First time I’ve ever seen that. Is that “normal”? Possible (per the algorithm)? Glitch (if so, what could have caused it)? What does it say about my test?
This was my 3rd, ever. Thanks.
What this means is that your effort was very smooth. You held a steady pace. In my little pea brain, a test with results like your is likely to be more accurate.
A flat TT is my relatively strong suit. I have more that 5 TTs where NP is 1w higher than average, including 3 40k’s at Church Creek. Oddly enough, I only had a 2w difference for the Wintergreen Ascent in 2016.
I test on the turbo trainer, and have had a situation where the 20 minute test has been just 1 watt apart NP and AP before. Its because the test has a very even power output on the turbo. If I was outside on a lumpy course there would be a much larger delta between the two figures.
I’m doing this off memory…but the ascent and descent was about 216’ v. 211. It’s a great spot to test…but I am gonna run out of road (I got to the highway for the first time, today).
First time I’ve ever seen that. Is that “normal”? Possible (per the algorithm)? Glitch (if so, what could have caused it)? What does it say about my test?
This was my 3rd, ever. Thanks.
I have plenty of TT power tests where AP=NP or they are within 1W. It’s a function of the lack sustained variability* in power output.
Generally this is what happens when you ride on terrain with limited or gentle variations in gradient, or on indoor trainers, and of course keep a pretty consistent work rate going.
- i.e. when those power variations above and below average are sustained for more than ~15-20 seconds and start to make sizeable variations in your rolling average 30-second power trace.
It is more difficult to maintain 300watts for 10 minutes then 0 for 10 minutes than it is to maintain 150watts for 20minutes, though the average power would be the same. Normalized power aims to correct this through adjustments that places greater weight on high power output. As people in this thread have stated, lower variation would result in a smaller difference of normalized power from the average.
Some example hypothetical relative ranks based on normalized power (all with equal average of 150):
During a FTP test, it is generally more advisable to maintain a lower variation (NP~AP) as to avoid extraneous physiological effort (which isn’t taken into account in AP) and the error introduced by the calculation of NP.
Some example hypothetical relative ranks based on normalized power (all with equal average of 150):
In this example the ratios of NP to the steady state scenario are:
1.68 : 1.14 : 1.04 : 1.00
.