For those who have done Jorge's Winter Cycle Program

I believe if you follow the plan as written those short days won't seem so short!  The intensity is there and the program works if you follow it as written.  I took my CP from 225 to 250 following the plan.

ETA: Congrats on your first half!

axteraa - 2012-10-31 8:56 AM I followed it 100% last winter. There weren't many workouts where I felt like I wanted to keep going for another 30 mins. If you feel like something isn't a challenge, I submit that you aren't going hard enough.

IIRC, the first few weeks are just an intro/warmup.

Agreed.  If you are feeling like you didn't work hard enough after a 4x10' set, then you weren't going hard enough.

Make sure that you're going all out on that 30 min test too.  If you're HR is too low because you didn't push yourself, then the workouts will definitely feel easy.

I don't have power, but I can tell you that I went ~2MPH faster on most courses that I raced on last year after completing Jorge's cycling program.  I'm a huge fan of the program, and I would have to be really convinced to switch to something different this coming offseason.

BTW are you on a trainer and if so what model?  I ask because I found it so much "easier" to do the plan using virtual power.  No HR lag & no RPE issues.

axteraa - 2012-10-31 9:56 AM I followed it 100% last winter. There weren't many workouts where I felt like I wanted to keep going for another 30 mins. If you feel like something isn't a challenge, I submit that you aren't going hard enough.

IIRC, the first few weeks are just an intro/warmup.

x2.  I did his program a couple of winters ago by HR (don't have gadgets to do CP), but there was a noticeable increase in my power and endurance the following season.  If you put in the effort and do it correctly, you will see why many weekly workouts are sub 60 min.

Also, you have to think about your goals. Do you want to increase critical power? Do Jorge's plan. If you want to increase endurance, look for something else.  

Remember a few key things here:

• The goal of the plan is not to get you ready to ride an HIM or IM.  It's to boost your Critical Power.
• Your CP (often used interchangeably with FTP) is meant to be the power output of an all out, puking at the finish, couldn't have gone any harder 1 hour effort.  Think TT at the Olympics for a gold medal.  This is NOT something you're going to be able to do week in and week out.
• There are a few ways to raise CP: ride harder than CP for short durations of 3-8 minutes, ride at CP for 8-30 minutes, and ride below CP for 60 minutes plus.  The first two are by far the most effective methods.  Jorge's plan uses both of them.  More of the first in the early part of the plan, more of the second in later stages of the plan.
• If doing 5x1' at 120% or 5x4' at 110% doesn't seem that hard, you underestimated your current CP.
• Once you have your CP correctly established, there won't be any reason to double the main set.  If you're trying to boost your endurance at the same time, that's what the longer 4th ride of the week is for.

I am now working through it for the third time.  FTP from ~220 to ~250 over last year, although some of that is probably due to getting better at taking the test.  Went from ~20mph last season to ~22mph this season at sprint distance.

The first two times I've had the same experience.  Note that I'm doing the version from ~2 years ago, so if the basic structure is different, then what I describe might not make much sense.

* The first ~3 weeks of 1-minute intervals always felt pretty easy.

* The middle ~4 weeks of 4-8 minute intervals made me want to die.

* The last ~4 weeks of 10-20 minute intervals are not mentally possible.

I'm guessing this is 33% a function of my having a steep power curve, and 67% being mentally weak.  I get halfway through those long sets and I just can't make myself keep going at that rate, so I back off 10% and limp out the rest.

I was decently fast going into last winter, and after following Jorge's plan and getting in 4 runs a week my run somehow improved almost 30sec/mile off my previous easy run pace.  I'm not saying it would work that way for everyone, but for whatever reason it did for me.

short, and easy days? lol

just do the plan and after 4-6 weeks make sure you review this thread again

Thank you for the feedback everyone. Using everyone's suggestions I did another of his workouts today and agree that when done correctly they are plenty long enough given there purpose. 

Today, I tried pushing hard at much higher gears and that made a huge difference (duh!).   I was still going all out before but I was doing so at gears too similar to my long HIM rides.  So while they were clearly harder/more difficult they weren't enough to see the "plans" vision.  I now see the vision and I will not be doubling anything!

I disagree with this.  I was able to mix Jorge's Winter Cycling plan while doing a Jack Daniels based plan to improve my 10K and got below 40 mins for the first time last February as well as a sub 1:30 half in Rock n' Roll New Orleans.