I was at about 72% during my last IM.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Thanks GMAN. Should note I know there are much better ways to pace your IM bike but interested in the stats.

Not in my opinion.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

then do that

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Fruit snacks are for winners

yup, enjoy the run or should I say walk if you don't keep it around 70% FTP . Just for fun try 80-85 and let us know how it goes. :)

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The search function will yield a much larger data set and other ideas you might find helpful

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

I think we should let the studs answer this question...

i guess it depends on what your PB marathon is.

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Fruit snacks are for winners

Thanks guys

I would suggest that your FTP was a bit under estimated but then again the quicker the ride the higher % one can carry. Not many can ride that high a % and still really run. What was your run time by the way?

YMMV,

Hugh

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

I'm guessing u won your age group?

what was the time for the marathon?

how did u test ur FTP?

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

I've been successful in my training with 71-74%. Much higher and I'm really pushing and have to focus to hold a reasonable run pace.

I honestly don't like that test at all; I always get a stupid LOW FTP...

I do a reg 20" FTP = 285 for 20"
I do that 2x20 then I need to "manage" the effort = 260x20" - 260x20" = 250 something if I remember correctly
I do a local TT almost weekly = 275-280 for 40"

I am sure the people from EN has a ton of good research on the 2x20 but TO ME seems to come up with a 10-15% lower number every time I do it...

Anyways, glad that is working for u!

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

The oft-quoted number is 70%.

My point would be that whatever you pick, you need to give it a legitimate test. Inmy mind a legitimate test is a brick of at least 4 / 2 hours particularly if this is your first go round or if previous times resulted in a bad (for you) run. Bad to me means more than 10ish percent slower than your marathon time or projected marathon time.

You'd want to be able to hold whatever power you picked for the brick and also, your food should go down whatever food amount you picked, then the run pace should be steady from front to back on the run.

My preference is for longer bricks but at least do that much.

another monkey wrench that can be thrown in would be terrain or temperature. Temperature is a biggie, your sustainable power at 70 degrees is different than your sustainable power at 90 degrees. So if you did your big brick at 70 degree temps and then race day is 90, if you try to replicate that power for 5.5 to 6.5 hours, you are likely to run into problems. So try to test in similar temps or wear extra clothes if you can't do that.

The terrain can also make things difficult. Actually in terms of nutrition, getting in say, 300 calories per hour in moderately hilly areas might work fine because you will naturally eat on downhills, even if you don't pay attention you will do that. So you have a chance to eat as you recover. On a totally flat ride like chesapeakeman or IM florida, you don't get that chance. Your effort level will go to 65% of max effort let's say and it will stay there steadily for the next 6 hours.

In terms of your legs the opposite is true, no matter how good you are at pacing, those steep uphills are more likely to see you exert high powers and take the snap out of your legs.

You mentioned power not being the best way to pace things. In similar temps and in similar conditions I think it is as good as anything. In high temps, assuming you trained in cooler temps, adding heart rate can be helpful but still, it is best to have tested things out beforehand, hopefully in similar temperatures.

Agreed!

Whatever effort u put on the bike needs to be validated with a run.

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

Seems to me that you need to have the race motivation to really generate the watts for a test. Just doesn't seem right that you can push 280w for 40' but only 260w for 2 20' intervals. If you do a weekly TT why not just use that for your test?

I use my TT number as my "FTP test"; I was explaining the dif numbers that I was getting thru dif protocols for testing :)

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

Got you. I've done both and seem to like the TT effort as well.

Best way is to aim for a TSS of 300 if you are new to IM, or up to 320 if you are experienced and in good shape. Takes some figuring out, you will need a good handle on your likely pace and overall course terrain. If you can figure it out though you will learn a lot about yourself on the way.

Trying to maintain a % of FTP for 112 miles works to some degree but even after lots of testing struggles to take account of terrain and conditions on the day.

Make sure you have a good handle on your numbers now, and how they have changed come race day I.e. has your FTP gone up or down over your last 6 weeks of training?

Good luck.

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He who understands the WHY, will understand the HOW.

I'm new to racing and training with power. First IM coming up in August. How far out from race day should I do my last FTP test.

I think its worth mentioning that stronger cyclists can ride at a higher percentage of FTP than weaker cyclists because 1) they are fitter and 2) they are on the bike for a shorter period of time. If you look at the bike leg as a function of time rather than distance, it makes sense that the guy riding for >5-hours can put out a harder effort than the guy riding for 6.5 hours.

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