FTP results/possible gains + Stages Power Meters $99 closeout sale!

[toprock]

Still £650 in the UK got for $350 /£267!!

https://store.stagescycling.com/Stages-Power-Meter-XTR-M9000-or-M9020





Or some super bargain $99 remanufactured ones

https://store.stagescycling.com/closeout-cosmetic-blems


Catch - you need someone in the US to ship to.


Got setup and went for test ride on Saturday, 20 minute coggan FTP test x 0.95 = 246 FTP. (MTB gravel track)

Weigh in at 170 lbs / 77kg = 3.19 Watts per Kilo (sounds low!)


Got a top 10 PR up one of my local climbs, just over 3 minutes long at 4.28 WpK. 330 average power.

1. For a 38 year old how much scope for improvement would you say i've got in FTP, WpK, i've absolutely no idea how the above figures relate to a recreational cyclist.

2. What sort of intervals would you suggest to improve my 5-10 minute hill climbing (most hills round here are of this duration)


PS. The whole ride was 35 miles yesterday, with some more relaxed riding, in between the FTP test and trying out some segments, heres the full power stats

Finally peak performances over smaller timescales

 

[Thomas. PLease.]

In answer to your question its almost impossible to say. Weight wise, how much can you lose until you're down into single digit body fat %. Watts wise, depends on your genetic makeup. 246w isn't too bad for a recreational cyclist I guess, as long as you aren't already doing a huge amount of training. In theory you should be able to add anything from 20-50w to that in the space of a year with some decent training. I think I remember doing a 20min test about 5 years ago at 280w or so. I'm now up to 370w for 20mins riding about 12 hours a week on average.

Your second question, specificity. If you want to train 5-10min power, go and do some max power intervals across those durations. Throw in some longer sweet spot type stuff, as well as some spiked longer intervals (15s sprint, 3.45 mins high tempo x4 with no rest) and you should be seeing a decent improvement.

 

[SDK^]

I'm 39 and have a 20 mins FTP of 300w. I Weigh 78kg and am 187cm tall.
My best 3 min avg power is 400w [4mins is 397w]

I've averaged 6(ish) hours riding per week for 3 years

 

[UTmaniac]

I'm 44, weigh ~77Kg (bit hard to tell with water loss in heatwave) and 178cm tall. I started riding for fitness Jan 2017, had a power meter since January on turbo and April on bike.

My best outdoor 20mins is 290W (including some junctions like one crossroads) from yesterday, indoor it's 292W from late january on Zwift up the big Watopia cat2 hill.

So using the 95% theory, my 20min FTP is ~275W. It was ~238W in early January.

My best outdoor real world "hour of power" is ~252W, again from yesterday. However, that includes ~3min50secs of disjointed cycling due to two road junctions and a set of red lights!

Best 5min I think is from Saturday, 344W.

Best 1min I know of is 521W from June 25th.

Best 5secs I know of is 811W from June 8th.


There's far more talented riders that frequent these forums than me, but considering I only started this ~19 months ago from practically a zero fitness level and I was ~95Kg in June 2016, I'm happy to keep trying to push my power envelope while I still can.

Most, but not all my power training is on cat3/4 hills. Usually, if I'm on a power training (rather than a recovery, or "I can't be bothered to power train in this insane heat") ride, I try to give the cat hills everything for their ~6-14min duration and then recover after the summit. However, just recently, I've been trying to actively pedal immediately after the cat hill summits unless I'm absolutely wrecked.

 

[toprock]

Cheers some very encouraging results then and sounds like some good scope for fitness gains!

Current riding is generally riding in group one evening 20-25 miles, and generally pootling about, trying out a few segments, and longer ride on Saturday 30-35 miles, again just trying various hill climbs to better my own PRs on segments. No real proper structured intervals or efforts at a perceived power for X amount of time.

After trying the 20 minute FTP on Saturday, I've only just got over sore legs today, felt like i'd done squats at the gym Not really had this type of leg soreness for a long time!

Looking forward to trying out some intervals now with the Garmin timer and 3 second power on screen, i'm sure it will be much more intensive than my usual riding.

Are hills generally better for intervals then, than on the flat/slight incline?

 

[merlin]

I'm 46, 5ft 7.5 and weigh 70 kilos. I would say I've improved my ftp from around 220 ish to 245/250 ish over the last 12 - 15 months though track based training / road based training rides on a ratio of around 65/35 respectively, covering maybe an average of 50 miles a week.

