FTP and Normalised Power
DaveyL
Posts: 5,167
I did a max test a month or so ago, based on the Coggan and Allen protocol, and found my FTP to be somewhere between 290-300 Watts.
Went out for a ride today with a couple of guys who are faster than me, and we covered the first 50 km in 1 hr 45 min and it felt seriously tough. When I got back after the ride and looked at that section in WKO+, my average power was 262 W, but the normalised power was 307 W. Does this NP value mean my FTP should be higher than 307? I presume it does because as far as I understand it, NP means the Wattage that would be equivalent to that part of the ride, if you did it at a constant power. So maybe my FTP is more like 310-320?
Went out for a ride today with a couple of guys who are faster than me, and we covered the first 50 km in 1 hr 45 min and it felt seriously tough. When I got back after the ride and looked at that section in WKO+, my average power was 262 W, but the normalised power was 307 W. Does this NP value mean my FTP should be higher than 307? I presume it does because as far as I understand it, NP means the Wattage that would be equivalent to that part of the ride, if you did it at a constant power. So maybe my FTP is more like 310-320?
Le Blaireau (1)
0
Comments
-
A 1-hr NP > 105% of FTP is a good sign that your FTP is quite possibly/probably under-estimated and could use some re-testing.0
-
Thanks, Alex. Back to the testing lab then....
(i.e the dining room, with a big fan in front of the turbo...)Le Blaireau (1)0 -
DaveyL wrote:Thanks, Alex. Back to the testing lab then....
(i.e the dining room, with a big fan in front of the turbo...)
So another explanation for the high normalized power (in addition to an actual increase in FTP since you last tested) is that you are underestimating the power you can sustain outdoors based on tests done indoors.0 -
I always got lower numbers on the Turbo for some reason, For example, one test on the Turbo showed my FTP at 240 but then I'd go out and do a ride without thinking of 'testing' and find sections where my average power (let alone my NP) for a similar period were substantially higher than this, around 260...0
-
It's common but fixable. See here:NapoleonD wrote:I always got lower numbers on the Turbo for some reason, For example, one test on the Turbo showed my FTP at 240 but then I'd go out and do a ride without thinking of 'testing' and find sections where my average power (let alone my NP) for a similar period were substantially higher than this, around 260...
http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com/2009/01/ ... ining.html0
