Zwift 4 Week FTP Booster Results

CleeRider
CleeRider Posts: 304
edited March 2018 in Indoor training and turbo forum
Just completed this training plan and thought I would share my results.

This is a follow up to my earlier post where I was basically asking if I would see any improvement in my FTP with my first ever training plan:
viewtopic.php?f=40121&t=13086878

I took an FTP test on 29 Dec. which was 190W (2.65W/kg). My FTP has been around this level for ever.

I then did the 4 week plan which I felt was at just the right level. I completed every session/interval, though a couple of them were very tough.

My new FTP is 206W (2.89W/kg)! Very happy with that 9% increase - didn't think it was possible! :)

Any thoughts on maintaining my new FTP?
I'd now like some fun on Zwift e.g. 3 x 1 hour races per week.
Should I add in some interval sessions?

Comments

  • napoleond
    napoleond Posts: 5,992
    Repeat the plan based on your new FTP?i

    But yeah the races are great.
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  • CleeRider
    CleeRider Posts: 304
    NapoleonD wrote:
    Repeat the plan based on your new FTP?i

    But yeah the races are great.

    Yeah, the thought did cross my mind but I miss the races. Probably be heading outside at the start of March too.
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Excellent results there ! How many sessions a week was that ?
  • CleeRider
    CleeRider Posts: 304
    cougie wrote:
    Excellent results there ! How many sessions a week was that ?

    The plan has a session on every day of the 4 weeks, except for a rest day before the final FTP test. It does say take a rest day when you feel the need and I took 2 others during the 4 weeks.
  • jolmes
    jolmes Posts: 144
    You could create a regime consisting of the shorter workouts, I've heard Jons Mix and The Wringer and challenging and short to complete.

    I'm doing the same plan (4 week booster), currently week 2 day 4 (tonight)

    First thing i did was complete the FTP test itself to give myself a base, buggered it up and I started off somewhere around 160 FTP i think, went out too hard and fast and essentially did it all wrong, no tempo, no gradual build up, just thought f*** it, see if i can maintain around 200w for 20 mins and see what happens...idiot

    Decided the other week that i wanted to do the Canyon Gran Fondo Race, that bugger increased my FTP from 160 to 214 so i guess it did some good :)

    Working through the above plan however has been fun and have much preferred it to doing events. Once i reach my goal FTP and weight for this quarter (250 / 78kg, currently 81kg but dropped from 86kg since Jan 1st) I'll start racing in the Cat C events and perhaps start the TRI workouts until weather warms up :)
  • LWLondon
    LWLondon Posts: 55
    jolmes wrote:

    Working through the above plan however has been fun and have much preferred it to doing events. Once i reach my goal FTP and weight for this quarter (250 / 78kg, currently 81kg but dropped from 86kg since Jan 1st) I'll start racing in the Cat C events and perhaps start the TRI workouts until weather warms up :)

    That would be an insane increase from 216 to 250!
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,200
    LWLondon wrote:
    jolmes wrote:

    Working through the above plan however has been fun and have much preferred it to doing events. Once i reach my goal FTP and weight for this quarter (250 / 78kg, currently 81kg but dropped from 86kg since Jan 1st) I'll start racing in the Cat C events and perhaps start the TRI workouts until weather warms up :)

    That would be an insane increase from 216 to 250!

    If the 160W was the first ever test, and the 216W was an estimate based on a 20 minute effort as part of a longer ride (Gran Fondo I assume is over an hour), then 216W is definitely a bit under the real current figure anyway.
  • jolmes
    jolmes Posts: 144
    It was an a 90 min ish ride, bambino fondo 30.2m and 2946ft of climbing, iirc it was the three sisters route so first hour was solid slogging away climbing, plus at 8am in the morning, no breakfast, probably could have done better, had no juice in the tank for the last 20 mins :(

    I have no intention of reaching an ftp of 250 from this 4 week booster. just to make that clear Its an overall goal, when i get there - I'll set a new one :)
  • fac83ajc
    fac83ajc Posts: 19
    Topic caught my eye as I have recently completed this challenge.

    To be honest I didn't do it in 4 weeks, as a mixture of Christmas, catching the flu and then going on holiday cut it roughly in half. So I will report on how much I improved with a rest in between!

    Background wise, I have been 'properly' road cycling now for around 2 years and would regard myself as a reasonably quick cyclist. However I had never done any structured training nor used a power meter. By early last summer I was regularly running in fast chainy groups with racer types (cat 4/3, nothing too extreme) and didn't get dropped too often, but it did happen from time to time.

    I got myself on Zwift in October and did an FTP test, using Zwift power from a CycleOps fluid trainer. Result at that time was 235w which to be honest I was pretty disappointed with, but also questioned it's accuracy. Fast forward a bit. In December I decided I was going to give racing a try next year (this year) and bought a power meter. I then did another Zwift FTP test and the result was 255w. No arguing with the accuracy this time.

