I'm not going to do many ramp tests between now and then, but will manually adjust (raise, ideally!) FTP as I feel progress is made across the plan. I'm currently at 255w, 3.65w/kg. My goal is primary a process goal, so the FTP will just be whatever it is, but I'd hope for 260, and 265 would be nice. So, no great uplift being aimed for by me.
Not long after posting the above in the new year, I faced the reality check of the latter weeks of SSB2, specifically Mary Austin -1, and had a very rough time of it! It blew me off course so much that I decided to go off-plan for a few weeks, skipping the remainder of SSB2, and reverted to a tried-and-tested combo of using Tempo plus a sprinkling of VO2max workouts for a few weeks. Also, I reduced my FTP setting by a couple of percent.
Now, having just begun Sustainable Power Build, even at this reduced FTP setting I've managed an all time power record, so that's encouraging. If the plan begins to feel too difficult though, I shan't hesitate to reduce FTP by another couple of percent...
What I learned this time last year was that having my FTP set just a little bit lower transforms my enthusiasm for sticking to the plan and getting the training done. If FTP's set just a little higher, then workouts can become so challenging as to be a miserable experience, even if I'm able to complete them with decent compliance, and I can end up dreading each session due to the suffering that awaits. Furthermore, when workouts are that challenging I'll often feel trashed afterwards and recovery for the next workout becomes much more difficult.
Hence my approach now is to ere on the side of caution, aiming for a (much) lesser 'slope' upwards in improvement. Consistency of training trumps pretty much everything else, I think. No point in me trying to be a hero by aiming too high, blowing up as a result and then becoming jaded with it all. If by taking this less ambitious approach I'm still able to set some all time power records here and there then I'm probably not going too far wrong.