Can I ascertain a legit FTP from this ride data?

Skonk

Howdy.

Bit of info about me; 35 years old, been riding since I was 28 to try to get/keep fit. I just do it for fitness and fun but would like to get better at it. I have no intention of doing anything competitive other than against myself on strava.

I struggle to pace myself properly and never really give myself proper rest time so I bought myself a power meter and I've been using it now for 2 or 3 weeks and reading my way through the "training and racing with a power meter" book.

2 weeks ago, after using the power meter for a few days I did an FTP test as described in the book. The roads where I live don't lend themselves to riding for 20 minutes un-interrupted so I did it indoors on the turbo trainer.

The result was a 20 minute average of 230 watts which gives me an FTP of 219.

The ride can be seen here:
http://tpks.ws/dDM5x

I was a little disappointed as it seems quite low but at least I had a starting point and the watts per kg was 3.25 (Think I was 156lbs at the time, I'm 152 or so now)which I figured was OK for a noob

Today I went for a ride; my legs felt sore before I even set off so my intention was to just go for a slow one. At about 9-10 mins in I had to stop to answer the phone (was my Dad) so I had a little 3 minute or so pause (paused the Garmin) and then set off again and realised my legs were feeling stronger than I thought so I started to push quite hard.

By the end I'd ridden about as hard as I possibly could have so I figure I should be able to use the ride or part of it to do an FTP estimate update.

The ride can be seen here:
http://tpks.ws/rY5LI

So.... it was a 58.2 minute ride and I averaged 228 W; including the slow starting pace. The normalised power came in at 262 W.

Looking at the data I have a peak 20 minute effort in there with an average of 259 W and 284 W normalised.

Or if I disregard the "warmup" bit and look at from the phone call ending I have a 50 minute effort of 240 W and 270 W normalised.

So, I assume from this I'm safe to up my FTP to 228 (the average for the full hour) or even to 259 - 5% (for the 20 minute effort) to give me 246 ?

Or can I use the normalized power in some way to get a legitimate estimate?

Any advice would be appreciated.

James.

napoleond

Hi mate. I'd keep it as is then test on the turbo again in a couple of weeks. Did you use a fan on the turbo?
FTP isn't the be all and end all of training/performance so don't get too hung up on it. Having said that, as you have TrainingPeaks, then that should automatically detect/amend your FTP.

When I first got a powermeter in 2008 I became obsessed with chasing FTP. I don't even test it now (I just use the figure derived from either a 25 mile TT or if I do a good 10, TrainingPeaks does it for me).

Skonk

Yeh I had a fan on the turbo but I paced it really badly since I didn't have anything previous to judge it on. Felt like I could have got a better average power had I paced better (but as I said, pacing is a problem I've always had).

I don't race but it would be nice if I could get some idea of FTP changes from real ride data; if for no other reason than it's such a boring task to test it on the turbo.

napoleond

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19703817#p19703817]Skonk[/url] wrote:

Yeh I had a fan on the turbo but I paced it really badly since I didn't have anything previous to judge it on. Felt like I could have got a better average power had I paced better (but as I said, paving is a problem I've always had).

I don't race but it would be nice if I could get some idea of FTP changes from real ride data; if for no other reason than it's such a boring task to test it on the turbo.

In that case just let TrainingPeaks amend it for you. You should have had an email from them saying Congratulations! Your FTP has changed! or somesuch.

An FTP Test is actually a good little training session in itself once every 6-8 weeks. Good in terms of mental conditioning and pacing practice as much as the physiological aspects.

Skonk

Haha

I didn't know training peaks did the automated thing and after reading you say that it set your FTP for you I checked my email to find a threshold notification

246 W is what TP reckons; looks like it's taken the 20 minute effort minus 5%.

Thanks for the reply btw.

James.

EDIT: posted this before I saw your last reply.

napoleond

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19703824#p19703824]Skonk[/url] wrote:

Haha

I didn't know training peaks did the automated thing and after reading you say that it set your FTP for you I checked my email to find a threshold notification

246 W is what TP reckons; looks like it's taken the 20 minute effort minus 5%.

Thanks for the reply btw.

James.

Nice one

I'd just let it do that TBH.

shazzz

One thing I would add is, don't pause your Garmin for short stops in future (traffic lights, nature breaks, phone calls from Dad, etc). Short stops are all part of the ride/recovery. If you stop for a café break then stop the ride and start a new one when you set off again. Otherwise things like TSS can get a bit messy.

Alex_Simmons/RST

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19704059#p19704059]shazzz[/url] wrote:

One thing I would add is, don't pause your Garmin for short stops in future (traffic lights, nature breaks, phone calls from Dad, etc). Short stops are all part of the ride/recovery. If you stop for a café break then stop the ride and start a new one when you set off again. Otherwise things like TSS can get a bit messy.

That's more a factor of the software calculating TSS.