A month ago I set myself the following targets to hit by the end of December:
- FTP up to 230W
- Weight below 79kg
- Weekly TSS at 476
- Consistently finish in top half of Cat C Races
The first one of these targets got nailed fairly early in the month. On 5th December I did Race Like a Pro #1 on the London Loop Reverse and set a post-op 20 minute power best which elevated my FTP on Zwift to 232W. This turned out to be my final FTP increase of the month. I had become used to increases almost every time I raced so this is definitely the first plateau period.
My weight is coming down and is at 77.6Kg on Zwift. I dropped a bit below this but it’s come back on over Christmas. Still, achieved.
I’m ahead of target for hitting 476 TSS this week. I plan the same or a bit more next week and then an easier week after that. You can see from the graph that my CTL is now at 46 from 33 on 30th November. CTL is calculated over your previous 7 weeks so it takes time for a rising load to be reflected.
Zwift finish place as % of Zwift starters
Zwift finish place as % of Zwift finishers
ZP finish as % of ZP finishers
And each of these will give a different score.
In December I did 8 Cat C races and came in the top 26%, 30% or 33% against the respective options above. Each of these is better than the top 50% target which I set.
So this has been a very good month and I’m beginning to believe I can get back somewhere near my previous fitness levels. I have to keep reminding myself that it has only been 4 ½ months since my op, so I have to be patient which is not my strong point.
For perspective, my current post-op bests against all-time Zwift bests are as follows:
5 Second 747W vs 899W a 17% reduction
1 min 372W vs 492W a 24% reduction
5 min 278W vs 324W a 14% reduction
20 min 243W vs 285W a 15% reduction
Weight 77.6kg vs 69.4kg a 12% increase
So, targets for the next month – which seem a bit stretching at present:
- 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
Wish me luck - and Year-end / 2023 Targets post coming up shortly