Seems to me you have reached your FTP ceiling and plateaued, so you will need to raise that ceiling by doing VO2 Max work. One hard interval ride per week won't do it. Need to do at least one VO2 Max session plus at least one threshold session per week.

I am not the person to answer this question, but I am curious if you would share how much you weigh at your in-season FTP and what sort of HIM bike split you put up with those numbers if you do not mind sharing.

Do you do any VO2 max training? If you are stagnating at FTP you may need to build some room between FTP and VO2 max power output, but I donno hopefully others will have better advice for you.

Currently around 172-173 pounds, but should be in the upper 160's for racing. 2:10 was my fastest bike split in a HIM this past season.

I'm pretty time crunched - 3 year old and 5 month old - so the three bike rides per week is pretty much all I can fit in without getting chastised by my wife. My ride yesterday had a 6x4' at 105% main set. I've also done some tougher rides where it's 30" at 120%, 30" easy anywhere from 20-40 times. Maybe I need to incorporate these type of sessions at more of VO2 max level. I'm not complaining about where my FTP is, but I feel I have the potential for more.

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Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
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Try doing 6x4' @ at least 112% with 2 minutes rest in between. This set will give you the best bang for the buck. I always shoot for 115% FTP when I do mine.

Nate, the thread below is an interesting read and might give you some things to think about.

http://www.timetriallingforum.co.uk/...php?showtopic=112780

Hugh

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

Nate,

If you have TrainerRoad, it may be worth it to you to incorporate some of their "Off-Road" (MTB) training plans into your regular riding.

I trained for a MTB race last year using the "Gravity" plan and it had A LOT of VO2 max work aimed at punchy climbs. It will hurt, but it will produce gains. I went from 242 -> 296 in about 4 months (weigh 71kg).

Starting in November 2016, I retested after some time off and was at 275 FTP. Worked on my 2 min power by doing a lot of 2 min climbs at as much power as my legs could bare (120-125%), plus a 2x30 O/U sweet spot ride (Zwift's SST Medium) once or twice a week. FTP went from 275 to 315 in about 2 months. Still at 71kg.

Take those 30" at 120% and stretch them out to 3 minutes over several weeks.

20x1'
12x1.5'
10x2'
8x2.5'
6x3'

Nate-

I think you need more Vo2 work. I took my FTP from 340 to 360 this winter. But three rides per week might not cut it. I was doing 10-14 hrs per week with 3 Vo2 workouts, 1 tempo ride, and short threshold intervals on longer rides (2-3 mins). I would sprinkle in a few recovery rides. My goal is to get it up to 370 before May but my runs have suffered the consequences. I'm pretty much shelled from the work I'm doing on the bike that running at 8 min pace feels like I'm running 7 min pace if you get my drift.

The fact that your FTP has plateaued while training only a handful of hours per week does not necessarily mean that the best way forward is to try to raise your VO2max.

He's a dad with young kids looking for the best bang for his buck.

What would you recommend?

It all depends what part of your system hit the limit, or just simply you need more time for additional stimulus. You could work on utilization, stroke volume, cardiac volume, oxygen uptake, muscle hypertroph, lung capacity, lung volume, mechanical balance.... it could be anything. I don't think anyone here can give you prescription that means anything without doing some work with you or knowing specific info about you....

Don't even look at suggestions: 5x6m@130% its like pulling rabbit from the hat hoping it will be a frog...:)

It is so interesting, so many people here know drag values of bike frames\wheels etc, stuff that they have no influence on, but have absolutely no clue about their own physiology and how to work it to their advantage....

Thanks for all of the replies! Looks like I need to look forward to some more suffering in order to get the FTP a bit higher!!!!

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Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
Coaching: https://bybtricoaching.com/ - accepting athletes for 2023

With 4 hrs a week to train the best thing to do is calibrate your expectations.

I've helped plenty of athletes make similar gains but then we hit the limit of what can be done with restricted hours.

That's not to say that he should give up on trying to improve. Just that time poor training is not how anyone reaches their potential.

For me the only thing that really helps kick my ftp to new levels is getting depleted before intervals. 3 hrs of endurance then 3x20. With racing and other intervals in the week. Clearly not an option here.

Interesting. What is the science behind this? Do you not eat at all during the 3hrs? At what percent do you target your 3x20 when in this depleted state?

I would need more information before making any recommendations.

