From my experience when my focus switches to longer stuff in the build to an Ironman my FTP does decrease due to the lack of specific training. Generally speaking you get good at what you repeatedly do so if you are not riding as much you cannot expect to be as strong as when you were riding more. You can try limit losses as much as possible by keeping some intensity but you probably won't be able to do as much intensity.

I also think riding 2 - 3 times a week is not enough, although this depends on what your goals are: finishing or racing. Personally I ride at least 4 times a week in an Ironman build. Twice during the week then Saturday and Sunday with a short run on Saturday and a long run on Sunday.

It's early on but my coach / training plan only has me riding 2x weekly. I'm throwing in a third on my own. It's hard to fit in when there are already two daily workouts five days of the week (then two rest days). I'm fairly certain in a month or two the three weekly gym workouts will be replaced with bike and run. But for now you probably see why I'm concerned.

2 rest days? Personally I wouldn't do more than 1 rest day especially for ironman training as the intensity is generally lower. I some times have a rest day after a particulary hard week/block or if I have something going one. I have recovery days were I swim or do a recovery spin.

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Andy Mullen
Team Zoot

Long story short, your FTP should not drop in an IM build. Unless you are sick/injured/low on Iron etc.

Maurice

I'll agree, it shouldn't drop much if at all. It takes only a little bit of sweet spot, threshold, and VO2 training each week to keep it up. 4x per week seems pretty reasonable to do this, including a good long ride each week.

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Tim Russell, Pro Triathlete

Instagram- @timbikerun

That's the feedback I was looking for. Thanks a million.

If you're going to ignore the advice you're paying for so early on, why do you continue to pay for it?

It's only week two and training loads are still fairly light. Week one I had a sprint triathlon so I picked up a third ride there. This weekend is an annual local ride so I'm going to do it as an easy recovery ride with a group of friends. As the loads increase there will be little to no deviation from the plan.

I'm guessing your coach took those factors into consideration when designing your training load for the first two weeks. Yet, you chose to ignore his advice.

I'm training as part of a larger group so the training plan is not individualized.

If your overall training load goes down, I would expect your FTP to drop unless you have a lot of high intensity. If those 2-3 rides are much longer, you should be able to maintain your FTP.

Add more rides or longer rides or harder rides, assuming you have the energy and recover well.

Idk but prepare to have a good bike split!!

I like the way you think! I've put a lot of work into the bike this year in hopes it pays off.

I'll likely swap out one of the bike workouts for an FTP test after a month or so just to monitor where things are. Thanks everyone for the feedback.

Depends if u keep the vo2 type is stuff. Switching to IM focus your coach may not have you do that sort of work anymore I would say. But think of it like this. Jonny can do 300 watts for an hour thanks to his high intensity training he does. Vo2, threshold etc. he can't hold that for past 1.5hrs though and hits the wall. For IM stuff Jonny can hold around 220 watts....but George has an ftp of 280 but can hold 240 watts for several hours without too much drama, thanks to his endurance type of training.

Being an IM, u want to be like George ;).... Olys and below you want to be a bit more like Jonny

Spot on. Even though my sessions are only an hour at the moment they're shifting to more sustained sweet spot / tempo instead of shorter duration / Vo2. Ultimately the plan is to sustain ~75% of FTP, thus my concern over FTP dropping. At the moment it's my only gauge as to how well I can expect to bike. Over the next six months that picture should get much more clear.

Have you checked out the new TR Full-Distance Specialty Block plans? The low volume version is very similar to what you have described with only 3 rides per week with significantly lower IF, but a lot more volume - https://www.trainerroad.com/...triathlon-low-volume

Like many have already said, FTP should not decrease after making this transition in your training, it should still increase. However, your performance on an FTP test like the 8 minute one may decrease simply because you will be spending less time training your v02 zone, which is basically what is being utilized on short interval tests. This certainly is not to say that the power you can hold for an hour (your FTP) is going down.

Increasing wattage by 3-5w could be beneficial, but it's important to be careful and aware of how you feel as you increase it. For athletes who are already close to their peak, an increase of 5 watts may not be feasible each month. So by adding an extra 5 watts on, they may not be training in the zone they are aiming for and this could potentially be detrimental to training. The best way to decide is to gauge the effort required to finish your workouts over time. If you are at your absolute limit to finish them, don't raise your FTP. However, if they begin to feel consistently easier, it's safe to add some more watts to your FTP.

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Professional Mountain Biker and Community Manager at TrainerRoad - Cycling's Most Effective Training Tool

Great feedback - thanks. I will likely stay with my team workouts for now, but I've been through several of the TR plans and expect this will be in my future at some point. I've been working with our coaches and turning their written workouts into TR workouts; I'll occasionally sub in a Sufferfest ride that matches up to whatever has been prescribed.

At the moment I'm coming off of a Sufferfest build so I'm (uncomfortably) riding at a new FTP. I've been through that build process enough times to know what it feels like going from uncomfortable (but not dangerous) to riding strong over the course of a month. I bought a power meter last year but this is the first year that I feel like I really understand how to use it to get better; from November to April I went from untrained to Cat4 and don't feel like I've hit a wall yet. I'll probably try bumping my FTP 1W / week (4W / month) until my performance hits a wall. I would love to be riding 20W higher than I am now in November but I'll take it a week at a time and see.

One question for you - if I want to test my FTP from time to time over the next few months would you recommend the 20 minute test over the 8?

TrainerRoad was a game changer for me. Thanks a million for a fantastic product at a fantastic price. I recommend it to every triathlete or cyclist that I have extended conversations with. Keep up the good work.

That's great, congrats on the solid improvements. 20 watts this year is definitely attainable, especially given how relatively new you are to structured training. That's when the biggest gains come :)


Yes, the 20 minute test will be a much better indication of your FTP due to the type of fitness you'll be building. Thanks for the kind words regarding TR, I'll be sure to pass it along to the team!

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Professional Mountain Biker and Community Manager at TrainerRoad - Cycling's Most Effective Training Tool

Just a follow up, my FTP dropped from 230 down to 212 over the last six months. I tested 9 days after IMFL so there may have still been some recovery going on. Still, I feel like I'm legitimately 215 to 220 tops. The good news is I'm kicking off a four week build and hope to be back in the 225-230 range in a month. That puts me going into a new year in uncharted waters.

Yeah, I lasted a whole week "recovering". This sport is worse than crack.

I guess i've always been like Jonny, prob b/c i've just never wanted to ride a bike longer than 3 hrs, and b/c i've always liked to swim 6-7 days per week. i can do pretty decent at a half if well trained but in the full i'm always cooked coming off the bike:)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

My FTP dropped but my 4-5 hour sustainable power increased. As a longer course guy, I really don't pay attention to FTP, especially a 20 minute estimated FTP.

For the second year in a row I seemed to lose ~10% of my FTP during IM training. For you guys saying FTP should not drop any pointers? During my six month IM builds (using two different training plans) my average IF was probably .8 at best, lots of .7 to .75 rides. I just don't see how you can expect to maintain FTP without having a fair amount of higher intensity work in the mix.