Worth doing FF after tempo block

Training
#1

As the title says, is it worth doing FF after a 4 week tempo block.

I had to cut the previous block at the start of week 3 due to being unwell. Missed about 2 weeks training and restarted. Today is my last session of a 4 week tempo block and i am not sure if it’s worth doing a full frontal before starting another round of building blocks to work more on ftp and/or map (weakness).

I finished every workout (my mind is not as strong as my body) but I wouldn’t say it was easy , not destroying either, but it doesn’t “feel” like anything has improved but it could just be accumulated fatigue.

Is 4 weeks of tempo building blocks enough to warrant a retest or is any improvement likely to be minimal and it’s better to just jump into another block (maybe ftp) and test in 4 more weeks?

FYI starting numbers 1054, 439, 263, 220 90kg 36yr old 5’11
I also fairly new to proper cycling.

#2

Hi @bikedom Great question. I think the way to approach this is to do Half Monty instead of FF. We love testing and suffering but I think that for someone in your situation you would get the resolution that you need without having to recover and prep for a good FF. Since you are new to cycling, it is likely that you will adapt rather quickly and will likely see some changes in only ~4 weeks. Going forward, a FF after ~12 weeks is a good frequency. Good luck!
Cheers,
Jeff

2 Likes
#3

Just in time so thanks very much.

I had planned the FF today but will switch to HM. I don’t have a HRM however but assume it will still work ok.

Does HM change your AC? I feel I can do better than my previous FF

#4

I ended up doing FF. forgot how horrible it was but felt even if physically there was little improvement, my mental capacity and ability to dig has improved over the 4 weeks.

I improved across the board,

1054, 439, 263, 220 up to
1119, 446, 275, 225

Gutted the AC wasn’t higher as I was asked for sweets repeatedly during the last 10 secs and didn’t pedal for the last 2 secs.

I’m still an attacker.

The question now is what plan next. I’m going to be starting track in a few months so not sure where to go.

#5

@bikedom Looks like i was too late. You will definitely need a HR monitor. The HM uses the 20 min constrained HR against your power to predict your FTP. But nice work on the FF! Those are great improvements for a 4 week block.

#6

Thank you, I do believe a big part of FF is pacing and probably the ability to dig deep when everything in you says stop.

I’ve loaded up all purpose road to start Monday.

HRM is on my list.
Thank you for your help. Next time I do FF I’ll do the prep plan

#7

Right on! Happy suffering!