I just went out at lunch and did my 20 minute FTP test…for one reason or another I haven’t done this for several months. That was the most painful ride I’ve done in a long time. If I didn’t look at the power numbers literally every 2-3 seconds, I would slack off.
Somebody lie to me and tell me that it’ll be easier next time, or that I’ll be able to do 2x20 every week without dreading it.
They won’t get any easier… But you should be able to put out more power next time, provided you keep up your training 
Kudos for gettin’r’dun. I hate testing.
Somebody lie to me and tell me that it’ll be easier next time, or that I’ll be able to do 2x20 every week without dreading it.
It will be easier next time!
You will be able to do 2x20 every week without dreading it! (enjoy the pain!)
They won’t get any easier… But you should be able to put out more power next time, provided you keep up your training
Kudos for gettin’r’dun. I hate testing.
I’ve been putting in a good number of miles, but this winter I’m trying hard to make my training more structured, which includes bike “workouts” instead of just riding.
I keep reading these race reports where guys who weigh 130 pounds put out 300 watts for a HIM, and I say to myself, “Self! You weigh 180! You can squat 300+ pounds! You should be able to do that!”…unfortunately, I can’t.
^For any humor impaired readers, that was a joke, just for Klehner and maybe Coggan…
Did you warm up enough?
Just for asking the question you get a “YES”.
WIMP!
lol.
it gets better.
10 minutes. That’s what I’ve been doing for our monthly time trials. I did one of those with no warmup (got there late) and suffered about 10-20 minutes in when the soreness seemed to hit my legs. That’s sort of how it felt today, except it never let up. 
oh, the warm up is critical…that’s why it was so awful.
it will still hurt next time, but you’ll have a better result for the effort. warm-up is key. it will be night and day.
Yeah, what the kitty said.
What the hell is a FTP test anyway? Are you supposed to go ALLLLLL OUT? Or are you supposed to throttle back a bit?
I’m a brick today. What’s an FTP test? Max power over a 20 minute interval? Avg speed? Need to have one of those fancy power computer thingees? Computrainer?
Just an attempt at figuring out a Functional Threshold Power for setting training and racing zones. On the road, all out, using a Powertap, in my case, although there are other options.
There have been a number of threads lately here with detailed discussion of power thresholds and terminology, so I won’t elaborate further lest I reveal the shallowness of my understanding. Here’s a link to a Coggan/Hunter article describing one version of the test.