pbnz wrote:
I have not done the Sufferfest 4DP test before but from what I can remember the 20 min effort in this protocol takes your average 20 min power and uses this with no correction as your FTP, I think the theory being that because you have already done significant efforts as part of the test then your 20 min power more closely resembles actual FTP from the fatigue etc induced. .Yes, we use 100% of the 20 min result as part of our Full Frontal test. Here is why (from: https://thesufferfest.com/...l-fitness-test-faq):
Q: My FTP from Full Frontal is lower than from other FTP tests. What’s going on?
First, let’s get this out of the way: you are not your FTP. Threshold power is only one way you put out power on the bike. It only tells you how well you can generate power for long, steady-state efforts. Once your power goes north of your FTP, all bets are off.
Now, bear with us: here comes the science. After testing hundreds of athletes in his lab at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine, Coach Neal Henderson found that for many athletes, their lab-determined FTP did not match up to the traditional 20-minute field test. The assumption had been (and continues to be with conventional FTP tests) that 95% of an athlete's 20-minute power is equal to their FTP. Unfortunately, it’s not that cut-and-dried. Two athletes can have the exact same 20-minute power, but produce that power differently. One may produce 97% of it aerobically, while the other may produce 93% of that power aerobically. Assuming 95% of an athlete’s 20-minute equals their threshold power is the same as assuming everyone who is the same height has the same inseam. Not only does this make the 20-minute power test imprecise, it also misses out on other important aspects of a rider’s physiology.
If you are a rider who is only producing 93% of your power during a 20-minute test aerobically, then that means you are drawing on other energy systems—either Maximal Aerobic Power (MAP) or Anaerobic Capacity (AC)— to generate that power. Instead of measuring your threshold power, the 20-minute test is really measuring multiple energy sources. That results in an FTP that is artificially high. By measuring four distinct ways cyclists produce power, Full Frontal will be able to tell us where that additional power is coming from. A rider who is only generating 93% of their power over 20 minutes aerobically will often have 5-minute power (MAP) or 1-minute power (AC) that is well above average . Since the 20-minute test in Full Frontal comes after both the 5-second sprint efforts and the 5-minute test, you will not be able to hold the same 20-minute power in Full Frontal that you would in a conventional 20-minute test like Rubber Glove. Because of this, your FTP from Full Frontal is based on the full average of your 20-minute effort, rather than 95%. But to be accurate, you have to go all-out on the 5-minute effort that precedes it.
While this might tempt some people to go easy in the 5-minute effort to save something for the 20-minute effort, you need to keep in mind that the 4DP™ power targets for workouts are based on all 4 metrics (and the relationship between them), not just FTP. If you sell yourself short in one area of the test to improve another area, the training you do afterwards won’t be accurately tailored to your true abilities, and you will miss out on the real fitness improvements you are looking for!
Lastly, it’s important to remember that training is a means to an end. You train and suffer today so you can be faster tomorrow. Fixating on a single number at a single point in time isn’t productive. What point is there in having an artificially-inflated FTP if you’re not getting the right training stimulus out of a session? Since 4DP™ takes all four metrics into account and personalizes all of your targets, you are ultimately going to get a much more effective workout, even with a “lower” FTP.
David McQuillen
Founder & CEO of The Sufferfest