Coach Kevin on Life After Your FTP Builder

So we’ve  just completed an FTP Builder Training plan. Now what? Coach Kevin Poulton is here to tell us: While we’re strong now, soon we’re gonna be stronger still. He says this is a great time to enter a race or challenging event.

Having just finished this or any other tough workout plan, how can we become stronger than we already are? Improvement now comes in two parts.

Step 1: 1 – 2 weeks

Take a short break. “You’ve just had 4-12 weeks of intense and structured work indoors,” says Coach Kevin. “It’s time for recovery.”  When you recover, he says, muscles and connective tissue have a chance for some R&R. Your rebuilding body becomes better able to store nutrients, and to use stored fat. “This is where the body is at its most efficient,” says Coach Kevin.

Recovery, he explains, doesn’t mean you stop riding. Instead, turn down the volume and intensity of your workouts. For 1-2 weeks, cut down riding time by 25 percent, and add small amounts of intensity to your workouts only once or twice weekly. “Just touches of it,” says Coach Kevin.

Step 2: 3 – 5 weeks

One way to know you’re rested, he explains, is to check your heartrate when you wake up each morning. If it’s five beats faster than normal three days in a row, you need more recovery days.

After recovering, we’re then all onto Step 2 of life after a Zwift FTP Builder plan: super fitness. Coach Kevin says we’ll enjoy “a patch of great form” that’s 3-5 weeks in length. “You’re in the perfect position to race on Zwift,” he says. “Or get out for a gran fondo, or a criterium.” In other words, we’re poised to enjoy peak performance.

Who is Coach Kevin?

Coach Kevin Poulton is a World Tour coach with extensive experience at the highest level. Under his guidance, athletes have won Paris-Roubaix, World Tour Classics, Grand Tour Stages and competed at the Olympics. He’ll make you faster.