I can spin at 100RPM at 75% of FTP with super low RPE, I can do my 2 min V02 intervals at 130% of FTP fine. I can do 40 min 90% SS intervals fairly ok but my FTP seems stuck at 260 (I’m 75kg and 45) My max is 1350 and my 1 minute peak is 550W so I’m a pretty anaerobic type of rider. I’ve been mainly working on SS training (SSB1 and 2 mid volume). Everything else is improving, length of intervals, RPE and performance on road but yes my FTP is stuck. Any ideas for improving it?
How long has it been stuck for? SSB doesn’t always lead to much of an increase in FTP, particularly if you’ve been training for a while. It’s more about building a base to enable FTP boosts during Build. So if everything else is improving there’s likely nothing to worry about.
Also the test is just part of the picture. You might have just had a bad day on the last test and/or a good day the test before. How you feel during the workouts is just as if not more important, so if you’re nailing all the hard workouts I would be inclined to just manually bump up your FTP to, say, 265W and see how you get on. If you can still complete the workouts OK then that’s likely a better estimate of your FTP than the test gave you, and you’re getting a bit of extra training stimulus that should help you nail the next test. I test pretty rarely these days, partly because I know what the workouts should feel like so can adjust manually, partly because I do enough race efforts like TTs and mountain climbs to have a very good idea of where my FTP is at, and partly because I’ve been training long enough and consistently enough that I don’t see big changes in FTP any more (unfortunately!).
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Cool, sounds like good advice. It’s been stuck for about a month which I don’t mind but as everything else has gone up I was expecting my FTP to also have gone up. I have been riding for a while but new to fully structured indoor training (like 10 months or so) though that has been a bit on off because of work and life. Maybe I need to go to one of the build plans next. Wonder which one I should do, I never know whether to mitigate my weakness (TT type sustained) or exploit my strength, anaerobic, 30 second to a minute type efforts.
Can’t go too far wrong with General Build, covers a bit of everything! If you’ve been doing SSB for 10 months then not surprised if your FTP has flattened out, definitely time for a different training stimulus.
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So how many times have you tested to decide ‘it’s stuck’?
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But I don’t like change! Yes, you’re right, I may even bale out of SSB2 and go straight there.
I tested yesterday and previously 4 weeks before. I was expecting a bit of an increase at least though as everything else has got so much easier.
How do you test?
The dreaded ramp test…
Holy smokes… You can hold 550 w for one minute, but you struggle to hold 350 w for one minute at the end of the ramp test… are we talking about the same conditions, same measurement, etc.?
You might want to try a 2x8’ test, or just give up testing altogether and set your ftp based on the zones that you know are correct because you can train the appropriate intervals in them? Maybe the ramp test is just not your thing.
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I do have a strange power profile. 350 for a minute is mega easy for me but at the end of the ramp it kills me. 550 was outside and I do the ramp inside but still… I’m way better at the shorter efforts generally. I guess I’ll tinker with my FTP and see how I get on with my program.
I think you’re overheating. Your numbers and experience look pretty familiar to me. Have you got a way to test your FTP outdoors instead?
Example using stuff leaning on some VO2 efforts: I did one 6 minute interval of Avalanche Spire (275w-305w over/under), my legs felt heavy, sweat was everywhere, despair setting in … I go outdoors and manage 8 minute repeats on an uphill at 320w with 4 minute recovery. I can feel myself boiling indoors in comparison, and my body feels like it’s fighting me.
I just don’t think I can face that!
Interesting, I didn’t think of that, I do usually do ok in the heat. I’ll give that a go. Of course there is a chance that all my ability is in the 1 min and under power range.
I don’t have a great way to know for sure, but compare some intervals indoors and outdoors - you probably have some data sitting around from recent rides. Try to remember RPE if you can, and heart rate might also be a useful indicator because your cardiovascular system is also used to help cool you down.
If you’re performing as well indoors as you are outdoors, and FTP from the test remains roughly the same… I’d probably just go crush myself on VO2 intervals. Coach Chad and Hunter Allen have some ideas about how to do that. But as someone else already said, SSB just sets the foundation for Build FTP increases, and build leans on threshold and VO2 work.
I reckon the old crushing V02’s might be the order of the day… thanks for the advice.