I’ve used 20’ TT - 5% as well as the 2X20’ (2’) that Patrick mentioned. Once I get a solid baseline in the early spring I tend not to do any formal testing. Once you get yourself at the right place you should be able to tell when it’s time to bump up your training zones. When I can knock out 2X20 @ FTP without suffering too much I’ll bump 5-10W, drop my primary intervals back to 12-15min and expect it to be tough for a few weeks…rinse and repeat all summer long. We also have a few 32k TTs and a 40K in the area that I try to jump in.
I’m going to start doing 20min TT + 100 watts so that I don’t look like a total wuss
.
I’ve used the same for a year, then I tried endurance nation’s one when I tried their free trial membership for 30 days, 20’ (2’) 20’ and then you take the normalized power for the 42’ interval.
You could save yourself the trouble of calculating normalized power, and just look at the average power during the intervals themselves (one of the seven deadly sins, and the one I use the most).
We have 20 athletes in a 6 week Power Clinic right now, and part of what they are doing is comparing FTP determined using the above methods with both the 20’ power * .95 (coggan)
Allen, actually…and make sure that you do the 5 min “blow out” effort beforehand.
I don’t do any formal testing at all, as I don’t see much point in it–and I’ve actually found it to be counterproductive at times.
As far as ‘establishing my threshold power’, the only real reason for me to do it is to establish my training levels and measure progress. Since training levels are a rough guide anyway, I start with a couple of hard 2x25:00 rides at the beginning of the season, set up my initial training levels, and go from there.
For ‘measuring my progress’, I simply look at the trend lines of my interval workouts to see how I’m responding. I never really understood the incredible desire for precision for something that’s by nature somewhat variable. I guess it helps to brag on the internet to say ‘my FTP is X’.
It seems to work pretty well for me. I can pretty much predict my 40K TT power and 10 mile TT power with a couple of watts the day of the event.
“Training is testing and testing is training.” - A. Coggan
Take the higher of the 2? The normalized power is calculated for me so I never found much of an issue with it. Plus, I’m inside right now so using the rollers the average and normalized are extremely close anyways. But if outside??? which average would you take? Thanks.
I’ve used the same for a year, then I tried endurance nation’s one when I tried their free trial membership for 30 days, 20’ (2’) 20’ and then you take the normalized power for the 42’ interval.
You could save yourself the trouble of calculating normalized power, and just look at the average power during the intervals themselves (one of the seven deadly sins, and the one I use the most).
Glad to see you’ve finally come around.
“Training is testing and testing is training.” - A. Coggan
“Training is testing and testing may be sub-optimal training”- roady
I’ve used the same for a year, then I tried endurance nation’s one when I tried their free trial membership for 30 days, 20’ (2’) 20’ and then you take the normalized power for the 42’ interval.
You could save yourself the trouble of calculating normalized power, and just look at the average power during the intervals themselves (one of the seven deadly sins, and the one I use the most).
Wow - someone hacked AC’s slowtwitch account …
I’ve used the same for a year, then I tried endurance nation’s one when I tried their free trial membership for 30 days, 20’ (2’) 20’ and then you take the normalized power for the 42’ interval.
You could save yourself the trouble of calculating normalized power, and just look at the average power during the intervals themselves (one of the seven deadly sins, and the one I use the most).
Wow - someone hacked AC’s slowtwitch account …
No, I’ve always pointed out that Rich Strauss’ (now endurance nation’s) approach is essentially the same as one of the seven deadly sins (such that I don’t know why they bother doing it differently).
I use the IMFL 3D course on the CT and ride for 1hr. No scaling, no math, and just use avg watts and test every four weeks. I set the metal man at about 20 watts higher than where I think I might be to make a race out of it.
I’d say that unless you’re doing a 40K TT or an hour test, you’re really doing an estimation rather than a calculation.
I’m getting hints all the time re. what my FTP might be, but it usually takes several estimations before I’m willing to move my FTP and hence recalculate the zones.
I do a lot of 60 mins on the trainer at around 90% FTP. One of the big indicators I see is when there’s a 20-30 min interval in the second half of the ride is higher than my current FTP. That’s assuming that the hour is a fairly steady ride, and I’m not going easy the first half and killing it the second. If that happens a few times on a normal training schedule (i.e. no tapering), the I’ll bump up my FTP.
Another common manner for me is to take the first 5 mins of my hour on the trainer as a warmup, and the next 5 getting close to FTP. If at ten minutes I see the power is good at a low effort level, then I’ll decide to do an actual test.
Whenever I have a surprisingly good hour on the trainer, I also always go back and look at the previous week and see if I can learn anything re. a good taper strategy.
Collection of data from multiple rides. Weekend hammerfest, 2x20 sessions, 2x30s, 1x60, 90-120 minutes at high tempo, VO2 sessions. All that goes into the “FTP calculator” to give me an estimate of my FTP. I don’t like to rely on a single data point.