Monday: strength + easy ride
Tuesday: FTP intervals
Wednesday off
Thursday: FTP intervals with some speed implemented
Friday: Strength
Saturday: Long day easy/moderate
Sunday: easy/off

I have been doing the routine listed below and went from FTP of 250 ish to 300 ish at ~178 lbs.

2x per week:
7 x 2:00 w/ 2:00 Rest or 5 x 3:00 w/ 3:00 rest
These are max power sessions the first couple are hard but doable, the last 2 should feel like death :) 115% FTP is probably a good place to start.

Make these part of a 1 or 1.5 hr ride.

1x per week:
Over unders 3 x (2:00 @ power used above, 3:00 @ Just under ftp, 2 @ power above, 3:00 @ just under ftp, 2:00 @ power used above, 3:00 @ just under ftp) 5:00 rest between set.
Make this part of a 1.5 or 2.0 hr ride

Ride easy the other days.

I was riding hard 2x per week before and it didn’t get me the bump. 3x per week I was able to absorb the training and get faster.

Good luck!

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ost=2932446#p2932446

I would hire a coach or use a coach-led program like TrainerRoad. I have subscribed to TrainerRoad for about 3 years, and it is very good at building you up. I am old, and I am a little above 280W FTP on 4 rides/week with TrainerRoad.

+1
One of the best posts ever on slowtwitch. This got me from 260ish to over 300, in 6 months or so. Also should be noted that I only ran twice a week during this time.

Totally agree with the 2:00 and 3:00 intervals! At "best effort" intensity, these have been by far the most efficacious in augmenting my FTP. I'll do these workouts three times per week, consisting of 10 intervals with one minute in between (for transparency, this represents the entirety of my bike work). Then after the series of 2:00 or 3:00, I'll often do 10 x 0:30 with a minute in between also. I'm not completely confident that the 0:30 are terribly useful, but I've kind of been using them as strength training. I could probably stand to give myself more rest in between, but I don't feel like editing the Zwift protocol. It takes quite a bit of motivation to get started with one of these, but I think you'll be shocked how well it translates to 5:00, 20:00 and 60:00 power.

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https://connect.garmin.com/modern/profile/domingjm

Those are just shorter VO2 Max intervals. There are more efficient ways to increase FTP, such as the intervals provided in the link in Post #4 above.

+1

What is your training/racing history? This will be somewhere between easy and impossible, depending...

I'll assume you want to maximize FTP. If your timeframe is a year, then slowly increasing mileage would be the first thing. Low intensity (50-70% FTP). Lots of hours. Every day.

After a 6 months of that, start incorporating hard efforts once a week. Whatever you like (a variety of durations); but it should be as hard as you can go. Rest (easy spin) the day before and after.

8 weeks before the end (ie race) cut back on mileage and do 2 hard sessions per week. These should be intervals in the 5-12 min range where you are >FTP, and longer intervals with +- FTP segments... for instance 2x20' where the "on" section is 2min at 105% then 2min at 90%, repeat.

Make sure you are well rested the week before the race.

It's really nothing more than consistent steady progression. Over 1 year you'll probably only need 3 or 4 different outlined schedules, repeating some of them depending on what time of year it is.

5 watts a month doesn't sound too daunting, but 60 watts over a year sounds like a really good year. Being smart about your race season too, as some people gain fitness over a season and others don't. Once again keeping an eye on your total load so that you don't go too deep in to the well and mess up your consistency.

Fwiw, i have consistently gained about 10 watts per 6 to 8 week base or built cycle on trainer road, but i also customize the plans to meet my schedule and recovery needs. The best cycling gains I've had were while doing minimal running intensity, just working on base miles. This is probably reason why bike fitness gains are harder during the season with more focus on quality runs.

So just to follow up on this: "Day 1 = 2x20 with <5 min between @ ~95% of FTP"

This means riding 2 rides for 20 minutes each with a 5 minute break at 95% of FTP. I guess I thought that short-term intervals were the way to get faster. Just wanted to make sure I was riding this right. 20 minutes seems longer than what I have read in the past - typically 2-4 minute intervals. Thanks!

Yes, threshold intervals are typically 15-20 minutes long. I usually do 2 x 30' or a single 60-minute interval at 93%-95% FTP. 2-4 minute intervals are VO2 Max intervals.

It boils down to specificity. You want stronger biceps, do bicep curls. You want to improve your sprint or crit performance, do VO Max intervals. You want to improve your FTP, do longer intervals either at or near FTP.

