To quote TR 20 minute FTP test., "Try to allow full recovery prior to performing an assessment workout by scheduling it at the end of a recovery week or following 2-3 days of full rest and/or active recovery."


I have done my FTP tests with one full day of Recovery. So Saturday is my last ride for the week, Sunday is long run, For FTP week I will skip Monday's Master Swim and have no workouts, then Tuesday evening I do my FTP test. Seems to work for me.

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

I am not an expert, but I can offer my N of 1 anecdotal experience. I did a 20 minute FTP test last night. Sunday I did a 40 mile hard hill ride, an easy run on Monday, a hard long swim on Tuesday morning, and then the FTP trainer ride Tuesday night. I increased my FTP, but I did not have all my fuel in the tank. The results probably came out at least 20W low. I started at the power I thought I should ride, but then about 10 minutes in I got fatigued and dropped back about 50W. Then, I cranked up by about 80W for the last two minutes (about 30W higher than my initial 10 minute effort). It was not a very good test, and if I was fully rested, as in at least a couple days with no significant activity, then I probably could have maintained the initial effort through the whole test and still had enough juice to push it up for the last minute or two.

So, I will probably repeat the FTP test in a couple weeks, after I return from a vacation with almost no activity for about a week.

To test, you need to fully adapt from your training as well as shed most of the fatigue. You will lose some components of adaptation, but you have to balance that with the fatigue. I think that takes at least 4-5 days following a hard block of training for most. When I've tried to do the test any earlier, it didn't work out well. Iv'e even retested 2 days later and have dramatically better results.

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TrainingBible Coaching
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Congrats on the new equipment mate! Everyone loves a new toy....even if it is going to be the catalyst for some misery on the bike. ;)

I could write out a big long list of things to keep in mind for your upcoming test, but I have something even better. Our team just created an FTP guide that'll help you dial in all the best practices for your assessment. You can find it by following the hyperlink below:

How to get the best FTP results

Hope this helps!

Good luck and ride hard!

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I would just sub a hard bike workout with the FTP test.

Having said that, why do you want to do the FTP test a month out from your HIM? It has a very good chance to just frustrate the training you're doing currently, as well as your race. What I mean by this is: say you do the 20 min test at 300W, you take 95%, that's 285W. Then you say, ok then I'm gonna try to do 82-5ish % of that for my HIM, 233-244W. Up until now, you had no idea what wattage you were pushing for your racepace. All of a sudden you have a "number" now. That can be very dangerous, since you have no idea what that number really represents after 2hrs on the bike at that number. I'm not saying don't use the PM in your race or don't test, just to be wary that you're relying too much on the PM for this race (or for any race in the future for that matter) If I were you I would just keep training, look at the numbers during and or after, but not let it guide you too much, except for like big peaks when climbing, obviously, that would be instantly clear. Use it to smooth out the edges but not for an ironclad race strategy. Just my two cents.

+1 here. New toys are fun, but please take his advice. At this point, your training is done and you've accomplished it all without a PM - stick with what you know. Use all info gathered for insight on the NEXT race.

+1 for this. Good thoughts.

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

Thanks for the thoughts. The reason I want to do the test is just to see what my true FTP is vs virtual power. Since I've been training based on %s of that virtual FTP (and know how that feels 2hrs in on a trainer at least) I figured it would translate fine with knowing my true FTP and basing my efforts off this number. After all it will be a similar effort to what I'm already doing, same % of max it's just the max may be different between virtual and real, right? Lastly I plan to train after this race so wanted to just get it established. I hear you on not focusing on the number, which for this race I thought of using more as info than a hard guideline since I'm so new to power.

Since you have a HIM a month out, I wouldn't worry about an FTP test right now. What I would do if I were you is to continue to train with virtual power when you do indoor rides, but record the power from the power meter on a Garmin or another device. This way you can get an idea of what power you are putting out during workouts. For your HIM, do you have an idea of what heart rate you could sustain for the bike effort? I'd focus more on hitting that heart rate and not worry too much about what power you are putting out. After you finish your HIM, fully recover, then do an FTP test and start training with that number for your next race.

I use sprint or olympic distance races to predict my fitness before a HIM

Someone here said:

"The best predictor of performance is performance itself"

Also:

"Training is testing and testing is training"

And:

"I hate it when the testing (or racing) gets in the way of the training"

More explicitly, performance over longer durations isn't impacted by tapering nearly as much as performance over shorter durations - even a well-executed taper will only improve performance by a few percent. I therefore don't see any point in resting up much for an FTP test. (In fact, the mistaken belief that fatigue has a huge effect probably contributes to the tendency for people to overestimate their true FTP... something we in the trade call the "vanity FTP" problem.)

Speaking of 20 min power:

https://m.facebook.com/...753400713622/?type=3

Thanks for sending that over man. That's definitely something to point out with the tapers. Certainly not as effective for longer-duration events but can instead lend to that impact on the shorter stuff like FTP assessments. Which, like you mentioned, can also lend to a FTP that's (with a 20-min test) a best-case measure of fitness and potentially deflating when riders accumulate a bit of fatigue and start failing/bailing on their workouts.

On another note, it's nice to see the fit of determination is 95% with the 20-minute power and modeled FTP in that regression. Sad to say the 20-minute test isn't absolutely 100% representative of our functional threshold, but it's still good to see the significance statistically speaking. We find the 20-minute test as a useful testing strategy since it can be applied to the vast majority of our users. Despite 100% accuracy, it can still be used as a comparative measure of our fitness to make some major gains. :)

Cheers!

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