Targeting 200 watts for 1 hour

Only in theory can I exceed 200w for an hour but I’ve never actually done it this year. Good target go for it :+1:

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That’s a really interesting statement for obvious reasons!

Yes, if you really subscribe to the idea of FTP as “hour power”. But it seems to be more often described now as the “lactate threshold” between aerobic and anaerobic work (if I understood correctly of course), and thus FTP is a power level which reasonably fit athletes can sustain for 40-70 minutes.

I’m obviously not yet “reasonably fit”. :grin: I recently hit 1000W for 7 seconds, but my best-ever 20-minute power is just 179W (two days ago, in fact!). As I said above, I’ve developed some strength/power but my endurance is terrible… and to do a 200W hour as the OP wants to do, or to hold 150W for 2-3 hours which I’d like to do, one needs to train both.

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To hit this goal, I’d personally treat it like training for a TT target event.

Build your fitness with SSbase>>Sustained build>>40k TT as others have mentioned.

That should give you a really good idea of your physical ability, but I find the mental/execution training just as critical. When I’m preparing for a long TT, I establish my target wattage and duration and I do at least a couple test runs prior to the event. I won’t do a test run at the full duration, but always at the target power. So, if I was planning for a 1 hour TT, I would do a couple practice runs at 45-50 minutes duration. These test runs are critical in my mental prep. If I can do my target wattage for 45+ minutes in a practice session, I know I can do the full hour on race day when primed and ready.

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I’m absolutely not having a go at your fitness, we all start somewhere and as someone coming back from an enforced hiatus I have a lot of work to do!

But it does show that regardless of the number, overreaching on an FTP test (as you appear to have) can completely throw your training zones off.

You mentioned that you are training in zone 2 power for endurance, but if you are training at your ‘set’ FTP rather than your ‘achievable’ FTP how do you know you are actually training in the correct zone?

Don’t want to take away from the OPs question or criticise you, but thought your post raise an interesting point for discussion, especially as the OP is specifically looking to train endurance at or close to FTP.

Link to an interesting discussion on this

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The best thing for you would be a lot of really long, relatively easy rides.

I held the 4x10 minute intervals…My heart had a definite upward trend! And holding steady state started to really bug my hips and calf so it wasn’t what I’d call a painless experience! Getting old sucks! But hey, I got through it!

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I have 4x10 @ 95% on the calendar for next Tuesday… :grimacing:

Crush it!

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Hmm, do all your sweet spot workouts show rising HR? What’s your max HR? Are you only following TR plans?

My max heart rate is 193. I do 2 TR a week and 1 weekend outdoor (my own thing) most the time. It was really hot (for a Canadian) in my room. ~85-90c.

FWIW you might be able to lower and flatten those HR lines with some additional time doing aerobic endurance work.

Yep I am on it…This is a fun chill day on July 19th…

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I looked back and my sweetspots don’t seem to be trending up in the past. Again really hot in the room. Likely the cause.

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I think my problem is historically I do too much long, relatively easy rides and never really push it. TR is definitely harder than I’ve trained over the past several years. I’m likely the results!

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Awesome, keep it up! To be honest, the fastest route is probably through some painful VO2 max work. But honestly, given what you’ve said, all ya really gotta do is keep pedaling consistently and you’ll get there. If I were you, I’d focus on consistent riding for the next year — pretty much any sequence of TR plans will do. If that doesn’t get you to at least 220 watts FTP, I’d be surprised. Enjoy the journey!

On the power meter (my road bike) I’m probably already around 215-220. My goal though is to demonstrate 200 watts outdoors on that bike for 1 hour.

Not at all, and I didn’t take it that way! I was taking it humorously because my fitness, or lack thereof, IS an issue: my endurance is terrible. And of course you’re right in that I can hold my supposed “hour power” for nowhere near an hour, so yes it’s an interesting issue.

Based on the advice of @bbarrera and others in another thread, I started doing my Zone 2 training using HR rather than power, to account for my body’s condition as well as the Miami heat/humidity.

@IamDeablo appears to be several steps ahead of me on a similar path: I’m shooting for 150W over 3 hours.

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I’m still a fan of zone 2 based on power, not HR, but there are times I use a HR cap to keep it easy.

Yes, agreed. My use of HR rather than power does follow your “prefer power but use an HR cap” idea due to my lack of fitness and a demanding heat index environment, but my summary may have given a different impression. Sorry about the miscommunication.