First FTP test

If you go to Watopia and do the long side of the Mountain inc radio tower and back down the same way, then end the ride when you get back to the tunnel under the sea. Go as hard as you can both up and down, you may well beaten your FTP score and it will tell you, you have a new FTP when you finish your ride.

But even if it doesn't its good threshold work out!

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

...using my new Elite Drivo and Zwift

I did the short version. This consisted of:

5 mins warm up at 90W, then
2 mins at each of three progressively higher powers up to 220 (at which point I was nearly dead), then, thank fark:
6 mins at 90W, then
20 mins for the test itself.

I managed to keep my HR at about 153 for the 20 mins, at an average power of 150. At the end it told me that my FTP was 143W.

This was pretty close, I reckon, to the max I could have done, as I felt pretty bad at the end for a few minutes - faint, and a bit nauseous.

So, some questions - I already knew I was Captain Slowmo McSlow, but is 143 really as crap as it seems? Is it likely to be anywhere near accurate measured that way?

For reference, I tend to average 14-15 mph over rides from 15-45 miles when I'm out and about, and I weigh about 165 pounds (74 kg).

Thoughts? Do I just need to pedal harder for longer? At 55, how much might I be able to improve?

Ditch Zwift and get on Sufferfest. Do the Full Frontal 4DP test and it will identify your weaknesses. Select the recommended program for your weaknesses and follow it. With 4DP, it sets the program workouts at your identified levels as opposed to Zwift's one size fits all.

Lots of advice being tossed out but little understanding.

~2W/kg is not going to win any bike races of note but it's not "crap". It is what it is and is probably better than what the vast majority of the general population would manage if asked to do a test. I can't really comment on the validity of the data measurement. Depending on your goals and condition, such tests may well be unnecessary or ill advised.

As to what *you* should be doing, well that's not something anyone here can discuss specifically for you because that requires a lot more detail beyond the scope of a public forum, so let's stick to general advice.

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

...using my new Elite Drivo and Zwift

I did the short version. This consisted of:

5 mins warm up at 90W, then
2 mins at each of three progressively higher powers up to 220 (at which point I was nearly dead), then, thank fark:
6 mins at 90W, then
20 mins for the test itself.

I managed to keep my HR at about 153 for the 20 mins, at an average power of 150. At the end it told me that my FTP was 143W.

This was pretty close, I reckon, to the max I could have done, as I felt pretty bad at the end for a few minutes - faint, and a bit nauseous.

So, some questions - I already knew I was Captain Slowmo McSlow, but is 143 really as crap as it seems? Is it likely to be anywhere near accurate measured that way?

For reference, I tend to average 14-15 mph over rides from 15-45 miles when I'm out and about, and I weigh about 165 pounds (74 kg).

Thoughts? Do I just need to pedal harder for longer? At 55, how much might I be able to improve?

Comparison of what you could aim for;
I'm 55 yrs, 78kg, 5'10" Very similar to yourself in that respect.
Been cycling for 16 months.

I've only ever done a FTP 3 times in the past 4 months, mainly because I had a go at Trainer Road on a free monthly so did The 1st FTP on 7th December was 243W for the 20 minutes over a 40 minute warm up FTP and cool down.

The 2nd FTP on 14th Decmber was 248W for 20 minutes. The reason for doing the 2nd so soon was I felt I didn't push hard enough the 1st time out having read to NOT go out too hard in the first 5 minutes and blow out!

The 3rd FTP on 19th January I blew out was coming down with a bad cold a few days later..

The last one was on the 11th February was 256W for 20 minutes.

I don't class myself as anything other than a casual/recreational cyclist, although I'm retired now which helps, but do like to push myself. Strava is great for this and I also have a garmin edge with heart rate cadence monitors so analyse the ride afterwards.

Generally average 16 to 17 mph on most rides depending on distance I cover.

Your FTP of 143W is what it is but you've got great room to improve if you put the work in and train rather than ride wasted miles thinking they will help you get fitter. Get a training plan sorted and try it for 8 weeks or so.

Set yourself some targets, mine are ride my first 100 miler, better my 40km time on any ride, its currently at 1hr 14mins and 6 seconds average at 20.1mph. Do a ride of 10k feet elevation. etc.
My first ever Sportive type ride is next Saturday on the Velo29 York-Leeds-York 101km ride, I fancy the 154km but my mates wont do it!!.
You will soon get better and feel it in your legs.
Good luck.
Tony.

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

Thanks for the comments, all, I feel like I'm at the beginning of a long journey (where structured training is concerned), and pretty clueless. Still, gotta start somewhere. Thanks again

Rather than worry about structure (as that can be a doubled edged sword depending on what you are trying to achieve and your individual characteristics and situation), focus on applying the basic principles that work, provided you are healthy:

Riding more.
That means increasing how much riding you do, but in a sustainable manner. It might mean only adding 10-15-min per week until you've run out of available riding time. For most people starting out, just doing that over a few months will reap quite decent gains in fitness. Keep the increase in riding volume relatively modest - trying to do too much, too soon, too hard is the #1 mistake people make when "training".

Riding more frequently.
If you do 2 rides/week now, make it 3, and so on until you can not add any more rides. Perhaps limit it to 6 days/week max and 4-5 per week is quite a good frequency to aim for for someone relatively new. Keep in mind the advice about how much extra to add per week.

Consistency.
This is probably #1 when it comes to longer term development and improvement. Every time you take time away from riding means a loss of fitness and restarting is often hard as you are constantly battling just to get back what you had before let alone improve.

Recovery.
If feeling overly tired/fatigued then rest. If you increase your riding loads at a steady sustainable rate such as suggested above, you may find you rarely need to take any specific recovery time.

