Merry Christmas everyone!
Got a new Quarq and searched around. There seems to be different variations of how to FTP test but the common things I’ve seen
is a 10min warmup, 10-20mins of interval style based workout, 5-10mins cooldown in between then a 20min time trial then cooldown.
How did you guys test your FTP?
CP30. Do a search for it.
Basically, a 20 minute warmup to get your HR to 90% of max. 2 - 3 minutes of cool down, getting back to maybe Z2, drink a little, have a gel.
Now, 30 minutes. Get to 90% of MaxHR within a minute or two. Stay there for 15 minutes. If you feel OK, bump up your HR a bit, to 95% over the next 5 to 10 minutes. With 5 minutes left (of the 30), continue to increase effort. With a minute to 2 minutes left, get to MaxHR. This. Should. Really. Hurt.
My coach has me do a MAP (maximal Aerobic Power) test
an,
… The protocol for that IIRC was something like a 20 min proper warm up, followed by a ramp at 25w per min from a start of 100w till failure, which was ~400w iirc. Xav took the last 30 sec power before failure as a measure.
FTP lies somewhere between 72% and 77% of MAP. 75% is a good start.
http://alex-cycle.blogspot.co.uk/2006/12/map-testing-where-failure-is-success.html?m=1
http://alex-cycle.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/testing-is-training.html?m=1
Do a 40k tt where you go so hard that you ate puking at the end. That’s your ftp.
I like to do the following on a trainer-
10 min easy aerobic riding
3 x 1 min at 100 rpms at estimated FTP, 1 min rest in between each
5 min easy aerobic riding
5 min at estimated 20 min max power
10 min easy aerobic riding
20 min all out- first 5 min about 10 watts lower than I estimate I will hold, ~ 12-13 minutes steady but slightly increasing power, last 2-3 minutes just empty the tank.
10 min easy spinning cool down
Take the average power from the 20 minutes, multiply by .95 for FTP.
I use that number all winter for indoor training and rare opportunities to ride outside (live in upstate NY), bumping it occasionally if the workouts start to feel a little too easy. Then when I start getting most of my riding outdoors in the spring, I test my FTP by doing pretty much the same protocol on a flat road that allows me to ride uninterrupted. For 20 minutes. My outdoor FTP is always way higher than indoors, so I just set all my workouts to 90% effort when I end up riding indoors. Trainerroad makes this really easy, you should check it out.
20 Min Avg x 1200 = A
5 Min Avg x 300 = B
(A-B) /900 = approximate 60 min FTP
Lots of good ways to track progress. I like the above calculation using best 5 and 20 minute efforts.
If you’re doing it on a trainer and have TrainerRoad, do the 20 minute FTP. Pretty much follows the protocol that TimBikeRun posted.
Do a 40k tt where you go so hard that you ate puking at the end. That’s your ftp.
Yep, that is the best way, I do that about once per year in race conditions and it is always my best power for the year .
Other than that, I do all out 20 minute intervals often and use golden cheetah software ( or similar) to tell me how I am doing as far as FTP or CP.
You will find that the 20 min (when factored down) is close enough given all the other uncertainty that is involved in truly nailing down a number to a 1 kr 2 watt accuracy.
Think: heat, slope, fatigue, nutrition, training cycle, personal stress, sleep history, etc. all these factors can easily move you up or down 10 or 20 watts in a given week (n=1).
Just do something that is repeatable and keep trying to beat your history.
You should check out what the guy who created the concept says :):
"the seven deadly sins…
…er, ways of determining your functional threshold power (roughly in order of increasing certainty):
Note the key words “hard”, “routinely”, and “average” in methods 4, 6 and 7…"source: http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com/2008/05/the-seven-deadly-sins.html
I like to use number 6 because I regularly do long intervals, but I would just pick one method that works for you and stick with it.
off-season (trainer): 20min (TR)
season: 40k TT
My coach has me do a MAP (maximal Aerobic Power) test
an,
… The protocol for that IIRC was something like a 20 min proper warm up, followed by a ramp at 25w per min from a start of 100w till failure, which was ~400w iirc. Xav took the last 30 sec power before failure as a measure.