At 38 you should know that your age won't hold you back from improving your fitness, not by a long chalk. At 46 I'm fully expecting my fitness to continue to improve.

 

[UTmaniac]

Cheers some very encouraging results then and sounds like some good scope for fitness gains!

Current riding is generally riding in group one evening 20-25 miles, and generally pootling about, trying out a few segments, and longer ride on Saturday 30-35 miles, again just trying various hill climbs to better my own PRs on segments. No real proper structured intervals or efforts at a perceived power for X amount of time.

After trying the 20 minute FTP on Saturday, I've only just got over sore legs today, felt like i'd done squats at the gym Not really had this type of leg soreness for a long time!

Looking forward to trying out some intervals now with the Garmin timer and 3 second power on screen, i'm sure it will be much more intensive than my usual riding.

Are hills generally better for intervals then, than on the flat/slight incline?

Welcome to Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), the worst can be 1-2 days after a hard ride for me!

Power training on inclines/hills is easier for me to get mentally prepared for, but as I've found recently, you can power train on the flat/downhill to an extent. However, on longer/steep descents it gets harder to ride a hard gear at a cadence that produces significant power. Taking yesterday's ride as an example, https://www.strava.com/activities/1722691543/analysis/2158/3697 , if you break that 8.52 mile loop up and look at the smaller segments, I'm struggling to get anywhere near the ~300W I managed on the uphills compared to the downhills/flat.

 

[FishFluff]

What average power duration do you guys look at while riding?

 

[SoliD]

What average power duration do you guys look at while riding?

10s 90% of the time 3s if doing targeted shorter intervals.

 

[FishFluff]

Cheers, will give it a try tonight. Going to do 3x10m threshold intervals. Not looking forward to it!

Is it worth doing an outdoor FTP test as my current numbers are based on a Wattbike session.

 

[Roady]

10s avg here too but have got immediate power, 1 minute & 3s power on a separate screen I use on group rides when pushing on/attacking/chasing wheels.

As for tests... Depends where you're going to be doing your training. Personally my training is all on the turbo, so I would only regularly re-test on there. Lots of people will have 'inside' and 'outside' FTP's - different conditions, techniques and usually measurement.

1. For a 38 year old how much scope for improvement would you say i've got in FTP, WpK, i've absolutely no idea how the above figures relate to a recreational cyclist.

2. What sort of intervals would you suggest to improve my 5-10 minute hill climbing (most hills round here are of this duration)

Almost impossible to judge what improvements you can make. I'm also 38 and my FTP is currently bouncing around 230-260W as my riding is so sporadic and low this year. Once the cooler weather gets here I'll be riding more regularly with Zwift as that's the only way I think I can get things back on track. Would like to get my FTP back to what it was in the spring (273W), although would like to think I could also improve it at least back to where it was last august (290W) and maybe even reach 300W with enough time to do some training (rather than just racing).

 

[FishFluff]

Did a test outside tonight on some long, flattish roads. 260W (3.25w/kg), which is more like what I was expecting. On the Wattbike I only managed 230W but that's probably because it's like a sauna in the gym I go to.

 

[toprock]

Thanks for all the advice guys, sorry not had time to post back.

I've got a training peaks account now, and heres last weeks stats with the new power meter, and the graph thus far


Is 599 TSS for last week too high given the huge fatigue spike, I was super tired on Sunday post ride, but feel good today? Is there a good TSS per week to aim for when wanting to increase FTP?





Tonight i'm sat at 47 fitness, 58 fatigue, and -16 form.

 

[toprock]

10s avg here too but have got immediate power, 1 minute & 3s power on a separate screen I use on group rides when pushing on/attacking/chasing wheels.

As for tests... Depends where you're going to be doing your training. Personally my training is all on the turbo, so I would only regularly re-test on there. Lots of people will have 'inside' and 'outside' FTP's - different conditions, techniques and usually measurement.

Almost impossible to judge what improvements you can make. I'm also 38 and my FTP is currently bouncing around 230-260W as my riding is so sporadic and low this year. Once the cooler weather gets here I'll be riding more regularly with Zwift as that's the only way I think I can get things back on track. Would like to get my FTP back to what it was in the spring (273W), although would like to think I could also improve it at least back to where it was last august (290W) and maybe even reach 300W with enough time to do some training (rather than just racing).

