I did a training block composed of 5 weeks with intervals and 1 week with active rest, and on the beginning of the 7th week TR’s AI lowered my FTP by 1 Watt. Has anyone experienced this? The 5 weeks were composed of mostly outdoor rides of about 1 hours of zone 2 and 45 minutes of Sweet Spot, Threshold, and VO2Max on couple weekdays. On weekends, the Zone 2 rides were longer, but the 45 minutes of intensity intervals were about the same. I got an interval factor of .90 for some of the rides.
I would do a ramp test to see how accurate AI was. For the first few times, I was just curious so I checked what AI detection thought I was at and then would do the ramp test to double-check. I found that I always ended up higher on the ramp test, but it was in the neighborhood.
Were you using TR outdoor workouts for your rides or following your own structure? Was there any progression? I.e. Were you increasing the watts and/or interval length for your SS, Threshold and VO2 work? Or other signs that fitness was improving such as holding the same watts but at lower RPE and HR?
It is entirely possible to do a 6 week block of training without improving FTP for a whole bunch of different reasons.
1 watt is nothing. My last AI FTP was back at the start of April, I rounded it down by 1w to a nought number (a lot of folk say it better to use FTP’s which are XX0 or XX5 numbers, its certainly easier on the brain). When I reran AI FTP last night it was saying 1w below the naught number this time so I kept it at it. If I were to test tomorrow it probably be 1w above again; next time 1w below again, etc etc Its more important that your TTE and speed are improving than a 1w fluctuation.
Hey @Totoro !
By looking at your account, it looks like there isn’t a training plan you are following, nor the outside riding you’ve been doing in the last month or so has been structured training.
With unstructured riding you may not be activating the correct energy system to increase your FTP, as you did back in December-February when you did follow structured training. So this may well be the reason for the 1 watt decrease.
Also, five weeks of “intervals” might be a bit much without a rest week, as it can be counterproductive to your fitness. We typically recommend 3-4 weeks of work before a rest week.
I see you have a few races coming up! So if you’re looking at training to be ready for them or just simply wanting to increase your FTP, then I would consider creating a training plan through Plan Builder and you can complete the structured workouts outside.
Would like to see the mid volume Olympic plan updated…
Most of the rides were my own structure. A few were outdoor TR workouts, but those were for the Active Rest week. In terms of increasing the Watts or lower HR, I admit that that has been difficult to ascertain, since the outdoor rides are spiky for the graphs of both. I did feel that my fitness was improving with lower RPE.
Thank you for the advice
AIFTP gave you a 1 watt decrease? Computers are brutal. Someone needs to tweak the empathy algorithm in the AIFTP logic. A human wouldn’t have said anything…