I’ve been doing the High Intensity base training plan with the occasional Zwift race for two months. Before that I was the epitome of a middle aged couch potato.
Thanks Trainer Road! We are just getting started.
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Fantastic gains, well done.
I love the consecutive numbers bit of 45.6%, I’d be over the moon with an increase of 4.56%
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Congratulations @chrisnobla !!!
Those are some impressive gains 
Keep up the good work!
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Congrats!… if it’s right haha
I can’t possibly be the only one questioning a 45% improvement in 2 months? There’s always rookie gains, but that seems a bit… excessive?
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I’d say that it is pretty tpical for someone of average talent who is initially completed untrained but then works at things a bit.
For comparison, the participants in our lab-based training studies using a modified Hickson protocol increased their sustainable power by ~60% in 3 months (with most of that of course coming earlier vs. later).
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i think when you go from couch straight into your first ftp test, the riders interpretation of what ‘going deep’ is, may be different to what it is after training hard for a couple of months. maybe they didn’t truly go all in on the first ftp test, but maybe they did. i had pretty crazy gains in my first few months too. has this person always been on the couch? do they have a history in sports prior to being on the couch?
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I had a pretty similar experience. Started at 180 or so…got to 240 over a winter of training. 240-275 over the next year or two of training, then stuck at 280-290 for 3 years with no change.
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Yup that’s what I’m implying. Going deep first day vs going deep when you know how to pace yourself.
Either way, don’t mean to take anything away from ya! Kudos and keep it up!
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This isn’t being excellent to each other. Success is worth celebrating.
When reading through this thread, the tone drastically changes after your comment, and that’s a bummer 
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We want to be encouraging to each other and celebrate these big achievements when we can.
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Hi @chrisnobla, awesome job with all the work you put in to see this success! Keep it up!
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Seriously?!? Somebody else questioned the magnitude of the improvement, and I made a factual statement in plain language based on my experience training dozens of individuals in research studies. Why do you have a problem with that?
As for how others have responded, obviously that’s on them.
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Hi @The_Cog …intentional or not, The comment was passive aggressive and took away the focus of this thread…which was to celebrate the success @chrisnobla achieved. Let’s keep this thread focused on that. Remember comparison is the thief of happiness.
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@Andy5051 said it well.
I don’t have a problem with you citing your experience. I’m sure I speak for many when I say I appreciate your vast experience 
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We’re making a concerted effort to make this forum a better place. Part of that is to make it more inclusive and more encouraging, and whether it was intentional or not, your message didn’t provide encouragement.
To your point, @Chawski’s original message calling the gains into question was far from encouraging as well, but to their credit, they self-corrected later on.
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There was nothing passive aggressive about my comment in the least.
Again, it was a simple, factual statement, indicating that, contrary to the questioning of the individual to whom I responded, the magnitude of the improvement reported was quite believable, at least given their starting point. It is unfortunate that you and Jonathan misinterpreted what I said.
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Hi @The_Cog, the bolded is what made me think the comment was passive aggressive. When asking other to celebrate with you, Would you want them describe your success as, “pretty tyical” or “avergae talent”.
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Thanks for clarifying your intentions.
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Sorry for starting this, didn’t mean for the negative turn!
I didn’t read the comment from @The_Cog as insulting at all. The original post literally says “started on the couch”.
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But the improvement is “pretty typical” for someone of “average talent”. IOW, it’s not atypical, nor does it necessarily reflect having above-average talent. Would you prefer that I had lied and said otherwise?
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No worries and no need to apologize. Your hard work paid off! Great Job with that!
As far as I am concerned, you didn’t start anything, you just expressed surprise at what to you seemed an extremely large improvement.