Can you learn to "feel" your FTP?
neeb
Posts: 4,473
I hate doing 20 minute all-out FTP tests. I reckon My FTP is only about 92% of the maximum power I can sustain for 20 minutes, but doing those tests really, really hurts because "all-out" is all all-out, and if I'm not really hurting myself it can't be all-out...
But it seems to me that I can pretty much tell where my FTP is when I'm doing 2x20s regularly. If I aim at what I think is 100% of FTP and I can only manage 15 minutes in the last session, I know that my FTP at that moment is about 4 or 5 watts less than I thought it was. If I do the 2x20 and I can push the watts up towards the end of the final session without really knackering myself, I know it must be a few watts more. It also seems that when I am right on FTP, I can tell. My breathing is mostly deep and regular without being "gasping", but every now and again I have to "slightly gasp" - it's like I can feel the "edge" between aerobic and anaerobic.
So do I really need to do those horrible 20 minute all-out tests?
But it seems to me that I can pretty much tell where my FTP is when I'm doing 2x20s regularly. If I aim at what I think is 100% of FTP and I can only manage 15 minutes in the last session, I know that my FTP at that moment is about 4 or 5 watts less than I thought it was. If I do the 2x20 and I can push the watts up towards the end of the final session without really knackering myself, I know it must be a few watts more. It also seems that when I am right on FTP, I can tell. My breathing is mostly deep and regular without being "gasping", but every now and again I have to "slightly gasp" - it's like I can feel the "edge" between aerobic and anaerobic.
So do I really need to do those horrible 20 minute all-out tests?
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Comments
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The more sessions you do the more you get better at feeling the different zones...Insta: ATEnduranceCoaching
ABCC Cycling Coach0 -
neeb wrote:I hate doing 20 minute all-out FTP tests. I reckon My FTP is only about 92% of the maximum power I can sustain for 20 minutes, but doing those tests really, really hurts because "all-out" is all all-out, and if I'm not really hurting myself it can't be all-out...
But it seems to me that I can pretty much tell where my FTP is when I'm doing 2x20s regularly. If I aim at what I think is 100% of FTP and I can only manage 15 minutes in the last session, I know that my FTP at that moment is about 4 or 5 watts less than I thought it was. If I do the 2x20 and I can push the watts up towards the end of the final session without really knackering myself, I know it must be a few watts more. It also seems that when I am right on FTP, I can tell. My breathing is mostly deep and regular without being "gasping", but every now and again I have to "slightly gasp" - it's like I can feel the "edge" between aerobic and anaerobic.
So do I really need to do those horrible 20 minute all-out tests?
The power you can routinely generate in longer intervals in training is one of the most reliable means to establish and track your FTP.
See sin #6
http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com.au/2008/ ... -sins.html0 -
Yes, there is a combination of various energy system in play, however the OP is referring to Functional Threshold Power. FTP is a measure of what you can actually do and not a measure of the underlying physiology that supports that capability, although it will be all but be aerobically generated, since riding above such a level will see fatigue arrive far sooner as we supply the additional energy demand from alternative and quite limited energy systems.madasahattersley wrote:I was under the impression that the difference between aerobic and anaerobic is a completely mixed sliding scale, from 1 second max out sprints to 24 hour rides at 100rpm, rather than a sudden threshold?0 -
Cool, so #6 is the second least deadly.. ;-)Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:
The power you can routinely generate in longer intervals in training is one of the most reliable means to establish and track your FTP.
See sin #6
http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com.au/2008/ ... -sins.html
Why then is it often recommended that people regularly test their FTP from +/-95% of an all-out 20min effort, when most people who want to know their FTP are already doing regular longer interval sessions such as 2x20?0 -
neeb wrote:
Cool, so #6 is the second least deadly.. ;-)Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:
The power you can routinely generate in longer intervals in training is one of the most reliable means to establish and track your FTP.
See sin #6
http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com.au/2008/ ... -sins.html
Why then is it often recommended that people regularly test their FTP from +/-95% of an all-out 20min effort, when most people who want to know their FTP are already doing regular longer interval sessions such as 2x20?
Depends what you mean by 'regularly'. You would test FTP in order to track improvements, which in turn would validate (or otherwise) the training you are doing. I might test mine every three months or so out of season, but when you are racing, it kind of gets tested by default, through how well you are going.0 -
neeb wrote:
Cool, so #6 is the second least deadly.. ;-)Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:
The power you can routinely generate in longer intervals in training is one of the most reliable means to establish and track your FTP.
See sin #6
http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com.au/2008/ ... -sins.html
Why then is it often recommended that people regularly test their FTP from +/-95% of an all-out 20min effort, when most people who want to know their FTP are already doing regular longer interval sessions such as 2x20?
Pithy Power Proverb: "Training is testing and testing is training". A. Coggan
IOW a dedicated test effort is but one data point, hopefully a reliable one but it should be taken in context of the rest of your training. If you are doing regular such intervals, you are already testing. But every so often it helps to open up the taps and find out what you're really made of.
Anyway, here's a follow up post to that item:
http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com/2009/07/ ... ftp-2.html0
