anybody have any suggestions for doing threshold power test, because my idea of doing a 40KTT to get Threshold power is just too much time. i have heard of 20min test, 5 min test and an all out 3 minute test. Anybody have a suggestion for a good test. To see where I am at.
HTFU.
Do the test. The rest are just guesses.
the problem is out here there is nowhere where i can ride for 24miles un interrupted!!!
Where is “here?”
Is it the time, or is it the distance? If you’re just not in the mood to do something thats hard, then just guess and save yourself the trouble. Better yet, guess high and make yourself feel good.
I can assure you I know what thats like. I live in Singapore where the longest stretch of uninterrupted road (not counting those bits of road where you’re more likely to get hit by a crazed dog) is about 5, maybe 6 miles…
It is possible. If you’re in it for the right reasons, you’ll make a way.
If not, find a trainer and ride it for an hour. Do the time and benefit from the results.
In a word, HTFU.
Strauss method, if you’ve got cyclingpeaks
20’ hard, 2’ easy, 20’ max. In cycling peaks click and drag the 42 mins and your answer is the normalized power.
mostly the time constraint, it seems that i am one of the few triathletes that actually works, the more people i know that do this sport the more i become aware that they don’t work that much and that a lot of them are well off and by that I mean very rich!!!
yeah the only way that is going to happen is doing that on the trainer and i find it hard to warm up and then ride the trainer for an hour and then warm down. And here is in So. California.
I see that everybody is into cycling peaks. huh. I guess I am going to have to buy that software.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record I won’t say it again. But I’d like to as it seems appropriate.
Seriously though, you don’t have time for an hour and fourty minutes of cycling? (20 minute warm up, test, 20 minute warm down)? If thats true, which i’d doubt, I’d question the value of even knowing your threshold power to begin with.
For the record, I have a job, I have a wife, I have a daughter, and I have any number of other constraints on my time. I do not however have an endless supply of excuses on “I want the answer but I don’t want to do the work to find out…” So, if it really is that hard to find less than 2 hours for a workout, it may be best to re-evaluate your goals.
Which brings me back to my initial reply…
I guess I am going to have to buy that software.
PRICELESS.
But you don’t know how hard it can be to ride in S. Cali. I hear Singapore is just perfect roads, courteous drivers (all highly skilled) and quiet traffic. Bet you’ve never actually done a threshold test and are just an internet tough guy. You’re probably on drugs too.
do a 30min TT test on a section of flat road where you can go out n back to help control for tailwinds/headwinds/hills. download your powermeter into the software you buy and subtract 5% from the power numbers. Now you know your 60mon FTP.
Guilty.
I wore arm warmers and mittens on the way to work this morning as well…
tury–where in So cal do you live? If it’s anywhere near SD or the OC, I’m coming to your house to pick you up on a Saturday morning, and you and I are gonna go hit one of the bike paths, warm up for 30 minutes, and then I’m gonna yell “Go!”. At which point, you are gonna ride balls out for 60 minutes. Period. If you dip below 25mph at any point, I will ride up beside you and scream in your ear to HTFU, JFR, MYFA, (or whatever ST-approved acronym you like the least, just to irritate you).
When the ride is over, we will cool down for 30 minutes. Then we will go grab a bite to eat. Work and the family can wait another 30 minutes. I’ll read Allen and Coggan to you while you recover and eat your food. You will learn about TSS, VI, IF, CTL, ATL and all kinds of other goodies. You will then go home, get on the computer, pay the $ and download CP. You will then download every ride you do from now until the end of time. You will use all of the info from CP to track your fitness and build a smart training plan, or hire a coach to do it for you.
I will show up on your doorstep 3 months later to test you again. This time, if you dip below 25.5mph (you’d better be faster) at any point, I will ride up beside you and hit you with my dad’s belt. Despite me being a total dick, you and I will probably bcome good friends and training partners. When I’m not out there with you testing your FT, I can be a really nice guy.
I work 'round the clock, am dirt poor by most people’s standards, and I still find the time to train. You gotta do it. For your health alone, if for no other reason.
knew it. troll 
As for “just too much time” well, see the other smartass comments above. If it’s a matter of uninterupted roads, that’s different. Go enter an event (40k TT) where the course is blocked off. OR buy a trainer. Or do a relay and do just the bike portion. If you are entering road races weekly and a TT doesn’t fit in your schedule just record your data for a month and then analyze it. If you can’t swing any of those please send me your power meter…
I hope you’ll go to In-N-Out Burger after for your “bite to eat” and you could yell “MYFA” to the guy in front of you in line. That’s about all I want to say when I’m in line at In-N-Out.
Here’s the test I do from time to time…
Power Meter Threshold Test/HR Threshold Test
Objective: To determine functional threshold power or the highest power a rider can maintain for about an hour
Test Course: Use Emigration Canyon or the frontage road at Salt Air (would be an out and back here).
Test Protocol
• Pace yourself! You don’t want to tire prematurely
• Ride a 20-minute warm-up at an easy pace – about 65% of max HR
• Then do three fast pedaling efforts of 1-minute each with a 1-minute recovery between efforts – very easy pedaling
• Ride 5-minutes all out.
• Ride 10-minutes at an easy endurance pace – about 65% of max HR
• Now do a 20-minute Time Trial
Your goal for the main segment of this test – the 20-minute TT is to produce the highest average power (watts) you can over the entire 20-minute period. Ride the first 2-minutes of the test a bit higher than what you think you can hold, settle into a pace and ride the last 3-minutes all out.
Once the test is over, figure out average power for the 20-minute segment. Take that number and subtract 5% to determine FTP (functional threshold power). Record average HR for the TT effort only and your highest HR reading as well (for comparison purposes and HR zones).
Test Modification HR Monitor Only
• Use same warm-up protocol as above
• Only need average HR for the TT effort. Do not include warm-up and cool-down HR
• If you don’t have that feature on your HR monitor, be sure to glance at it periodically and note the average HR
• Send me your average HR and I will figure out LT HR and HR training zones
• Alternative – do one of Utah Cycling’s Salt Air TT on a Thurs. PM or the Royal Street Hill Climb on a Thurs.
my only free time is on Saturday and Sunday, On Saturday I swim and do my long rides, and Sunday I swim and do my long runs. This leaves only the weekdays to do this test. i don’t know about you guys But i have long hours during the week, and that is not a big deal, i can wake up real early, the big deal is to go through an uniterrupted ride during the week. I live in OC. the only thing I can think of is doing Santiago Canyon, but that has way too many hills. And on the down hills i can spin out my 53/11. So i can’t use that as a TT. Everywhere else there is too many lights. i may be able to get away with it at the river trail and that is about it. So the river trail maybe an option. I may have to go ride it as i haven’t in quite some time to see if it is do able.
You guys have it all wrong I have done plenty of different test, and come up with in 1 watt difference on two different test(i take it they are accurate), but both of these are shorter tests, they are not 40kTT. it just seems that most of the test are based on a 40k TT. And if that is the point of the test than what is the point of doing a 40min test on the trainer if i know i can’t ride 40k in 40 min or doing 2 X 20 min or 2 X 15 min or an 8 minute ramp up test or a 3 minute all out test or all those other test. You say that the other tests are not accurate. well if they are not accurate why even bother doing anything other than the 40K TT!!!
My point is which test will yield the most accurate results short of a 40K TT. As I find that almost impossible to do without doing it in a race.
Also one more question is it supposed to be a 40K TT or do you ride for an hour(as i have read about both). Or do they just assume that you will finish the 40k TT in about an hour.
I think i am just going to go all out at the Camp Pendleton Tri next week and that will be my 40K TT during the bike leg.