Building Blocks or start a specific GranFondo Plan?

Hey guys,

i’m new to systm and love the app. I started cycling two years ago without any specific training. Just rode my bike (-7000km a year).

I’m registered for the ThreePeaksBike Race in July, an ultracycling race through the alps. Its about 2200km with 35.000hm and i’d like to finish it in 6-7 days.

I did the 4DP Full Frontal a few days ago and it was really hard for me to get the right pacing, but the app did a good job to keep me alive :slight_smile:
NM: 1250w
AC: 504w
MAP: 360w
FTP: 276w

But what next?
I’m thinking about starting the GranFondo Mountain Plan. I also consider to start with a ftp building block first and do the GranfondoPlan afterwards. Would be nice to push the FTP near to 300. Should help to get my average watt higher in longer rides right?

I do a lot of strength/core Training to get prepared for the long rides (3 times a week with a coach).

So which type of training would you prefer? Building blocks first and then get more specific with the MountainPlan?
When would you start with tapering?

A lot of questions to start in the systm, so i am very happy for any help :slight_smile:

Cheers
Jan

@greno Welcome to the forum. Those numbers look good! I would suggest just starting the GF plan as you will probably get to your FTP goals that way as well - especially with some additional strength and the volume on the GF plan. When you select the plan, add strength even if you are doing sessions separately with a coach since the plan will be adapted for the additional work and you won’t have too much volume on your strength days so you can recover properly.

The blocks are good and they have worked for me. However, they are more intense and don’t allow for any adjustment for strength so they probably aren’t as good a fit for you at this time.

Hope that helps!

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Aprreciate your help, thanks!

I’ll start with the GF Mountain/Hilly Plan today and we’ll see how the ftp will develop :slight_smile:
It seems to be the better idea cause the plan ends in march, good timing to start the outdoor season and add some specific indoor-workouts to the plan. Unfortunately my home area is far away from “hilly”…God bless the people who are living near the mountains :slight_smile:

Plan looks really good, but there are some days where i definitely cant start the workouts because of my job. How would you handle this? Skip the Workout and stick to the plan on the next day or catch up? Would be great if there would be an option to shift the whole plan to the next day.

one more question:
my gravel bike on the trainier got a curved chainring. My racebike for summer is rounded. Not the best prep for summer, or too much thinking?

ride on
jan

@greno There is a helpful article on the blog on this topic.

Wahoo Knowledge Blog: When to Skip a Workout

Also there is a podcast on the subject as well - look for Life Happens: How to Cope when You Miss a Workout:

Wahoo Knowledge Podcasts

I sometimes move workouts around if I will be traveling or working. If you decide to do that make sure that you keep things balanced so that you don’t accumulate too much fatigue.

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One other thing is that you can add Strength (bicycle specific) and Yoga sessions to your plan as well. You state you have done weight workouts in the past. You can select from Intermediate or Advanced as you see fit. I recommend doing any of the 1 series to see what they entail.

short update:

i started the granfondo mountain plan and i’m really happy with the training. Love the TeamScream Workout :smiley:
I added the Strength / Yoga sessions to the plan but train with my trainer on these days instead. Works really well.

I realized that my major weakness are longer efforts. Yesterday i did a 3x25min sub ftp efforts with an average of 250watt which felt much harder than the shorter vo2max / over ftp sessions.

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