Hi all,
Anyone up for trying the Hour Record workout this year?
I’m kinda interested to know how much I can hold for an hour as I’m prepping for maximising my 40km abilities, and found this old thread where some nutcases tried to hold FTP for an hour 
There is some hilarity from around post 110 onwards as the results roll in 
Doesn’t have to be the Hour Record workout, but referenced it just for ease. Apparently TR might turn off Erg mode, so you’ll need to turn it back on.
Anyone up for it?
I’m in. Next week is the last week of my base phase 2 and is supposed to be easy. I added the workout to my calendar for next Wednesday. Hopefully that isn’t a bad idea. I’m interesting in seeing how it compares to the ramp test I will take the Monday after.
Anyone have a Spotify playlist recommendation to go with it? I’m not sure my normal music will get me through this…
I would recommend watching a UCI Cyclocross race, they’re exactly 1 hour and very motivating.
I would look at your FTP knock that back to .95IF and if your feeling good in the last 15mins then goto 1.0if your FTP but depends on how you tackle it.
What I have done is use best bike split to work out my power across the 40k TT course to get me under an hour. And I finish at 1.0if
Unless the TT is dead flat and no wind you can’t sit at your FTP. There’s terrain, and wind to consider.
The Hour Record workout looks to do that, start below and gradually raise.
The idea is mostly curiosity/fun, but also to see our theoretical limits realised.
Ok so I did the Hour Record workout last week. I was training at an FTP setting of 222 and averaged 228 for 55 minutes after taking the first 5 minutes to settle in. This was at the end of SSBV2 by the way. It was pretty hard to stay mentally focused that long. I watched the TR full race videos on youtube and put on music to get through it. I plan to take a ramp test this week and will update with how that goes as a comparison to the hour test.
I’ve do e a 60 min ‘FTP test’ when I was trying to calibrate my Ramp Test results. You have to be fully mentally committed to doing this but, just like the real hour, I think that around the 45 min mark you start to think ‘I’ve got this’ and the rest is ‘easy’.
Well that is impressive 
How did you feel afterwards?
Very satisfied 
. I feel it’s more representative of my abilities than the result the Ramp Test gives me. I can only surmise I have a stronger VO2 component to my fitness which means I tolerate the final stages of the Ramp Test quite well, clearly it becomes tough but still. I did the 60 min test and the Ramp Test a few days apart so I feel it was a fair comparison.
Is this done in ERG mode?
I’ve done SST for an hour but never a full blown hour record attempt. But it has intrigued me to see what I can do for an hour.
In last years thread Infot the impression that the Hour Power workout disables Erg mode - but I don’t know as I haven’t tried it…
At the time I didn’t have a smart trainer so mine wasn’t no.
As an aside, albeit a relevant one, this thread could be seen to perpetuate the myth that FTP = 60 min power. I realise it is not and anyone who has listened to a variety of coaches on podcasts and follows the work of @liversedge with Golden Cheetah and CP will understand this.
Personally I feel there is enough doubt now regarding the validity and even what FTP actually is for @chad to devote an entire podcast around.
The title of the this thread kind of highlights how the 2 things are conflated.
For sure, @Chris21 is IN
Also want to mention that during the last incarnation of this challenge I created a team. Mostly for purposes of acting as a repository to share various hour of power workouts & an easy way to keep track of who had what FTP and did what hour workout.
https://www.trainerroad.com/teams/10133-hour-of-power-ftp-challenge
I don’t think FTP for TR needs to be any more complicated than “a number used to set training intensity”. The ramp test is a simple and repeatable method that gives you a decent estimate for this number that is workable for most people most of the time.
If you’re training for a very specific effort like a TT then you obviously want to get a much more precise idea of what you’re capable of doing for the duration of your target event. Hopefully there aren’t any serious TTers out there basing target watts for a 40k purely on a ramp test! (Unless they’re racing me, in which case hopefully that’s exactly their plan…).
I disagree and one of the reasons I decided on opening this thread is actually to challenge that myth.
Of course OhNoLucero then went and held over FTP for an hour! 
The guys last year failed at 20-45mins iirc.
Yeah I see your point, so you’re agreeing with me then
As @cartman has said, and as @chad has clarified this many times on the podcast.
Also interesting is Scientific Triathlons podcasts on the matter.
And He Who Shall Not Be Named, has a very strong opinion on the subject given as he defined it, originally.
I think the current knowledge/state of the art is that there is a threshold-like plateau in output, below which effort can be maintained significantly longer and above which effort is increasingly harder to maintain. That threshold-like plateau varies in length (time) for each of us but is usually somewhere around 45-60 mins, and the rate of increasing/decreasing time also varies.
But many people like to argue about this stuff far more than I do, so I just say…do The Hour! 
See what happens! 
