thanks for the advice simonp, i will be easing into intervals starting with the shorter and working my way up to 2x20. are there any recommended training plans available for "proper" endurance racing? i've done quite a lot of searching and most recommend doing longer intervals at or near ftp level.
re the pros and w/kg - i managed 6w/kg for three minutes by giving it all and felt light-headed for the rest of the day.. to do this for almost an hour
I've not looked around much for other plans.
Training is generally structured into macro cycles (season) meso cycles (e.g. an 8 week block) and micro cycles (typically around 7 days). The microcycle in particular is pretty arbitrary, but making it about a week allows a structure that fits around work etc.
Looking at the typical structure for high-volume in TrainerRoad, high volume training is typically around 8h per week with around 400 TSS per week. Typically it will be something like for 5 days,
Monday - rest.
Tuesday - intervals, e.g. threshold work.
Wednesday - tempo or endurance.
Thursday - intervals again.
Friday - rest.
Saturday - longer intervals session (e.g. 90 minutes)
Sunday - long endurance session (3h or more)
If you could devote more time, then for an ultra endurance racer, either replacing threshold work with a longer endurance session might be an option, or adding extra "TSS accumulation" endurance rides in. It depends on how much training volume you can handle. If training 6 days a week then Friday can be used for additional endurance work.
Within the mesocycle, you re-test FTP every 4-6 weeks, and every 4-6 weeks is also a recovery week. The mesocycle contains the base/build/speciality structure that I've been using. So I did base (hence this thread) starting the week after PBP, with no real break (but I have had the odd week off) then switched to build last month, but that's truncated by the fact my A event is the Mille Pennines, so I'm now doing the speciality (Century) plan from TrainerRoad which should take me right up to the event including a taper. As the event is clearly more than a century, I will add in more endurance work most likely (as well as riding a 600k which will require a recovery week).
I had a very easy week last week due to Real Life and I also have to fit around rowing club training sessions, which in theory could be 4 per week, so I often have to adjust the plan accordingly. I should've done a VO2max intervals session yesterday but was tired so skipped it. I might do it after work today, as I had a good night's sleep for the first time in a few days.