That requires the correct saddle. You need a saddle with a "hole" in the center of it.

Me too!

This is correct

HI H Cleveland- Thanks for your question and comment. Yes, this is normal to have "cycles" of fitness. There is only so long that your body can stay in what is called "Functional Overreaching". This is when you are training more than normal and also adapting to that load. Eventually, your body needs more recovery and if you do not take this, you'll fall into "Non-functional overreaching" which is when you can train hard, but you do not improve and just become more and more tired. Here's what I would recommend for this winter: Maintain your fitness in October, Begin the official "Off-season" training on Nov. 2. That includes some gym work, training smart indoors and outside as you can, which includes solid endurance riding, limited intensity. You can race in Zwift 1x a week if you like, and make sure you are progressively increasing your workload. Then Feb begins transition to Force type work on the bike and then building in longer and more intense rides as weather improves and you have more light in the day. You need to take a rest week, every 3 weeks minimum. Maybe you didn't do this last winter? That's a tough question about when you keep training hard and when you rest, but this can be largely solved, by making 100% sure you take a rest week every 3 weeks. You push until there and then rest. Something to consider would be trying my winter training plan this year to keep you on track and improving without overdoing it. Try this one. shoppeaks.com/product/epic-winter-base-ftp-power-threshold-foundation-12-weeks-masters/

@@Peakscoachinggroup2014 Good info!

@@Peakscoachinggroup2014 thank you very much for all the information! It will help me greatly!

Thanks for the comment!

Great question. It would be more about which one causes you more "stress". Which one is harder for you to do? AND this will be related to which you recover quicker from as well. The one that's causes more stress, will probably also be the one that takes you longer to recover from.

@@Peakscoachinggroup2014 thanks for the quick reply!

Hi Steven- Yes, both of those workouts would be fit the example perfectly and one of the reasons I wrote them. Always train to the demands of the event. With an FRC of 21kJ, I would focus on the steady state efforts, without too many bursts. However, I have found with riders that have FRC's over 18(for men), 15(for women), then doing intervals at 105% of your FTP for 10-15minutes make a bigger difference, than riding right at your FTP for 20+ minutes. Hope this helps.

Peaks Coaching Group Thanks for the advice!

Marike- I would do 4-5minutes rest between each one. You can do up to 20 Tractor pulls in one session.

I'm in a similar situation. Had to take an extended break last winter/summer from the bike due to an injury, and I'm still in building mode with my training plans.

Definitely! Every Spring I run into athletes that did not have such a regimented program and fell behind where they planned. With COVID keeping us in for at least 4 weeks or more, this is the perfect time to take advantage of your 'second chance' ;-) So instead of your 2019/2020 Winter being December, January, February training, it is now become March, April, May training. Most every April and May event that myself or the athletes I coach had planned, has been moved to August or later. Spend time building a solid base, improving FTP, then when you see that event or race date appear you can move into the preparations specific to your events. I expect when the world returns to some sense of normalcy, we will have a good amount of notice for the events date. If things stay like they are now longer than say May, you can then move into maintenance mode until we see light at the end of the tunnel. Feel free to reach out. I am a coach with Peaks Coaching Group. Have a great day! Paul from PCG