Originally Posted by
ancker
My take is these programs are for the novice that is going from zero training, to something. The something isn't structured training, or even training to race, just something. They probably see very large jumps in FTP because riding regularly at SS or so will do wonders for finishing an FTP test at anywhere near your 'max'.
As you get more experience, you need the overload to squeak out those few percent increases.
Related: I wonder if there's ever been a study or data that describes how quickly the average untrained cyclist progresses from 2W/kg -> 3W/kg -> 4W/kg and beyond. I expect 2->3 to be fairly quick (few months), 3->4 to take significantly longer (1-2 years), and 4+ to be 2 years+.
I think the counter argument is thus: there are times in the year where you need lower stress levels. So you don't do super hard efforts and intervals. Hence periodization. TrainerRoad advocates this. I think this is pretty standard. You want to peak at certain points, and you can't do the exact same training year round.
People are criticizing training geared towards FTP improvement, reminds of the quip I hear from lots of guys. "I need to work on my sprint." Because they are pissed that they are never challenging for the win in the sprints. Well, maybe it's because you don't have the physiology for it. You didn't win sprints on the playground when you were a kid, maybe you won't ever win them.
It's going to be very hard for me to ever have a FTP that is 4.0 w/kg. I have a friend who is a master's rider with this FTP. He was on the podium a lot last year. Went from a Cat 4 (dominant) to Cat 3 (won a lot). He has well more than the points required to be a Cat 2. You hit 4.0w/kg, you can make some noise. And not a whole of guys I know are as strong as him (i.e. the guys who do the local group rides; the super fast guys don't do those rides and hang out with schlubs like me).