Honestly, you need to train more hours. There are no shortcuts. Almost anyone can find the time to train 10-15 hours per week. With an FTP of 330 you should probably focus on swimming and running more. 330 FTP is pretty much the top end for age group triathletes unless you weigh over 80 kg.

Looking at your Athlinks account.
Your swimming could use some serious work...
Some of your bike splits are a little slow for an FTP of 330. You should be riding 57-58 minute 40k and 2:08-2:15 for HIM. Are your aerodynamics optimized?
Your runs are decent, but could be faster given your open run times. You improve running off the bike by increasing weekly volume for both running and biking.

Are you 20 years old? Divorced with no kids ?

You have no idea what you're talking about.

It's awesome OP can get these results given his domestic duties

Who are these mythical unicorns cracking over 300 watts from 4hrs per week?! Super jelly here Nate.

Nope, I am 32 and am a physician who is married to a physician and I have 5 month old kid. If you train from 4:30-6:30 AM every morning during the week and log 2-3 hours per day on the weekend, that is 16 hours. Yes, you have to make sacrifices in other areas of your life, but he is asking how to improve an FTP of 330. I can tell you there are no shortcuts, and riding 3-4 hours a week is simply not enough training to reach your potential.

That sounds great if you are OK leaving your wife to sort the baby every morning and don't mind leaving them both at home 6 hours each weekend.

I like my wife.

Actually my wife is happy to get extra sleep while I take the baby to my training room with bike trainer and treadmill. Usually the baby sleeps while I train. He sleeps better with a fan running, because of the white noise. Sometimes he wakes up and I stop my workout to feed him and change his diaper. Its not always super fun training this way, but it works out ok. It certainly is not quality time with the baby, but I spend time with him every evening and the entire weekend when I am not working.

I guess my point is that you have to ask yourself what you are willing to do to achieve your goals. I know of no FOP age group triathletes (Sub 2 Olympic) who never crack 10 hours per week in training. The rare individual who does will likely end up being the next Lionel Sanders. It sounds like the original poster wants to be FOP. I am telling him what he needs to do to get there. I can totally understand why you would not want to do that. I stopped racing triathlons for 5 years because it does take a lot away from the other aspects of your life.

OP here - In regards to the swim, I could definitely improve, but the reality is that it isn't going to happen unless I want divorce papers. Currently I'm swimming once a week and will be able to get to two swims a week in the spring by getting in an early OWS on the way to work one morning. I was able to swim a 31 min HIM split in my last race last season, which put me in a good position for the race. Would I have done better by swimming faster? Of course, but it's not my priority.

This morning I did 10x1' around 130% and then settled into 2x25' at 90% for the rest of the ride. In season I should be able to get up to six hours some weeks to bike. Before our latest addition (born in September) I was able to peak at 18 hrs/week last season. I'd be lucky to peak at 12-13 hrs/week this year. This is with getting up around 4:30 most mornings. Workouts after getting home or later in the day simply don't fit in and that's not going to change.

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Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
Coaching: https://bybtricoaching.com/ - accepting athletes for 2023

It doesn't make much sense to focus on the swim for you if your time limited. Your swimming pretty fast considering your only swimming 1-2x week. My guess your technique is pretty good so you would need to increase volume. This doesn't sound like an option if your already time strapped. You have to factor in driving to pool, getting change, shower, etc. Your just wasting valuable time.

I would really focus on a polarized approach. Really try to stay out of tempo. It looks like you did a lot of rides at tempo pace and runs at tempo based on your Strava account. I think you need to switch things up a bit. Just some food for thought.

I've been in a very similar boat, though I just race bikes. Had a baby in Dec. and similar power numbers. I typically max out at 8-9 hours until spring time, though, by two longer weekend rides and a couple of 45 min commutes.

I did a ton of sweetspot and tempo the last few winters and basically stagnated around a 330w ftp for the last 2-3 years. To try something different (and to try to build up some fitness before the baby was born), this year in November I did a 5 week block of vo2 max stuff (two workouts a week of 3 and 5 min repeats with equal rest, based on a Hunter Allen blog I read) and got a nice 15w bump in mFTP for a while. Had a big bump in everything else, too, when I went back to tempo and sweetspot and threshold stuff. 10-20 watts higher on everything from 5 mins to an hour long efforts plus way better ability to extend the time out on all of them (worked up to 3 hours at ~90% a few weeks ago).

Basically I feel like changing the stimulus and targeting something I haven't before really gave me some big improvements.