As a reminder, here are the targets I set myself a month ago:
- FTP to 245W
- Weight below 77kg
- Podium in a C Race
- Get my 15 second sprint to 700W (9 w/kg) - currently 585W (7.5 w/kg) on ZP
Taking them in turn:
My FTP is currently 239W on Zwift which seems about right, so progress here has been a bit slower than I’d hoped. The minimum FTP I think I can have a realistic bash at Masters Racing and my goal of the Gran Fondo World Championships is 260W so I need that by the end of May – a 5W per month increase from here. So Target 1 not achieved.
My weight is now 75.4kg on Zwift, obviously it moves around daily and intra-day but that is the same for everyone. This is well below the target above so is a big tick. I need to keep the reduction going.
Another failure was my third target of podiuming in a C Race. In fact, my best position has been 16th, twice in January. In mitigation, I have been doing fairly high ranking races and my ZP Ranking has tumbled over the month from 390 to 283. I also spotted that I was the top over-60 rider in the ZRL race last night, so I can say I won the Masters Cat E (60-65) race lol.
So that is 2 failures out of 3 so far. The last one is kind of yes and no. My 15 second sprint on ZP has increased from 585W (7.5 w/kg) to 630W (8.14 w/kg) which is a fail, but my best sprint in January on Zwift but not in a ZP event was 700W (9 w/kg) so I’ll give myself a half point for that. So 1.5 out of 4 – I did say at the time that my Jan targets looked challenging.
Taking a more helicopter view, my CTL track is looking good. I was at 58 at close of play yesterday vs 47 at the end of December, so a decent rise. I have started introducing more VO2 type intensity by doing the Tiny Races on Saturday mornings. My 1 minute best went up from 372W to 447 in the previous ZRL race which is a decent increase. I am still not doing any structured interval workouts other than long Zone 2 stuff.
I have engaged my previous Coach, Roy, to do a one off review of where I am at and to make a set of recommendations which he is doing over the month of February. No doubt he will be steering me back to some structured interval work so I will have to cut down the amount of racing I do to make room for it.
The British Masters (BMCR) races start in mid-March but I haven’t signed up for them as I don’t feel I am fit enough to do myself justice in them. Let’s see what February brings.
Here are my February targets:
- FTP above 245W
- Weight below 74.5kg
- Podium in a C Race
- Get my 15 second sprint to 710W (9.5 w/kg) - currently 630W (8.14 w/kg) on ZP
- Implement the recommendations from Coach Roy
Wish me luck.