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Old 06-27-19, 10:17 AM
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surak
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Unless your pm and mine differ wildly, I have a much, much higher FTP and am lighter but wouldn't expect to keep up with that A group. So I agree with the comment about bottle rocket vs space shuttle, just ride and gain fitness.

I recommend that you start paying attention to your critical power curve. It will give you insight into how much sustained power you can average over a period of time. The CP shows your best power -- you can use the values as a guide to avoid blowing past on a segment (e.g., a 20-min climb) that you would otherwise put too much power into while feeling great up until the point that you don't. Of course you wouldn't use it as a hard limit since you'll still be improving, but if you find yourself starting off 50 watts above what you've ever done before, expect to blow up.

Over the winter you can trial training apps like TrainerRoad and the Sufferfest. In season, you can look at something like a British Cycling build plan, available for free on TrainingPeaks if you do a web search, for reasonable training regime ideas. Use them as a resource to make sure you're training right, not as a strict plan to squeeze out maximum performance when you should still be rapidly improving.
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