I was sick, and then started training. I did my ramp test (after being sick for a week) and tested @ 242 W. I didn’t feel it was right, and set my FTP to my NP from a steady state ~30 min effort from a sprint triathlon (247 W) I did right before the ramp test (Ramp test tuesday, tri sunday). I’m on week 2 of SSB and it still seems easy. My LTHR is ~197 BPM, with a max of 217 BPM (ramp test max around 210 BPM). I barely touched 191 BPM in the middle of Reinstein (avg around 185), and only touched 181 BPM briefly at the end of Ericcson -4 (time crunched) after bumping up again to 250 W. How much should I keep raising? Should I redo the ramp test? Do my numbers seem right? I don’t want to overdo it but none of the sweetspot work has really required any concentration (except when I did Glassy entirely fasted).
I should mention that I did an FTP test on a different power source at the start of september (Wahoo KICKR as a part of a team FTP testing) that gave me 262 W, but I never did anything with that number.
If you didn’t feel the ramp test was right then why use it? The ramp test, 2x8, 20 min test, etc… are all approximate. They get you in the ball park and for most people that is good enough. If you feel you can do more then go for it but debating over 242 or 247 seems silly.
Keep bumping the power up until you start to feel uncomfortable.
If you had a run at an ftp test when coming back from illness, chances are you weren’t at your best. Could well be that you tested low on that ramp test.
Another consideration is ftp test protocol. When I tried the ramp test, my suggested ftp was always coming in ~30w lower than if I do the 20min test. Some folks are more able to deliver a better result from the 20 min (or 8min) than on the ramp test.
Another consideration is the 2 different power sources you used to get your 2 different ftp values. Taking 2 results from 2 different PM/trainers is not always comparing apples to apples.
Identify your preferred power source, identify your preferred test protocol and stick to it, otherwise it’s hard to track your progress.
Your HR doesn’t sound way off, but maybe a bit low compared to your LTHR. My LTHR is around 175, and my average hr for my SS intervals (I’m also in SSMV1, 3rd week) has been 144-149, and peaking around 154. My numbers don’t look too far off yours percentage wise.
You could always test again, but maybe try a 20min test with the 5min vo2 max effort prior.
So that being the case, it’s probably best to forget about the ftp test you did on the kickr and focus on getting a number/identitying your standard test protocol on your own gear
It’s such a short test. Retest if you now feel better and no longer compromised from being sick. Your training is not going to be derailed if you simply retest and validate the original result.
Quick cal on your numbers I would expect HR to be 182 - 185 towards the end of prolonged (the longer) SST intervals. Looks about right. You could retest or tweek up another few watts as you might find you can squeeze a few more watts out without the HR rising much i.e not proportionally.
177-197 says Frank Overton of Fascat Coaching. He’s the guy that invented the term so probably KISS and go with that. This assumes your LTHR is correct which another topic of massive confusion.
I did a ramp test again, and got 251w, but I prematurely ended up being forced to quit since I thought it would be a good idea to try and shift to my big ring, and I got put into the ERG death spiral (50 RPM) right away even though I had maybe 30-40 seconds of good form left (based on RPE, and HR) of good pedaling (~90 RPM). I ended up setting it to 257 w, after just extrapolating data on what it would’ve been had I not messed it up. I think that will make the intervals challenging, but certainly doable. I’ll validate it with the over unders since last time I didn’t even hit close to LTHR and it felt closer to sweetspot.
Sounds like a good plan. The over unders should give you a good idea if you set your FTP correctly.
I feel like mine is set a bit low too right now, but what I’ve been doing is just going by feel and essentially doing most of my SS efforts 5-10w higher than what is prescribed. I’m in week 3 of SSBMV1, so I’ll just bump up but feel until the end and retest after.
Better than mine. Max HR is 200. LTHR I don’t really know, but I’d guess 180ish. Hit 190 in the third set of under overs on McAdie tonight, 3rd week SSB MV1, shortly before bailing
I tried another set of over unders @ 257 and it had roughly the same HR as before. Only hit 190 bpm towards the end. This time it required a bit of concentration on the 3rd set (first two were fine/moderate) and my muscles started feeling it towards the end, but I wasn’t breathing super hard. I’m not sure how much of that RPE is from getting bad sleep (6-7 hours) the past 2 days though. Is that the goal of over unders?
Just keep in mind that your HR can be a bit lower while fatigued or just a bit tired from not enough sleep. For me at max HR 190 and LTHR of around 175, that LTHR can come down 10bpm when I’m not really rested.
I think this thread is pretty interesting. I have set my max hr as 196, although i hit 205 once. It was my first ride after two weeks of being away from riding and it was a super hard 1 min all out effort.
But, my hr when working at ftp is 174-175 at the end of 20min intervals. Last week, i did eclipse, ans while my hr at the end of the first interval was 168, it was 172 at the end of the third. Doesn’t 2-3 beats difference between lthr and sweet spot hr sound a bit weird?
@vetleg Considering SS zone HR is 90-100% of LTHR and LTHR zone is 95-105% of LTHR you’re looking at 15BPM spread from the bottom of SS to the top of LTHR. So, no.
All this is so dependent on a good reliable LTHR value from a good reliable test. For the record I have no idea if the ramp test can give you a LTHR. The 20minute-5%protocol used to find FTP is about the only way I’ve done it. Or average HR for an all out 1 hour effort.