    Since then I did the first 2 weeks of the plan in December, had the two weeks off, then did the second half in January. I also started eating a little better and dropped 4kg since Christmas time. Did the FTP test at the end and came out at 281w (3.84w/kg), 26 watts and just over 10% improvement.

    So yeah, it works. But there again you could say going from untrained to actually doing 5 days a week of 'any' hard structured training will make you improve. I would be interested to hear if it actually boosts the FTP of someone who was already training regularly.
  • jolmes
    jolmes Posts: 144
    managed to push my ftp from 214 to 245 on Tuesday night after completing the 4 week booster. I upped the % in week 3 to 110% which hurt like hell and had to drop it back to around 105% for the last 2 sessions.

    Quite happy with that result. Definitely felt better and more prepared than the previous ftp test and the race in which i got the previous ftp value from
  • bjl
    bjl Posts: 353
    Didn’t t realise you could adjust the percentage on the intervals, how do you do that?
  • StillGoing
    StillGoing Posts: 5,211
    fac83ajc wrote:
    So yeah, it works. But there again you could say going from untrained to actually doing 5 days a week of 'any' hard structured training will make you improve. I would be interested to hear if it actually boosts the FTP of someone who was already training regularly.

    +1. Anyone that goes from casual weekend riding to regular training sessions is going to boost their performance. Encompass it with weight loss and your power to weight ratio will see the biggest increase. Providing you don't start eating more with all these extra sessions, you should lose weight as well as make small gains in power, thus increasing your power to weight ratio.
    I ride a bike. Doesn't make me green or a tree hugger. I drive a car too.
  • fac83ajc
    fac83ajc Posts: 19
    philthy3 wrote:
    +1. Anyone that goes from casual weekend riding to regular training sessions is going to boost their performance. Encompass it with weight loss and your power to weight ratio will see the biggest increase. Providing you don't start eating more with all these extra sessions, you should lose weight as well as make small gains in power, thus increasing your power to weight ratio.

    Yep, for sure. I am pretty blown away with the results from "training to numbers/power". For someone who felt reasonably fit and decent on a bike already, I didn't foresee such improvements.

    In the space of 8 weeks I have gone from FTP 255 - 3.3 w/kg, to FTP 294 - 4.1 w/kg, mainly from a combination of Zwift training and losing almost 6kg in weight. My latest FTP figure (294) was on a Sunday group ride on a very long uphill drag, which my Garmin told me about it when I finished the ride. Had to double check it as I didn't feel on the ragged edge, so was pretty surprised. Which makes me wonder what I could be capable of on a proper outdoor test rather than suffering on the indoor trainer!

    My aim was to try to get an FTP of 280 for race season start so I am a happy little lad right now. Still expecting to get unceremoniously dropped, but maybe a little later than I would have previously :)
  • dodgy
    dodgy Posts: 2,890
    I'm new to Zwift, only done 3 rides, my preference is to ride outside but I am really starting to appreciate the benefits of indoor smart training.

    But how do you fit 'real' riding outside into this plan? I really fancy having a go at a structured training plan to lead me into my usual annual trip to the Alps in July.
  • StillGoing
    StillGoing Posts: 5,211
    dodgy wrote:
    I'm new to Zwift, only done 3 rides, my preference is to ride outside but I am really starting to appreciate the benefits of indoor smart training.

    But how do you fit 'real' riding outside into this plan? I really fancy having a go at a structured training plan to lead me into my usual annual trip to the Alps in July.

    There's more than Zwift out there such as Sufferfest and TrainerRoad, all of which have structured training plans. Its easy to do hill repeats on Zwift without doing a program and you can write your own program with most of them to target the areas you want.
    I ride a bike. Doesn't make me green or a tree hugger. I drive a car too.
  • cookeeemonster
    cookeeemonster Posts: 1,991
    dodgy wrote:
    I'm new to Zwift, only done 3 rides, my preference is to ride outside but I am really starting to appreciate the benefits of indoor smart training.

    But how do you fit 'real' riding outside into this plan? I really fancy having a go at a structured training plan to lead me into my usual annual trip to the Alps in July.

    I started with a Zwift training plan (my first ever, just picked the ftp builder one...) but realised once I'd done a week or two that it ramps up to 5 days a week (others even more). Can't really fit that in with other riding (commute and weekend rides, if I want some rest) so I switched to a 3 day a week plan and I fit my outdoor rides around that (trainerroad, though could be any plan really).

    The Zwift experience was nicer though .You could probably just drop a couple of sessions a week but I wanted a structure I could stick to to see what improvements (if any) were made without any excuses if it wasn't what I expected.
  • jolmes
    jolmes Posts: 144
    bjl wrote:
    Didn’t realise you could adjust the percentage on the intervals, how do you do that?

    Left hand side of the screen when you are in a workout, at the bottom of the structure of your workout you'll see a percentage surrounded by an up or down arrow, click one of those :)

    I think you can go to a max of 110% or a lower value of 90%.

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