Was just gonna post that thread^.
But hereâs my last 20min test. Itâs basically a slow ramp. First 5 min feels pretty manageable, Second 5 starts to hurt but you just barely think you can do it, Third 5 starts to really hurt and you arenât sure youâll make it, then the fourth 5 you just bury your head and play whatever mental tricks you need to to finish. Unfortunately I had a 20ish second dropout with like 1.5 min to go which nearly broke me but avg power with the dropout was like 316W and if I tried to fill in the gap it was like 319-321W for the 20min.
The short version is that you need to should have a target in mind but donât be afraid to start a couple percent easier and start to ramp up after 5-10min but keeping check on your RPE the whole time. The correct pacing will probably feel like you have a 50/50 shot of making it to the end.
One of the really cool things about critical power regime is that work vs. TTE is strongly linear. So a great way to estimate 20 min power would be to take shorter max type power efforts and convert them to work at that time. Then you can do a linear extrapolation out to 20 min (and beyond) that I bet is really darn close up to 60 min (if you have a lot of motivation).
So say, go find a KOM that is in the 2-3 min range and just rail it. Doesnât have to be exactly 2 min or 3 min. Just in that area. Then find a segment or even if you can do a 8-12 min effort that is as hard as you can go. Doesnât have to be any exact time - at the end of the day, you convert to work what your effort was by multiplying the power x interval time. You get two points: (Work Number 1, Interval Duration 1), (Work Number 2, Interval Duration 2). Fit a line to these. You can then use that line to scale your effort to any duration within that 2-60 min range.
Alternatively, if you have some hard efforts on your MMP curve that are near what you can do at current fitness, you could use 2 or 3 of those to find the line and get a good guess. From there I would start conservative with a plan to ramp up over the number by the end and see how it goes - but I mentally just prefer to negative split.
Everyone has a different mind game.
First 5 should feel like âthis is good but not my allâ
10min should hurt
15-20min Iâm begging and trying to not have the avg go down.
The whole thing ends up darn steady.
Whatâs CP20? There is only one CP at any given time.
Your pacing should be below the 5 minute blow out VO2 Max test you just finishing. It should feel harder than riding at threshold. Typical advice is shoot for a negative split. My span is only 5 minute so I pushed by 5 watts every block starting at or just at threshold.
When I last done my ex coaches 20min test the targets were 100% for the first 10mins, 110% for the next 5mins, 115% for the next 3mins, 120% for the next min and all out for the last min. It seemed to get me some OK results.
It seems like you all prefer to ramp up if possible. usually I:
- first 5/7 minutes, try to stay higher as possible, close to a realistic final value
- 7 minutes on, power drops a bit
- final 5, I see the end of pain and it pushes me back to the values seen in the first five minutes if I am feeling good, otherwise the power drops no matter what.
Itâs not a successful strategy simply because, in most cases, aiming for the best at the beginning puts me in oxygen debt.
As covered in the following post, I merged your topic with the parallel one that already existed.
Negative splits (faster in the back half) are usually recommended for any type of steady state TT effort. It is much easier to dig yourself a hole you canât get out of then to bump it up at the end (just like you noted). Definitely try ramping into the effort and you will most likely get a much better result in the end.
Assuming that I know I have improved since my last 20 minute test (based on workouts leading up to the test), I take my average from the last test and shoot for that number for my first 5 minutes. I then try to push the power in each of the next 5 minute blocks.
Definitely start easier, as opposed to starting out too hard. Your performance will degrade very quickly if you go out too hard and blow up.
if I had been training, for me, the 5 minute âclearing effortâ or more specifically the targeted number provided by TR was usually spot on to what I could maintain for the 20 minute effort. I think that target is something like 5-7% over your current FTP. So I usually used that number as what to target for the 20 minute test. Usually by minute 5 you have a pretty good idea if you can or cannot hold this and would adjust if needed but only slightly.
personally iâve always found the 20min FTP test to give me good results and a number that provided a good foundation for the training in the next block. Iâve been trying the ramp test this year but feel like I am underperforming with it
To figure out pacing for an upcoming 20 minute test, FasCat uses a pre-test 2x10-min threshold with 5-min rest between. Target is what you perceive your 20-min pace to be. Then use that information to pace your 20-min effort.
Example:
- 2x10 completed at 265 and 262W
- Field test 1st 5-min at 255-260W
- Field test 2nd 5-min at 260-265W
- Field test 2nd 5-min at 265-270W
- Field test 3rd 5-min at all-out
The best way to pace your 20 minute test is to do a ramp test and find out what your real FTP is and then ride 5% above that power for 20 minutes. 