Jack, happy to go through it with you in more detail if you wish but here is an attempt at a quick explanation of how I do it.
The idea is as you say to have increasing load. If you have no events on the horizon so no date to work back from then continue to work your base and you can decide if and when to start the build phase a bit further down the line.
Typically a single training block would consist of 4 weeks, 3 weeks on and 1 week recovery but as we get older it is sometimes recommended to reduce that to 2 weeks on and one week recovery. I think this depends on each individual and you will know if 3 weeks on is too much. Often what I will do is do 3/1 during base and 2/1 during the HIIT work to follow in the build phase when you are specialising depending on chosen events/style of riding etc.
Also there is no reason why you can’t make a single block 2/1/2/1 and cover 6 weeks if time permits.
So, for me I generally have 3 base blocks and these could vary in length depending on how they need to fit in the calendar.
What the focus and duration needs to be is down to how much time you have, so you need to decide on how many hours a week you can commit to training.
Block 1 (Base 1)
So for block 1 (base 1) I personally focus almost exclusively on Zone 2 rides, zone 2 is a wide zone and I like to target the upper half of this so 65-75% FTP preferably 70%+ and I just ride loads of hours so a typical week would be.
Mon-Day off, Tue-2 hours @ 75%, Wed-3 hrs @ 70%, Thu-2hrs 70-75%, Fri- 1 hour recovery or day off, Sat 2 hrs @ 75%, Sun 3-4 hrs 65-75%
I don’t worry if I stray into Zone 3 a little on climbs and I try to ride with constant pressure on the pedals (no coasting) so pick a flatish route and try and keep pedaling on the downhills if you can.
The 4th week in the block is the recovery week, this means continue to train but reduce the TSS to about 60% of the previous weeks.
Now if you are a proponent of pure polarised training you will not do what I do in blocks 2 and 3 which is introduce Tempo and Sweetspot training, however I believe there is good reason to train these zones during base, after all unless we are racing criteriums then there is a good chance we are going to be riding quite a lot in these areas and if we are doing any event that require long climbs of 20 mins or more then we will be riding sweetspot quite a lot.
Sweetspot can be quite uncomfortable and I think it is good to get the body (and the mind) used to riding for long intervals at this pace.
However, I only do this during base 2 and 3, it is very efficient at raising your ftp but your fitness can plateau and so you need to move onwards and upwards. I only ride Sweetspot for a couple or three weeks at most. Once I go into the build phase then I tend to ditch it altogether and train to more of a polarised model.
Block2 (Base 2)
In block 2 I start to introduce Tempo riding, so twice a week I will work on tempo, depending on current fitness perhaps start with 3 x 10 Tempo riding at the middle to high end of the zone at around 83% ftp, keep it steady, if out on the road pick a spot where there are no downhill sections, traffic lights etc, gentle uphill can help.
Once you can do 3x10 then do 4x10, then 3x15 etc and build to 3 or 4x20 mins tempo.
Then start on tempo with bursts, so maybe start with 2 or 3x20 tempo riding at the lower end of your zone 3 and every 2 mins do an out of the saddle burst to 120% ftp. These are training you to go with any surges in races or events, build to doing 3x20 tempo with surges or 4x20 if you can.
Block 3 (Base 3)
Now we up it some more and start to introduce Sweetspot and then Sweetspot bursts.
Start at 3 or 4x10 mins at 90% ftp and build until you can do 3 x 20 at 90%. That’s an hour at sweetspot which is going to give your ftp a great burst.
Then start on sweetspot with bursts, so ride at lower sweetspot (top of zone 3 flirting with zone 4) and every 2 mins an out of the saddle burts for 10 secs, so 1:50 SS and 0:10 120%.
If you still have no real target then you can extend these blocks somewhat and perhaps put another block in doing some Over-unders, criss cross, stair steps etc (check my workouts for those in the group page).
Don’t forget whilst you are doing these tempo sweetspot workouts you need to stick to Z2 for the rest of your rides, so do perhaps 2 sweetspot workouts a week and the rest should be Z2 or recovery rides, don’t be tempted to go harder during these or you will not be recovered for the harder days.
So a typical block 3 week for me would be
Mon: Day off, Tue: Sweetspot Wed: 3 hrs Z2, Thu: 2 hours Z2 Fri: Sweetspot Sat: 3 hrs Z2, Sun: 4 hrs Z2
Build phase
During the build phase is where you specialise for your event so no details here yet but I would typically do a block of Threshold work, so build until you can ride 4x15 at 100% then start doing threshold bursts which are 1:50 at 95-100% then 10secs at 150% and build to 3x15 of these.
They are very hard but really work. Don’t do more than 2 of these workouts a week and keep the rest at Z2 or lower, this is where I may start doing 2/1 weeks as mentioned above.
In Block 2 I may start doing VO2 max work but if I am not racing I may just keep with the threshold work.
Sorry that was a long post in the end and I have no idea if that answers your question but please feel free to ask away, others may have different ideas or disagree with what I have said but it works for me.
