ftp test

FTP test this morning. Woke up to wet roads. But in a weekly forecast of snow, today is my chance.

Warm up / strategy

Ride out on the coast. 2 pairs of gloves! Up to about 150 HR on the climb.

Three short hard efforts in Takahama to bring the HR up. It responds well. I'm ready!

A nice hour warm up by the start in Izumozaki.

I did my first FTP test in November last year. I did it "blind", looking at only "elapsed time". I ran out of road too, cutting the test short at 17:30.

This time I'll look at "lap power", "30 s power" and"elapsed time". I also have a U-turn planned to complete the 20:00 test.

My strategy is taped to my stem:

1〜5mins @360W
5〜15mins @365〜370W
15〜20mins @370W+

The test

3,2,1 GO!

A 20 minute time trial. 360W feels easy at first. The first 2 minutes are the most dangerous. Easy to overcook it here.

Looking at the data, I want to get into a rhythm. Lock on to 360 W.

It's amazing how much power fluctuates on the road. A slight change in wind. A slight change in grade. 400W? 320W? But the perceived effort is the same.

This is something to work on for sure. Steady FTP efforts (also maybe look at 10 or 20 s av. power to control the effort more?).

Also the wind? A headwind is ideal. I thought it was a headwind. Maybe it was a tailwind?

I'm in my biggest 50×11 for long drags. The gear feels heavy. The cadence (hidden) feels sluggish. But flick up to 50×12 and the power drops off dramatically.

Grind it then.

And it is a grind. A real leg burner. I watch as the lap average power drops. 360... 359... 358... 357W.

The plan was to grind it up. Not down. This is a max effort. Damage limitation.

Make the turn. 17:30 on the clock. Put it all out now. Hammering 400W. But the afterburner is only good for a minute. The last minute feels like forever... 357 drops to 356 one last dig pulls it back to 357...

Satisfied. Always satisfied. Satisfied that I put it all out on the road.

FTP test: 20mins @ 357 W av

strava file

Post test

I was hoping for better. 365 to 370W av.

But this is February. This is a baseline test. I have to be happy. I can improve on this.

Perhaps more importantly I can lose some weight. More than last year. And get an even better power to weight ratio at this (or a higher) FTP.

Coach's analysis

The above are my observations based on feel, since then I got my coach's analysis of the power and heart rate data.

• you should be very happy with the results

• you have not lost any fitness during the off season, maybe even a bit higher

• the effort was much steadier than the other FTP

• the FTP 357*0.95=339

• HR averaged the same, we don't need to change hr zones

What's next?

We'll use this data to plan the training year ahead.

End of base 2, week 4, rest week.

After the ride I enjoyed riding with friends in the sunshine. 100 km rounds off this week's 10 h target.

The weekly TSS is a record low 332 of which 183TSS comes from today's ride.

Preparing for this test has been a real eye opener. I'm looking forward to preparing myself like this for the season's target races.

A rest day tomorrow. Base period 3 starts on Monday. Back to work!

Saturday's training:

FTP test + ride (103 km)