FTP lies somewhere between 72% and 77% of MAP. 75% is a good start.
http://alex-cycle.blogspot.co.uk/2006/12/map-testing-where-failure-is-success.html?m=1
http://alex-cycle.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/testing-is-training.html?m=1
That is an interesting way of testing. Have you been able to repeat it at any regular interval?
20 Min Avg x 1200 = A
5 Min Avg x 300 = B
(A-B) /900 = approximate 60 min FTP
Lots of good ways to track progress. I like the above calculation using best 5 and 20 minute efforts.
Another interesting tests, have you also been able to repeat that test?
jaretj
Always indoors on my PowerBeam using Spinervals: Threshold Test and Sufferfest. It’s an hour workout with 1 x 20 min Threshold Test. Before the test you warm-up with 3 x 30 secs hard, 1 x 3 mins hard, and 3 x 1 min hard. There are also some short max sprints AFTER the test. Regardless, using the DVD ensures I follow the same protocol every time.
I do the 2 x 20 Trainerroad test.
I used to do the 2 x 8’ Carmichael tests, and those were surprisingly good as well. I honestly wouldn’t have a problem using any of them; although I still believe that longer FTP tests like 2 x 20 are better approximations of the full hour all out (the full hour is too hard to typically do outside of a race environment for me - will always underball the FTP if I used it), the %max of the 8’ or 20’ tests were nearly dead on as well.
10 min easy aerobic riding
3 x 1 min at 100 rpms at estimated FTP, 1 min rest in between each
5 min easy aerobic riding
5 min at estimated 20 min max power
10 min easy aerobic riding
20 min all out- first 5 min about 10 watts lower than I estimate I will hold, ~ 12-13 minutes steady but slightly increasing power, last 2-3 minutes just empty the tank.
10 min easy spinning cool down
Take the average power from the 20 minutes, multiply by .95 for FTP.
I did this step last week and my FTP was calculated to be 257 watts. Yesterday, I did a 40K TT on flat course and did 250 watts… I definitely could have picked up 3-7 watts more but started without a warmup, so the first lap was low on the power… So I’d say the steps outlined is very realistic for estimating FTP.
20-25 minute warm up
5 minutes all out (usually end up between 120-125% of FTP)
10 minutes easy
20 minutes all out
Cool down.
Your FTP is 95% of your 20 minute power.
Or I do 60 minutes all out or a 40K TT.
I mix it up. I just did the first one the other day.
20-25 minute warm up
5 minutes all out (usually end up between 120-125% of FTP)
10 minutes easy
20 minutes all out
Cool down.
Your FTP is 95% of your 20 minute power.
Or I do 60 minutes all out or a 40K TT.
I mix it up. I just did the first one the other day.
I don’t suppose anyone has thought about riding hard for about an hour?
Got a new Quarq and searched around. There seems to be different variations of how to FTP test but the common things I’ve seen
is a 10min warmup, 10-20mins of interval style based workout, 5-10mins cooldown in between then a 20min time trial then cooldown.Strava offers the “Rubber Glove” Sufferfest clip.
12:00 Warm-up
3:00 Tempo
3:00 Strong effort
3:00 Recovery
4 x 1:00 Fast pedal with 1:00 recovery
3:00 Recovery
20:00 Pain, agony, misery, and FTP
3:00 Cool-down
http://www.thesufferfest.com/video-sufferfests/rubberglove/
http://www.strava.com/videos/4
Plus 1 on the Strava Rubber Glove test. It can be hard to stay motivated for the whole test your first few times. The Sufferfest video will really help you stay focused and pushing. Obviously you don’t have to record things like it says if you have a Garmin to do that for you. Remember that the hardest part is the 3ed quarter. Once you’re done with that its just the final push to the end.