I lost about 25 watts this past winter, but did very little riding. I gained it all back and then some this summer (about 50 watts total).

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24 Hour World TT Champs-American record holder
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About 5%

Also, for most people, you either give up that high end willingly and rebuild when you want or you get the carpet dragged pulled and gain it back when the symptoms of over reaching are gone.

It's also easier to hit your Previous PB when rebuilding

I took my off season at a weird time this year, middle of summer. FTP dropped 8% as I took a month kinda off and let CTL go from 110 to 75.

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Jordan Oroshiba --- Roadie invading Triathlete space for knowledge access

Depending on the the length of the break, I've lost 5-10%.

If you offseason workouts make you slower and slower I would consider sticking with on-season workouts during the offseason instead.

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

What's an offseason?

If you're talking about winter, that's when I get my best trainer workouts and don't spend as much time running, so my FTP goes up.

I'd love to keep my in-season intensity and duration year round but like most, it is tougher offseason. The 5% reduction that others mentioned is helpful.

Same here. The winter is time for quality. I'm currently in the fun riding phase but in about six weeks it will start to get intense. The winter is perfect for this because you tend to get less volume, so you might as well have more intensity.

I've spent 2-3 hrs a week on the trainer over the winter and maintained my FTP. Endurance is a different thing - that gets built back up in the spring with longer rides.

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Bingo.

Although I was recently forced into an "off-season" by surgery recovery. No training whatsoever for a month, short/infrequent and low-intensity up to week 6--I rode a total of 15 miles because it was too depressing to hold back enough to keep the doctors happy. Hopped back on the bike last night and I was down about 50W AP from my usual output on a given group ride. I went into the surgery pretty highly trained, so I was expecting to feel (comparatively speaking) dull and weak coming out. FTP went from ~300W @ 68kg to ~250 @ 64kg. The weight loss makes the w/kg delta look less depressing, but given that I set a new max heart rate (by ~5bpm) on the bike just to stay with the group I think I had been leaving some extra watts on the table before (meaning the actual delta is even bigger). I'd like to have the pounds and the watts back, but I wouldn't trade having that surgery for anything in this sport.

Time to head into the off-season and get my watts up for next year.

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I have found that my FTP goes up 10-15 points in the winter. Here are some of the reasons:

1. Better overall aerobic fitness from XC ski training. I can never reach the same fitness off bike and run and swim. For some reason I can do higher intensity more often in that sport...add in 2-3 trainer rides per week and FTP goes us. This is also corroborrated in spring run races that are always faster than in the fall even though I am 5-8 lbs heavier!
2. Winter generally means cooler air in my basement, so hard to compare apples and apples with summer trainer workouts
3. Less overall training volume means a bit more rest

So your FTP is lower during tri season and your running slower in the summer too?

Offseason is not the same as winter.

Right now, i've worn my bibs a total of three times since Aug 25, when i set a 20 min PB of 329 W at 69.5 kg. weight has gone up 1.5 kg since then, and i'd be lucky if my FTP is still around 300 W. this is my off season as it gives me the time to have the endocrine system normalized after 10 months of training, and i won't be doing any structured training for another two weeks or so.

When structured training returns, the lost wattage returns, and hopefully additional gains are also made.

No change. I'm a consistent slacker.

Yes, in general my best overall aerobic fitness is in XC ski season, not in tri season and that seems to show up as faster 10K times and higher FTP. Having said that my 90K power, 180K power, and my 21-30K run speed would be a lot lower due to lack of specificity for longer distances. Consider winter more of my short course "duration" season (except the racing is happening on skis) and summer my long course season.

To Echappist, you are correct, winter is not the same as off season, so I stand corrected. As I mention above, I have 2 seasons....off season would be Oct-Nov though to early December. Never really pushed myself to check where my biking is, but last year in November, when I was curious, I actually had some trainer rides that were higher than the summer. Jackmott pointed out the cooler air as well as the fact that I was probably more rested from the summer grind all helping the body .