Hey there… first time posting and very new to indoor training and definitely Sufferfest/Systm… I have been on Zwift and Trainerroad since I bought my KICKER over xmas. With Zwift found it unstructured for what I wanted and found TR difficult to stare at graphs for 1-1.5hrs but loved the structured plans. Now trying Systm as it felt the balance between structured and having videos linked to structured training would help with the training…
I have a gravel event in April, 130km and 2000m of climbing. Typically out every Sundays and increasing distance / height. I want to give SYSTM a go and hopefully something I stick with.
I have signed up for the 100mile Training plan, and will do a half-monty tonight. Current FTP on TR was 204 but want to start with a ramp test. It has my training finishing 1st of May which is 1 week after event end… also doesn’t factor in tapering.
Any recommendations on training plans, past experience you may have and how to balance sufferfest videos with a structured training plan?
Sorry if these are all obvious questions but have 11weeks until so don’t feel I have the time to play around with different plans.
Welcome to the forum and SYSTM, sounds like you’re in the right place.
Good idea starting with HM to set some baseline numbers for you. As with pretty much everyone starting out, try out your HM numbers for a week or so, and if they don’t feel right, manually tweak them up or down to match your actual efforts on the bike. Once you get through a plan (and your event), make sure to do Full Frontal to lock in the full 4DP metrics. I’d strongly recommend the FF prep week plan and FF after you’ve had time to recover from your event.
Re: the tapering, I plugged in the cycling > event prep > gravel > 100 mile plan and it definitely has the standard taper stuff programmed into the last week. So if you go in and re-do that plan, but set “end date” as your event date instead of using a “start date”, it will backdate the first week, so you’d start on week two, with a taper prior to your event.
Thanks CPT_A… That worked a treat and adjusted for end-date. Has me started a week ago but no worries…
That is my plan to do FF and maybe look at different areas of SYSTM after the event. Just getting to grips with the indoor training and of course trying to get my fitness up (climbing legs) for the gravel event.
Have to love Kölsch… but I think the Bavarian beers (Augustiner) might be better
Thanks again. I am hoping the training plan picked is the right one for the event that I want to do but it looks like it has a good mix and will be interesting throwing Yoga and Mental exercises into the mix…
Fair enough. I lived and trained in Bayern, so yeah, they are the best, but Kölsch is still my favorite to brew and drink. Still think I have my dog-eared “Beer Drinkers Guide to Munich” laying around somewhere…
Welcome @Stu_I . It sounds like you’ve made a good plan choice for your event.
Did you select the strength option when you set up the plan? I would recommend that as it will help prepare you for the extra demands that off-pavement riding puts on your body.
Good luck with the training and the event! Feel free to come back here any time with other questions you may have.
