Rised my FTP from 185 to 220 in two month.

How’s your bike position and equipment choices?

the more you fixate on it, the slower it'll seem to go. it's like watching water boil. just follow your plan and the increases will come

Between 6 weeks and never.

IOW how much and how quickly anyone can improve, and what level they can attain is dependent on too many variables for anyone to be able to provide an answer with any precision without at least some background power (or proxy) data about your previous training experience. Going from 2.8W/kg to 3.6/kg may take weeks, years or never.

The good news is if you are have average physiology and are currently quite untrained then there's every prospect of attaining such a level with enough time. How long? Who can tell?

I have seen riders work their arses off to get another few % over 6 months, while others have doubled their threshold power by a straightforward and sustainable progressive increase in workload.

Which is why when you have no previous power data / training experience to guide you, it's more productive to set good process goals and see where they take you.

Also as others have pointed out, apart from upping the power, you can also look at ways to use each watt wisely.

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At 2.8 W/kg, you will see gains. How fast it varies but most people do see some good gains in the first year. Getting to at least 3.0w/kg shouldn’t be too hard.

May I ask what your NP was after that bike split and what was your run time and what is your open HM run time? 2:51 seems pretty fast on an ftp of 175.

At 137 pounds sounds like I would be working on your bike strength especially if you are planning on racing long distance. Hill rep's and big gear work in your program. I personally wouldn't have a clue what my FTP is but strength work to lift your power for long distance racing.

Like you, I am 41 and about 137, and I also come from more of a running background. As an adult onset swimmer syndrome sufferer, I opted to put a lot of effort into my bike leg, too. To improve your FTP, you need to do a lot of work at and above threshold. Some SST variation work, spending time above FTP and recovering below FTP but still in Z3 will help get you there quickly if you put in the work.

That being said, why are you focused on FTP as a measuring stick? I get that a higher FTP means you can push more Watts during the race, but focusing on your FTP isn’t going to help you build the whole cycling package. It will just make you better at FTP tests. I would recommend pick a workout plan or training group that will help you develop as a complete cyclist, and the FTP will take care of itself.

The important part is training to a level outside of your comfort zone on those days that are designed to be hard. As you get stronger, incrementally bump up your FTP in TrainerRoad as the workouts become more difficult to complete. You may want to incorporate some strength training if you don’t already do it. Squats, cleans, leg press, and lunges all help build strength in the quads and glutes.

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How comfortable are you biking outside? I have been using Zwift and have been going pretty well, but my outside rides are terrible. I come from a running background and biking has been really hard to pick up due to my inability to feel good on the bike. I don't trust myself on fast downhills and turns and am just not as good at pushing myself to the limit as I am in running or at workouts on the trainer. My goal is to get more rides outside and start using workouts as I ride. I need to translate what I can do inside to what I need to do outside. It hasn't been easy. I suck at skiing too, so maybe I just don't like going fast...

mike s wrote:

How’s your bike position and equipment choices?

I had a professional fit when I bought my P2 a few months ago.I am very comfy in aero. In fact, I cant stand to come out of aero - it is uncomfortable.

I didnt have the PM for the race. Got it after the race after seeing how well I could possibly do in the future.
My HIM run time was 1:59:43. My regular half marathon time is around 1:35:00, but man was it hot for that run.

We seem to be the same person. I want to increase my ftp just to increase my speed and duration at which I can maintain that speed. The TrainerRoad workouts in my base phase so far have had a lot of time in the 80-90% ftp range. Is this good for building FTP?

muebele wrote:

How comfortable are you biking outside? I have been using Zwift and have been going pretty well, but my outside rides are terrible. I come from a running background and biking has been really hard to pick up due to my inability to feel good on the bike. I don't trust myself on fast downhills and turns...

I am a bit uncomfortable on the bike. I admit, I do have troubles getting to my water bottle and turns are a bit scary for me. But, I go so much faster with so much less effort that before the indoor training.

220ish sounds achievable.
I'm basing that off Alan Couzens run-power calculator, which is pretty much bang on the money prediction wise for me.

https://alancouzens.com/blog/Run_Power.html
Sticking in 62kg and 1:35 for a half marathon it's coming up with a run-power estimate of 216 watts, so 220 watts for an hour sounds doable.

