I am not following any training plan at the moment, instead focusing on trying to consistently build my time on the bike along with fitness as measured by TSS (CTL). I am doing around 350-400 TSS per week at the moment which is a run rate of around 55 CTL although it will take 7 weeks of this workload to give me that actual CTL.
At my peak, I had a CTL of 96 so I guess a good target to aim for is 100 by the end April so a ramp rate of say 8 per month will get me there.
I don’t plan to re-sign up with a coach at this point until I see signs that I can get back to my previous level and that my new bionic hip can take it.
I was watching GCN the other day and was interested to see Professor Louis Passfield talking about FTP. He said that he was recovering from injury and was setting up a VLOG to track his progress. As I’m in the same boat I watched his blogs and commented on them. It will be interesting to compare our progress. His current FTP is identical to mine (although I am 15kg heavier at the minute) so comparisons will be easy. His Channel is here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSHuG-8Sk1iXvEFlsHuOQsg
In my last Blog entry I estimated my FTP at about 160W. I haven’t done any FTP tests but Zwift has been re-allocating mine upwards as my 20 minute power has increased in races. The most recent uplift was to 194W which does feel about right. My weight is 82.4kg (I know, going the wrong way) so w/kg is now 2.35. This mathematical quirk means that I am sitting near the top of D Category so I am doing quite well in races, typically with the front group and coming midway in the final sprint. My sprint has really dipped, possibly some of this due to being scared to put 100% effort in which may be wise.
So fitness and function are improving but I still have more aches and discomfort in my right leg than I expected at this stage although my Surgeon reminded me that recovery is really a year, so I am less than a quarter of the way into it.
Next Blog will be towards the end of November and my targets by then are:
FTP up to at least 200W, preferably 210W
Weight below 80kg
Weekly TSS at 420
Be in Cat C
Laters.