Good read except when Frank Day chimes in for over half the thread

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Twitter@Forsey37

Thanks for the response. I had a coach for 3 years but I do have access to TrainerRoad, Zwift and Sufferfest. Wasn’t sure if anyone actually had any success with any of the programs. Any specific programs you use. I am old as well.

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Twitter@Forsey37

Congrats on the nice improvement. Were your runs easy and did you do any swimming.

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Twitter@Forsey37

Ive racing since 2013 and took last year off and getting back into it now. Started training again about 5-6 months ago 3-4 times a week to get a base built up again. We start going 5-6 days a week here shortly.

When I race I usually win my AG in our local races and finish in the top 10 OA.

My FTP hasn’t changed since I started which is the odd part.

I don’t have any races planned again until next year.

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Twitter@Forsey37

I just rotate through TrainerRoad's HIM mid-volume base, build, & optimize plans. I usually do the base & build until I am 8 weeks out and flip to optimize leading up to a race.

Yup runs were easy, and I didn’t swim during that period. This was the beginning of my transition into bike racing and away from triathlons. The plan is still great if you want to raise your FTP and a great bike focus.

Curious about this... when was the "start" exactly? 5-6 months ago when you began riding again, or in 2013?

I did a similar improvement (~250 -> ~295 @ 80kg, i.e 3w/kg -> 3.7w/kg) using Trainerroad plans, although during an extended gardening leave.

After that I think gains would have been easier with a coach. So basically, I think without knowing your weight, it's hard to assess. I am by no means a coach though, so take it as an N=1.

Since I started triathlon in 2013.

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Twitter@Forsey37

I’m 73kg

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Twitter@Forsey37

I'm guessing that prior to 2013 you were in good shape from running? And since you started riding in 2013 your FTP hasn't increased at all? How long was it after you started riding before you checked it?

Best way to get your FTP up is generally to ride long intervals near FTP.
I agree that the Flanagan programme is probably a great way to go, but you'd need the will to stick to it. In the short term it could be great but having come across that a year or two back I decided it wasn't going to be sustainable for me and I'd want more variety and fewer back to back hard days. I got into the habit of doing long steady intervals, long over/under intervals, group rides on Zwift that would have me at 80-110%FTP for about an hour, and easier VTP intervals. I'd do these two or three evenings a week and a long ride on a Sunday. If I had the opportunity to add an occasional evening ride or an extra ride on a Saturday, I'd do that too.

Some of my typical sessions were:
2x20min @95%FTP on 4 min recovery
3x15min over/under interval blocks (alternating 60s@110%FTP/ 90s@90%FTP) on 5min recoveries
6x3min@125%FTP with 5min intervals
25x1min@113%FTP on 1min recoveries@50%FTP
I did try the 5x5min@110-115%FTP sessions as per Flanagan but I found them especially unpleasant. They may have done a lot of good for my FTP, but I decided against them most of the time and did 6 or 7 shorter intervals of 3mins at higher intensities of about 120% instead.

I was dealing with strains/injury from too much sweet spot training, That was the motivation to change my training, more so than increasing FTP.

At 64, I can't do a large number of intense workouts. The main thing I had to do was reduce time/intensity to achieve greater FTP. Didn't think is the way adaptation worked. I thought redlining was a steady way to raise FTP. Old outcome was my NP was always about 10 watts more than avg watts with slow growth and not moving the needle enough for my liking.

Cycling

One is power intervals, out of the saddle, under a minute, on a steep hill, with about a 9-10 minute recovery. Total workout 60-90 minutes. Outcome is NP about 40 watts more than avg watts and FTP increasing.

Capacity intervals, in the saddle, for several minutes, on a gradual hill, with about 5-8 minute recovery. Total workout 60-90 minutes. Again, outcome is NP about 40 watts more than avg watts and FTP increasing.

Long easy rider. 90-120 minutes. NP about 10 watts more than avg watts.

Long harder ride 90-240 minutes closer to sweet spot. NP about 10 watts more than avg watts.

So I thought it was safer/surer not doing intervals and I've changed my mind. Have only been doing this for two months and it satisfying. It was hard for me to drop my %FTP below 60 to go as high as possible during the intervals.

Also doing versions of this for swimming. It seems like there is intensity carry over from one sport to the other. The body's capacity grows.

Not doing this for running or lifting though as I'm concerned about injury.

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Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.

I'm old (48) and I've been riding about 3 years. I use TR, Zwift and Sufferfest. TR mainly, following their Sweetspot base, then general build and then sort of picking workouts i like for the rest of the season.

I've had enormous success. I pretty quickly got to 330W (4.3W/Kg) and was doing well at 70.3. This year I've been trying road racing and found that a focus on FTP was not the whole story. I needed to do a lot of shorter, repeated very hard efforts to simulate sprinting out of corners then settling in at threshold multiple times each lap. It's going well so far.