Food.
Keep an eye on what you eat. Any changes in weight need to be gradual and be the result of sustainable habitual change. Avoid "diets".

Sleep.
Practice good sleep hygiene - there is much important recovery and rebuilding that goes on when we sleep, and inadequate sleep leads to fatigue, stress and susceptibility to illness.

Intensity.
This is what drives the physiological development but there's no need to be overly hung up on it in the early days. Depending on what sort of rides you do, it's quite probable that you'll be getting enough higher intensity in the mix just by riding more and the fact that being relatively unfit means rides are harder anyway. Hills will do the trick for most and you can begin to introduce more challenging routes into your routine once your basic fitness picks up. Sometimes riding with others will also do this, although it can be a bit of a mixed bag as many group rides are ill disciplined.

Goals.
Have something to aim for as this can help with motivation when you need it.

Fun.
Make sure that you are enjoying whatever it is that you do as a motivated rider will improve more and perform better than one who is getting bored or not enjoying the training/riding they are doing. There are many ways to achieve this and it'll be different for everyone. It can be riding with others, or riding certain routes, or using motivational aids when training indoors, or riding certain bikes.


If you can be consistent in your riding over a number of months, then you may be ready to consider some more structure in your training. But if you are unable to demonstrate consistency, then more structure isn't going to help you. When ready there are specialists who can help make the most of your training time.

If your real FTP is 143W, then riding at 220W for 2 minutes just beforehand would have completely wrecked your test.

Give it a couple of days and have another go, but with an easier warm-up.

As context, if you can manage 14+mph average over 45 miles then that's pretty good. I can just about do that on the flat and my FTP is 206W.

Upper Richmond Road to the top of Dark Hill is about the best sustained effort I've found around there without a downhill, u turn or traffic lights. Decent test of fitness.

Your results may or may not be accurate - they key thing is whether they are consistent.

By comparison, I usually average around 18-19mph for 2 hour lumpy rides outside, but a recent test put my FTP at 121 - which I suspect is low. But, it doesn't really matter to me, as long as the readings are consistent and I can see improvement.

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

The most relevant sections for me from your comments are riding more, and more frequently.

I've had loads of minor injuries and illnesses over the last few months, so it's been a lot of time off the bike. Work pressure makes it virtually impossible to get out at lunchtime, so that makes it more difficult.

Cool. Just heed what I said about not attempting to do too much too hard too quickly. Else niggles, injuries and illness will more than likely return to interrupt you again. Consistency and *gradual* overload is exceptionally effective for longer term gains and sustainability.

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

Presumably for short sessions, I should go for high intensity?

It depends. I wouldn't be going mad to start with but it's not really possible to give specific advice on what *you* should do without detailed personal information. Given what you mention above about injuries/illness, jumping straight into HIT might be the worst thing you could do.

You should be doing the intensity that is right for you at the time, is specific to your development needs and accounts for all the factors (like I mentioned earlier) impacting on your training. That may or may not involve high intensity efforts.

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

The most relevant sections for me from your comments are riding more, and more frequently.

I've had loads of minor injuries and illnesses over the last few months, so it's been a lot of time off the bike. Work pressure makes it virtually impossible to get out at lunchtime, so that makes it more difficult.

Cool. Just heed what I said about not attempting to do too much too hard too quickly. Else niggles, injuries and illness will more than likely return to interrupt you again. Consistency and *gradual* overload is exceptionally effective for longer term gains and sustainability.

ChrisAOnABike wrote:

Presumably for short sessions, I should go for high intensity?

It depends. I wouldn't be going mad to start with but it's not really possible to give specific advice on what *you* should do without detailed personal information. Given what you mention above about injuries/illness, jumping straight into HIT might be the worst thing you could do.

You should be doing the intensity that is right for you at the time, is specific to your development needs and accounts for all the factors (like I mentioned earlier) impacting on your training. That may or may not involve high intensity efforts.

I bow to your obvious knowledge and role in this area Alex, but as the OP hasn't access to a personal coach, isn't the 4DP test going to help them identify their weaknesses and provide a structured program to help improve the areas of weakness?

I’ve only ever done 4 FTP tests (been cycling since Sep 16).

03 Dec 16 - 187w @ 107kg
12 Jan 17 - 270w @ 105kg
17 Sep 17 - 321w @ 91kg
06 Feb 18 - 347w @ 86kg

We all gotta start somewhere... Just stick to it and don’t let figures consume you, cycling’s meant to be fun!

ugo.santalucia wrote:

I was curious so early this morning I pressed the FTP button on the Wattbike.

I didn't know what number to aim for, after all 20 minutes involves some kind of strategic approach. I decided to start at conservative at 200 Watt and then take it from there.
After 3 minutes I went a bit higher, as I was already looking at the display thinking... fuxk me, another 17 minutes of this?
At the half way point I was bored to death, considering whether to just head to the shower, dripping buckets of sweat on the machine... drying with a towel and getting soaked again within 30 seconds. I kept pedalling thinking maybe hthe second half would go quicker... it didn't
I did manage to finish a lacklustre attempt, legs were fine, I wasn't out of breath or anything, no HR monitor, but I suspect around 120-130 or so towards the end... suggesting I could/should have pushed a bit harder, but I don't think I could without passing out in the heat (it's probably only 18 degrees in the gym, but it feels like 35).
The display said FTP = 210 Watt... I suppose it's a starting point, I just need to drag it down two flights of stairs and out of the reception area, in the breeziest corner of the car park and I should be fine, right?

Buy a smart trainer/power meter and a big fan, stick in shed, sorted