STARTING POINT
Where the rider was before coaching
Blair did a 20-minute test on December 19th. Average power: 236 watts. By his own description, the test was painful and he felt like he had nothing left at the end.
Three months later he repeated the test. Same protocol, same effort target, different rider underneath the numbers.
INTERVENTION
What changed
Blair moved into Not Done Yet at the back end of December. The intervention was the standard NDY model — personalised TrainingPeaks plan, weekly coaching calls, masterclasses on the science behind the sessions, and the daily accountability of a community of serious cyclists.
Three months is the smallest window where you can reasonably expect a test number to move on a structured plan. Six weeks is too short — you're testing the intervention's bedding in. Twelve weeks is the right cycle for an honest before/after.
WEEKLY STRUCTURE
What the training week actually looked like
We don't publish Blair's exact week. The general framework: most volume at conversational intensity, two structured high-intensity sessions per week, strength work alongside, recovery built in so adaptation actually happens.
The discipline that the community adds is the part most amateur athletes can't replicate alone. Following the plan when you don't feel like it. Backing off when the plan says recover. Showing up to the calls.
NUTRITION & STRENGTH
The pillars under the bike
Blair's testimonial doesn't go into nutrition or strength. Inside Not Done Yet, both are baseline — the five-pillar system isn't a-la-carte.
Three-month test gains of 60 watts almost always rest on training that the body can absorb. That requires the recovery and nutrition pillars to be doing their work in the background. Otherwise the watts don't appear on test day.
OUTCOME
The result, in the rider's own words
Second test, three months later: 296 watts. A 60-watt jump on the same 20-minute test interval. His own line: "Hard to believe a 60-watt increase in 3 months."
More telling: "Felt like I had nothing left back in December, today I was left feeling I paced it wrong and could have gone harder." That's the qualitative signal of an aerobic engine that's actually moved — not just a one-off lucky test.
THE NUMBERS
Before / after
From the athlete's testimonial and TrainingPeaks file. Where a number isn't published, we don't list one.
20-min average power
236 w296 w
+60 watts in 3 months
Subjective effort
Nothing left at the endCould have gone harder
Engine bigger; pacing the limiter
CAVEATS
What this case study does not claim.
- 60 watts on a 20-minute test in three months is at the upper end of what's reasonable. The test has variance — pacing, conditions, motivation — and three-month test deltas should be read with that variance in mind.
- 20-minute power is a proxy for FTP, not FTP itself. The conventional 0.95 multiplier overestimates true FTP for some athletes. We track multiple test protocols rather than relying on one number.
- First-month gains in a structured programme look bigger than later gains. The next 60 watts will not come in three months — they will come over a year. Coaching is not a forever-linear-gain promise.
- The community piece is harder to quantify but materially affects results. Athletes who do the same plan without the accountability layer typically see smaller test deltas.
COACH COMMENTARY
Anthony on this case
What I love about Blair's testimonial is that he reports on pacing as well as on power. December he had nothing left. March he could have gone harder. That's a fitter rider, but it's also a smarter one.
Three-month test gains tell you whether the structure is working. They don't tell you whether the rider is going to keep getting faster for another year. The framework is what does that.
Most amateurs test, then go back to whatever they were doing before. Blair tested, took the data, and used it to set up the next three months. That's the difference between training and being coached.
— Anthony Walsh, Roadman Cycling head coach.