I believe it was probably 2014 when I joined a tri club and they tested us there during a bike session.

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Twitter@Forsey37

Twice in my life starting from scratch I've maximized FTP in a few months. >50% gains in that time. My training was just going balls out 3 times a week. I had various courses and climbs where I'd try to set a PR, and for awhile I got faster every time. Great motivation! Eventually I hit a wall never got better. Endurance and recovery improved but not max performance on <1hr efforts.

So... it's possible that you really did max out years ago. But I'd guess you probably have some room for improvement if you've never focused on it that much. For instance if you've never done a high-volume low-intensity stretch (months long) then that would be beneficial. If you've never done high intensity, that would help too. Since you've already been riding for 6 months it might be interesting to do a high intensity block first... and that's just various intervals and efforts where you are over FTP by a great enough amount or long enough duration for it to be hard. You should definitely see some gains from that.

What sort of training have you been doing lately? Easy rides? Kinda hard?

Hey Forsey. Thanks for having a look at The Sufferfest. Our plans are designed by our Chief Science Officer Neal Henderson (the guy who coached Flora Duffy to three world championships last year and currently coaches US tri-sensation Taylor Knibb). Here's an article about how hundreds of people - including GCN presenter Dan Lloyd - saw an average of double-digit increases in their FTP, MAP, AC and NM. https://thesufferfest.com/...-to-hero-in-10-weeks

Also, as there's a lot of focus in this thread on FTP, here's some info from Coach Neal on why that's not necessarily the best approach: https://thesufferfest.com/...-a-slower-triathlete

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David McQuillen
Founder & CEO of The Sufferfest

Efforts have been easy in the beginning to moderate to build a base before I plan on put the hard work in. Haven’t really done any hard efforts at the moment.

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Twitter@Forsey37

Thanks David for the input. I will definitely give the articles a read.

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Twitter@Forsey37

my question is, how do i transfer this then to a 180k bike ride?
increasing ftp is one thing, holding 75% of it over 180k another.

the theory behind is to go long and slow for metabolism reasons as well as ftp increasing sessions (as mentioned above) from nov to feb and then build endurance on target wattage until the race end of june. is that correct?

A local guy has done RAAM a few times. He shared the 2 man record for awhile. His coach had him doing tons of volume at low intensity, plus once a week leading into the race, 1min x10 intervals. He spoke very highly of this approach.

I believe for any event more than a few minutes long, as much volume as you can do in the 50-70% FTP range is the main thing for building aerobic ability. Plus do enough >FTP intervals to max out VO2 and anaerobic capacity prior to race time. All these plans on "how to increase FTP in 8 weeks" or whatever, seem to be focused on the later. IMO that's the icing on the cake, but not the whole deal.

I realize that you specifically asked how to increase FTP besides just riding, but wanted to second the opinion that a big part of it really is just riding. If you have a power meter and training software (WKO / Golden Cheetah / etc), set your FTP properly (and keep it updated) in that software, and then try to get your "CTL" (chronic training load) up to 100 (or even 120), aiming to increase it about 5 per week. Now, how you do that does indeed matter, but getting there without mentally and/or physically killing yourself is goal #1. Note that it could take you months to get your CTL to 100, depending on where you start.

As to how exactly to do that (composition of training, or goal #2), I would do something like: just ride until you get CTL to at least to 40-50 range. That's sort of a basic low level of fitness. Then, once you reach that level do something like this: twice per week do some intervals, and do them really hard. I would suggest something like 4x8mins (4 mins rest) one day and 4-6x4mins (4 mins rest) the other, both followed by some hard tempo riding with a few (3-5) 15 second sprints thrown in (not to improve your sprint really - just to build leg strength), to fill out the workout to a total of 90-120 mins. Another option is 6x4 (2mins rest) once in a while in place of one of those. Be sure to do your intervals fresh, i.e., after a rest day, and do them really hard. Those are your "don't hold back" days, and they are the days that matter most and will make you stronger. Then, the day after your hard interval day, go long but don't kill yourself. Do a good 200-300 TSS (5 hrs medium, say - see your training software). Ideal is a fun friendly group ride with a group that pushes you but doesn't kill you. That's 4 days/wk. Then add one day 2hrs of low to medium tempo depending on how you feel. 5 days/wk total. If you have more time than that, do a 60min recovery ride the other two days, really really easy (!). No pushing at all on the recovery days. Also, best as you can, try to make it fun because mental state matters as much as anything.

Do this program and your FTP will go up pretty close to as much as it's going to go up in the time frame.