That would indicate you've got the heart/lungs/blood etc, you just need to build up the cycling specific muscle strength a bit.

Perfectly achievable. Just be super super regular in your training. Train regularly, train (quite) hard. But train regularly and get sleep. You'll find your 220.

At 137 lbs you shouldn’t need much of an ftp to do 24mph. I’m normally around 200 or less watts to do 24 mph and i weigh 160-170ish lately.

Keep riding, learn to get the best out of yourself for the test, and lay off the weed. You'll get it easy.

My biggest recommendation to you would be to remain consistent in your training. I went from 192 to 227 FTP in about 10 weeks. Then winter and holiday season came, and I stopped training for a month and a half. That extended break knocked my FTP back down to 203. It sucks.

Stick to a plan and don't take extended time off.

Compare your sprint from Saturday to mine.
You lost 7 minutes over 18 miles. I did 230W, for 24 mph avg, I'm 195 pounds.
My Cannondale is faster because 808 front and disc rear.
There's plenty resources here to estimate how much that helps, you can then do the math where you need to get to w/kg, which would enable you to do an estimate of your target ftp

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NO

Yeah, I used your watts to come up with 220w for me :) I knew you had a power meter because I look at your rides, speeds and watts on all your rides

What do you mean about losing 7 minutes?

I meant that your bike time was about 7 minutes slower than mine, over the 18 mile race distance.
I don't think you need to get to 220W ftp.
You should be able to race easily at 190W for a sprint with that ftp of 220, equals about 3.1 W/Kg.
I race 230 W, equals 2.67 W/Kg.
For you to reach the same power output / weight as me, you only needed 163 W in that race. That's 93%, which is definitely not impossible.
That shows that going just off FTP, you should've been a lot closer. Which in turn means that you have a lot to gain with aero improvement and bike handling.

Just for clarity, this is solely comparing the same 18 mile ride we both did in the same race, and supposing your target average speed would be my actual speed, 24 mph average

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NO

Spartan, riding at 80-90% FTP will help some, but it will not give you the gains you want. To build FTP, you need to spend more time at and above threshold. When you get out of the base work, take a look at doing 2 to 3, 20-minute intervals of 2-3 minutes at 105-110% then 2-3 minutes at 90-95% FTP. Start with 2 minutes at 105-110 and 3 minutes at the lower level. If it is too easy, increase the time at the higher effort and decrease the recovery. That will give you four blocks of five minutes. Recover for 5 minutes at 55-65% between 20-minute sets.

There are lots of ways to increase FTP, this is just one workout.

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If you stick with trainerroad, you're likely to see improvements. 220 seems achievable. I don't think anybody can say how long it will take you to get there. everybody is different.

Have you listened to their podcast? The latest one is a perfect one for you right now. All about fitness testing -- having listened to it, they will hit upon many of your questions.

What plan are you following? You ARE following a plan of some type ... Sounds like you are in a sweet spot plan. It will work -- and still let you have legs for other training. Just not as fast as super high intensity workouts will -- but they will leave your legs heavy and not up to hard run or swim/kick training.

As others have said, how fast is dependent upon many factors. I would be above my 3.3 w/kg if I was only doing bike racing. But the running and everything else that goes into this multi-sport competition has required less bike focus. My last test showed about 7% increase -- though I can really suffer through the 8 minute test (Still learning the ramp test).

One other thing: Have you learned to really suffer on the bike?

+1

TR or Sufferfest. Just get on a structured training plan. I went from 160 to 250 over the course of a year or two (did focused FTP work, then backed off for racing, then back to FTP work, etc). I'm a tad heavier than you but in my early 40's as well. At 137 lbs (62kg) you should be able to work up to 4 W/kg which would be an FTP of close to 250.

Lots of good advice here. I'll throw one more thought into the mix: You may need to focus in other areas if you want to see your FTP go up. Here's a video we made at The Sufferfest about the different kinds of power you produce and how they're related: https://vimeo.com/238017365

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David McQuillen
Founder & CEO of The Sufferfest