Tuesday Training

Hi

Tonight I did a formal FTP test according to this protocol. The data from the key stages of the test (5 minute effort and 20 minute TT) are shown below. So, what this means is that my FTP is 95% of 308W which comes out at 292.6W. I had secretly hoped I might reach about 300W but that was very optimistic but it does give me a realistic goal to aim for.

According to Allen and Coggan the Sweet Spot Training (SST) level is found at 88-94% of FTP so in my case that puts my SST level at 257W-274W. I have been doing my 20 minute intervals at 275W and considering increasing it to 280W so SST should not present a problem, be interesting to see what length of efforts I can do at that load.

The test was really very uncomfortable (hit my known MHR) but I think I've got some good data out of it which will help me move forward. Towards the end of the test I was thinking how dreadful it would be if there was a power failure towards the end of the test and all the data was lost and all that effort was wasted! Interestingly my average power for the 5 minute all out effort was VERY similar to my average power for the Lemmington and Billsmoor climbs I've got power data for, this to me at least suggests that the data I'm collecting is at least credible in the real world.

Lessons learned from this test:

1. Current FTP as measured on the CompuTrainer is 292W.
2. Don't start the efforts during the next test so hard.
3. Start next test at 290-300W and ride at least the first 10 minutes at that power then try to ride the second half harder.
4. Make sure OwnOptimizer score is no higher than 2 for the next test for consistency.

5 Min Effort:
Duration: 5:00
Work: 103 kJ
TSS: 12.9 (intensity factor 1.245)
Norm Power: 342
VI: 1
Pw:HR: 7.9%
Pa:HR: 5.84%
Distance: 2.221 mi
Elevation Gain: 0 ft
Elevation Loss: 226 ft
Grade: -1.9 % (-226 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 214 403 343 watts
Heart rate: 127 170 162 bpm
Cadence: 85 107 99 rpm
Speed: 20.3 28 26.6 mph
Pace 2:08 2:57 2:15 min/mi
Altitude: -226 0 -98 ft
Crank Torque: 212 370 291 lb-in

FTP Test 20 Min TT:
Duration: 20:01
Work: 370 kJ
TSS: 42 (intensity factor 1.121)
Norm Power: 308
VI: 1
Pw:HR: 11.02%
Pa:HR: 0.02%
Distance: 8.833 mi
Elevation Gain: 0 ft
Elevation Loss: 1294 ft
Grade: -2.8 % (-1294 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 223 383 308 watts
Heart rate: 145 187 175 bpm
Cadence: 90 108 98 rpm
Speed: 24.4 28.8 26.5 mph
Pace 2:05 2:27 2:16 min/mi
Altitude: -1886 -593 -1055 ft
Crank Torque: 187 322 265 lb-in