I’m going to answer my own question here in case it can help anyone else. I went with the online plan and nearly 3 weeks in, it is going very well. I replaced the Wednesday hard ride with a zwift race.
For the last year or more, I have associated getting fitter with increasing weekly TSS volume. Most of this was obtained through unstructured high intensity Zwift racing.
This new plan is amazing. It still has the intensity, but it also has a nice dose of endurance to give me the volume I need to get stronger, without destroying my legs and overloading me with fatigue.
I didn’t realize how much I was holding myself back by thinking that pushing hard every ride, was the answer!
First race yesterday and I smashed it with a new FTP (according to intervals.icu).
Only thing I need to work on is keeping myself entertained during the long efforts. They drag a bit.
@Jason Congrats! The balance between training stress and recovery is critical for continued improvement. The recovery phase is where you make many of the adaptations you need to go faster.
For the long efforts - try mentally breaking them into sections. It may help you keep your focus.
Hi @Jason
although you have already answered your own question I would second you on the choice of the eSports plan. From my own very limited experience on Zwift races I’d reckon these races have not much in common with real life crit races. Zwift races are full gas from start to finish with several spikes to avoid getting dropped. The power profile of a real life crit race would be very different. I would think that the coaches did have these differences in mind when creating the two plans.
Congrats! The balance between training stress and recovery is critical for continued improvement. The recovery phase is where you make many of the adaptations you need to go faster.