I did. Same with me: Every workout buried me and then affected me for the next workout.
but, that was the first set of workouts… now I’m getting better and surprisingly adapting and recovering better.
good luck.
That goes to my point. You apparently under achieve on FTP tests… while this is an OVER achiever FTP support group 
.
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I think it comes down to anaerobic endurance. Mine is very weak based on 1 minute numbers I see on fast group rides. I always under achieve on the ramp test. I go from working hard but feeling good, to toasted in a matter of 60 seconds. It seems to me that riders with strong anaerobic motors can hang in the test a little longer and over shoot their true FTP. Riders like me undershoot and have to adjust things up by 10 or more watts for setting training zones. I have no trouble with over unders and longer intervals this way, but seem to struggle with workouts with shorter intervals that are on the border of VO2max and anaerobic.
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Totally agree with you. Give me an over under and/or sweetspot, I most likely nail them all, even with suffering.
give me a vo2max greater longer than 1:30mins and I am miserable 
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This is all part of the learning experience, you’ll get there. Don’t stress about it
After a season or two you’ll have enough time in the various zones to know what your body should feel like based on different %s of FTP
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Yeah, I have no problem hitting high VO2, even holding it for quite some time or several repeats. Then I approach a cliff and once I’m off it there is no coming back. I can hit the first set of VO2 intervals 100%, and even think that effort is sustainable. Then as the workouts progress I quickly realize I burnt the entire matchbook 
and I’m left in a heap of ashes.
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This exactly. But shouldn’t the software prompt after a workout like this to see what your RPE was? Too high/low then it offers an FTP change, without you having to go to your settings and manually update your FTP. That way less experienced riders are walked through tweaking their FTP throughout a plan, in the same way as someone more experienced like yourself is currently doing.
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My money is that user feedback will be incorporated with the compliance related features that have been hinted at in various areas on the forum and podcast.
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For those looking for our current resources that Chad mentions, you can find those here 
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I feel I underachieve. My FTP went up with my last test, but my HR was only 189 max - where I usually max around 205-210 but those are races. Hard to get it amped and that high during the ramp test. So, everything in SSB MV I and II have been reasonable. I haven’t failed a workout, but have been kind of close. Spencer +2 yesterday was close to my limit. Still finished and felt I could hav bumped the intensity up a bit.
Ramp test next week. We’ll see what happens.
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Just curious - are you fueling during those workouts, and how is your nutrition prior? Some of those big workouts I’ve had SUCH better results when I really focus on fueling properly prior (the night before even), then having fuel available to me during the workouts also.
Obviously there are outliers in the ramp test, and the point of your post, so I’m not saying you didn’t over test… or disagreeing at all - plenty of people seem to under/over test.
Good question, but yeah, I’m a fueling machine with quality carbohydrates. That goes for the night before, morning of, during lunch and on the bike. I even started taking gels as the workouts started. I can’t see how fuel is an issue.
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Chad’s article nailed it…
“Your workouts shouldn’t leave you feeling shattered, but they should leave you feeling properly worked.”
“Does every workout feel like a struggle?
There are workouts that are meant to be more challenging than others, but if nearly all of your workouts feel impossible to finish, that’s a good indicator your current FTP is not appropriate for training. Your structured interval workouts are meant to push your limits, but a properly designed workout done with an appropriately estimated FTP shouldn’t be impossible.
With TrainerRoad, you should never find yourself having to quit a workout. The sound, scientific principles we use to create our workouts and the fact that every workout is scaled to your personal fitness level makes each interval within reach.”
I felt shattered and over worked. I want a challenge, hell I look forward to it, but not beaten to death and demoralized in week one of the plan.
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You should absolutely not feel like that.
I did three sets of 12 mins at near FTP earlier. Very tough but achievable, after completing the first set I knew my effort and HR were stable and I could clear the lactic ok, so it was just a matter of gutting out the other two. Struggling from the outset is not normal
So for those of us that are over testing, what are you doing? Turning your workouts down 5% every workout? Gut it out?
What I would do in a situation where I feel that my FTP consistently tests too high is as follows:
- Incrementally reduce my workout intensity until I’m at a level where my workouts are tough but managable.
- Once you determine a workout intensity that works for you, use that percentage to adjust your set FTP
–If you were reducing your workouts to 95%, then multiply your set FTP by 0.95 - Now go in and change your FTP in your settings to this newly adjusted factor
- You can now use this reduction fector every time you test. If you are a “known over-tester” then multiply your FTP test result by that same factor each and every time.
The reason that this process is better than reducing every workout by 5% is because this will ensure that your TSS and IF is accurate. All of these metrics are based on your FTP, so if your FTP is set too high, then all of these metics will be skewed.
I hope this helps!
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I really have to thank you for this thread, couldn’t have come at a better time.
My name is Sean Davis, and pauses to hold back tears I set my FTP too high.
Here is my story;
Coming from a long history of regular training, I felt pretty confident about my selection of Mid Volume plans (and I still feel pretty confident about my ability to tolerate weekly TSS).
I began with a ramp test @140 ftp and not realizing the progression built into the plans, I started in SSB #2.
And thus my ‘honeymoon’ began.
