Carbonfiberboy 

You're absolutely correct, training from a plan is complicated, not so much the plan really, but how to get good results from one and to figure out how much is too little or too much. Especially that latter is difficult for the self-coached. You have to figure that if even elite cyclists hire coaches, that coaching is really important and takes a lot of experience and knowledge. So now you're going to be self-coached, which means acquiring the basic knowledge possessed by any coach. That takes a lot of research and a lot of experience.

While all that's happening, have at it and watch what's happening. For instrumentation, I suggest a cheapie bike computer like a Cateye with cadence if you don't have one already. For a HRM, I suggest the cheapest Polar with a chest strap, again because you'll replace it eventually.