How hard was it to maintain 290w once reached? What sort of intervals and weekly frequency /mileage were you putting in?

 

[toprock]

10s 90% of the time 3s if doing targeted shorter intervals.

I've got my lap screen setup with 3s power, cadence, average lap power, and lap timer. 3s seems ok to hold at a wattage, but find myself trying to hold the lap average power instead, if it drops i'll push a bit harder to bring it up, seems to work when I was trying some 10 minute efforts.

Welcome to Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), the worst can be 1-2 days after a hard ride for me!

Power training on inclines/hills is easier for me to get mentally prepared for, but as I've found recently, you can power train on the flat/downhill to an extent. However, on longer/steep descents it gets harder to ride a hard gear at a cadence that produces significant power. Taking yesterday's ride as an example, https://www.strava.com/activities/1722691543/analysis/2158/3697 , if you break that 8.52 mile loop up and look at the smaller segments, I'm struggling to get anywhere near the ~300W I managed on the uphills compared to the downhills/flat.

Thanks, i've got an old railway line nearby that goes on for miles, now a bridlepath, its got a slight incline all the way so its my new FTP testing ground I seem to prefer intervals on this slight incline, than actual hills proper where I tend to blow up too soon then power falls off cliff lol

 

[toprock]

I'm 46, 5ft 7.5 and weigh 70 kilos. I would say I've improved my ftp from around 220 ish to 245/250 ish over the last 12 - 15 months though track based training / road based training rides on a ratio of around 65/35 respectively, covering maybe an average of 50 miles a week.

At 38 you should know that your age won't hold you back from improving your fitness, not by a long chalk. At 46 I'm fully expecting my fitness to continue to improve.

Great gains in a short amount of time, 50 miles a week is doable for me

 

[Shadowness]

Is 599 TSS for last week too high given the huge fatigue spike, I was super tired on Sunday post ride, but feel good today? Is there a good TSS per week to aim for when wanting to increase FTP?

That must completely depend on each person.....wouldn't it? I've been using TP for ages and I'm still getting used to it. I'd love to have a progressive upward graph like you, but mine is so up and down because of the frequent trips abroad I make for work.



Last week I went a bit nuts, hence the huge fatigue spike. The huge dip in a month of so is a two week holiday, so I doubt I'll be able to do much there either.

Also, my TSS for last week was 926! Hence why I'm trying to recover this week.

 

[merlin]

Great gains in a short amount of time, 50 miles a week is doable for me

Thanks. Good stuff

It's more than just FTP though - I feel absolutely amazing in terms of health and fitness, and I'm also just a lot more relaxed in my mind too. If I look at my average speed when I started out - I got a road bike I think Sept 16 ish, then March 17 I did a first sportive - 72 miles at 14.7 mph average. In a few weeks I have a 70 mile sportive coming up that I'm hoping to do at around 17.5mph average. Really that's a fair leap - and way more than the FTP jump would indicate.

FTP is just one test - you could get a 10% gain in that specific test but actually, overall, be 15% or 20% stronger/faster/better, imo anyway. I should probably do another FTP test but tbh I'm too busy just enjoying every minute of this frankly utterly glorious summer of cycling.

 

[toprock]

That must completely depend on each person.....wouldn't it? I've been using TP for ages and I'm still getting used to it. I'd love to have a progressive upward graph like you, but mine is so up and down because of the frequent trips abroad I make for work.



Last week I went a bit nuts, hence the huge fatigue spike. The huge dip in a month of so is a two week holiday, so I doubt I'll be able to do much there either.

Also, my TSS for last week was 926! Hence why I'm trying to recover this week.

Cheers SN, how do you get the predicted graphs going forward, are they based on future workouts added to the calender?

Are they any free training plans on TP? I've signed up for TP itself, but all the plans are $20-$40, i'm thinking of adding my own routine based on sweetspot intervals.


926 TSS oooof!

 

[Shadowness]

Yeh you can add events on the calendar in the future. The event needs a TSS score to plan the graph I think though, so you would have to guestimate it based on previous activities if you weren't sure.
I find it really useful to prepare for events or big rides, as I can plan what activities I can do in order for my form score to reach a suitable score (anywhere from -5 to +10 for me I've found).