Being new, the ramp test was probably a bit under reality, and I did silly things like inserting sprints in the middle of Sweet Spot intervals and brazenly eschewed “rest” days; inserting sprints and random SS/ Threshold intervals into those rides as well.
Because of the timing of an upcoming event, I decided to skip the plan scheduled rest week and moved into Short Power Build MV. Deciding I would do the first week, and then tweak the plan into a 2 week taper for my event.
The plan begins with a ramp test and I was awarded with 155 from the effort of 5 weeks of training. Not knowing the consequences such an award brings, I strode confidently into my first ever foray into V02Max intervals.
I should have known something was wrong when the first workout (Pierce) required reaching into the depths of my soul to summon the will to finish.
But my fate was truly clear when I got “Spanish Needled” (not to be confused with the ‘Spanish Inquisition’ -despite the striking similarity).
First -5% and then -10% to finish it. -Uhgh. This would set a tone for future V02Max work…
The rest of those 3 weeks were a blur of 5% reductions, soul shattering black holes referred to as “workouts”, and the mocking respite of SS work that shows up in Short Power Build (Sweet Spot I could totally complete @155).
Despite the clear signs of insanity, my event went really well, a new level of fitness was clearly evident. -Hooray!
Having acquired ‘some’ wisdom from my disappointing V02Max work, I decided I lacked strength endurance. (I was able to hit the power target pretty easily at the beginning of the workouts, it was the ability to REPEAT the intervals that seemed lacking)
After two weeks of rest I decided to maintain the 155 ftp, and restart my progression at the beginning with SSBMV1 (do things the right way?).
SSBMV1 wen’t awesome. @155 it was HARD -but do-able. Not soul crushing. I followed the workouts strictly, and made the rest days actual rest/ recovery.
Now comes SSBMV2; Ramp Test @166 (-Hooray…?) And I start digging the hole.
1st Week: Completed Ebbetts, under targer power on the sprints, felt pretty crushed. Sat/Sun SS/Threshold rides were uncharacteristically crushing (completed on target, but form suffered heavily in the last interval).
-I also get a head cold this week -potentially over-reaching.
-2nd Week: Gendarme +1 becomes Gendarme as I can just feel the need to reduce intensity. Sat SS w/Sprints (Clark) feels like the hardest workout I have done to-date in TR, I complete it 100% but mostly because I have become a lot better at ‘suffering’ since I started TR workouts.
-That Sat night I come down with a horrendous stomach flu, like human poltergeist status -probably just exposure, everyone else in the house got the same symptoms.
-3rd Week: mostly skipped due to flu. Completed Jepson 100% -it sucked.
-4th Week: -5% Agassiz -1 (V02Max) Sat/Sun SS/Threshold getting easier (more like how they ‘should’ feel)
-5th Week: -5% Bashful +2 (V02Max) Lamarck actually showed an improvement in FTP (166 to 170) as suggested by workout text (average power for 4x10 minute @100% threshold w/2 min recovery) After the FTP boost, Saturdays Leconte required -5%, but I knocked out Wright Peak -1 @100% on Sunday.
-Rest Week-
Ramp Test before the beginning of Short Power Build = 157ftp
…wait, what?
I failed at almost exactly the same POWER step as my 166ftp ramp test result, but as I started this test @170 ftp, as opposed to 155 ftp, it was actually 3 steps before my my 166ftp ramp test.
-Having not hit the 19:30 ‘break even’ point, my FTP got a down-grade.
What did I learn?
I trained up my Sweet Spot/ Threshold energy systems to be able to sustain 170 watts @‘Threshold’. That IS true, and is represented in my workout history.
I have largely NOT addressed my above-threshold energy systems -at all.
As the ramp test brings you up past V02Max and into the anaerobic zone, I have now hit the point where the unbalance of my energy systems is expressed in the ramp test.
So, what do I do now?
Well, as I am now beginning Short Power Build, I am going to assume the 157ftp Ramp test is actually going to be QUITE accurate for the V02Max work I am about to begin.
Additionally, I am going to take the first weeks workouts as an assessment. If I can easily add 3-5% intensity to every V02Max session, I will manually bring up my FTP until the workouts feel hard but do-able. If I have to remove 3-5% intensity on any V02Max session I will do the opposite.
Let pain be my guide and let the number be just that.
A number.
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I had the problem of starting the workout at 100% then kept lowering it, 5% then 10% eventually. The problem is that the first half of the workout at 100% already cooked me.
So I have now adjusted my FTP by -4% and that changes all my future workouts. I chose 4% because my last FTP increase was 8%, so I thought halving it would be about right. I guess I’ll find out on tomorrow’s over/unders. I think I’m in a bit of a hole though, because Pettit +1 wasn’t as easy as I wanted it to be. Never felt hard though, just sore legs and poor attitude.
This thread is good timing for me as well. Now that I’ve resolved my issue that kept me from training properly, I’ll be ramping back up in the next few days before starting back on SSB 1. I was kind of worried about whether I should keep my current FTP and adjust my FTP on how I would feel in the first week or two. Based on the comments here, I think I’ll just start with a retest, even though I still hate the FTP test and didn’t want to do it.
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Make a note of the IF and type (SS, threshold, VO2max) of each workout you do. Observe your own performance during the workouts. You’ll start to see patterns emerge - like the one below.