could go harder. First time I spent 30 minutes looking onto the bucket after I finished, this time I just felt a little light headed for an hour and my windpipe feels like it’s bleeding. It did take longer to recover this time around though.
My next plan is locked in (gran fondo), and my target is to hit 250w in 12 weeks time for my FTP and lose another 20lb or so in the process. My Mt Sufferlandria for the year is to hit 308w FTP by Christmas which would double my FTP in a year, but be at over 3w/kg at the same time.
Consistency of training, and sticking to the plan is the key I think. I’m not smart enough to deviate from them.
So all in all, pretty pleased with the result. The last week was pretty rough as I adjusted my cleats and wrecked myself for 5 days. (never adjust your cleats if you don’t know what you are doing like me. I’m going back to my bike fit guy this week to see if anything needs to be adjusted again now I’ve lost 50lbs.
Looking forward to the next 12 weeks as much as anyone can look forward to suffering. I’m sure the next few weeks are going to kill me with the new numbers.
Martin