I have been training mixed indoors and outdoors for about a year and a half. I started TR, last April and have been very consistent. I had several times prior done an honest 236 watts outdoors, and assumed my outdoor ftp to be 240. Close enough. Just before starting TR, I did an outdoor one hour ride at 253 NP. I started the MV sweet spot base and my first TR ramp test gave me an ftp of 212. I figured fine, and the first couple weeks were so easy that I made small increases, settling on 220 feeling very tough, but maneagable. 6 weeks later, I retested at a disappointing 210. I left it at 220 and continued. My 12 week ramp test gave me 205. I said, screw this and went for a hard outdoor ride to test my sanity. 253 watts for an hour. Okay. So I set my ftp to 253 and did LV short power build, riding Z2 on Wednesdays and Sundays. 4 weeks later, did an outdoor ftp test and got 265. Now, weāre cooking with butter. Continued the next 4 weeks of build outdoors and I was consistently doing higher watts than prescribed for the VO2 max interval workouts on Tuesdays (usually doing 340 watts when 320 was prescribed). Thursdays and Saturdays were still tough so I just did what my head unit told me. Then, we went on vacation for a week, then I caught a cold for a week, then the entire state of California lit on fire. So, I didnāt retest, but just finished a 4 week sustained power build.
I have now used plan builder as some buddies last minute want to try for a sub 5hr Century Nov 8th. It will start on Tuesday. I have noticed that although I am stronger, I am mentally not as tough, so I am switching back to full indoor on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, with a short Z2 outdoors on Wednesday and a long Z2 on Sundays. Iām sure my ramp test will be low, but thatās okay. I now know that it doesnāt mean my outdoor riding (where it matters) will improve.
Relatively new to TrainerRoad and training with power plus also new to the forum - so hey everyone
Did my first ramp test on TR on 18 August this year - 187W
Followed sweetspot base low volume (I think so anyway, used the plan builder), mainly out on the road rather than on a trainer. Retested mid-way through on 8 September - 216W
Then retested at the end of 6 weeks - 231W - (23.5% increase in 6 weeks!)
Weight is somewhere around 82-83kg.
My initial aim was to get to 200W but that came much quicker than I expected. Have since been following sustained power build (also low volume) and will be retesting in a week or so - looking forward to seeing where I can get to.
I chose to use TrainerRoad because the low volume plans were just at the right level for me to work in around doing crossfit. I thought progression would be much slower, I donāt expect these gains to continue but Iāll enjoy them while they do!
Curious if anybody has set FTP aims before - not sure what a realistic goal would be in terms of % improvement? Iāve not got an event planned or anything but like to have some sort of target in mind, is FTP even a good thing base a goal on?
I would bet most people who train with power have an idea of where they want their FTP to be, but I wouldnāt necessarily set a FTP goal. If you really need a target, 300w and 4w/kg are common milestones people try to achieve. As you have said, gains wont be linear, so you cant really pin down when/if you can get to a certain number. There is more to training than FTP as well, so donāt get too caught up in the number. Just be consistent and see where the training takes you, especially since you donāt have a specific event to target.
My experience is after achieving these goals most significant change is the fact you have to eat more to fuel your body (and this is the place where you invest most of the money that you could spent on a new bike) and you have a great number no one cares about not to forget you constantly worry that you could loose itā¦and yes, you are faster on the bike so you can do Z2 when you friends doing a threshold and after 30 min you will be doing recovery ride on a group rideā¦or you find a new friends and they all faster than you and they are doing recovery ride when you are doing threshold
Been following the zwift build me up plan now for the past 12 weeks. During this time Iāve only missed one workout and have maintained running and swimming as Iām training for a triathlon. Because the plan is solely a cycling plan there have been times when the overall workload has been quite challaging and recovery has been an issue.
I ve only ever done a bit of cycling in the past but after signing up for my first triathlon I knew Iād have to do some proper training. Thats why about 16 weeks ago I bought a wattbike and joined zwift. After a bit of playing about I started the the 12 week buikld me up plan with the intention of making some performance gains on the bike and identify weaknesses.
At the start of the plan I undertook a ramp test to determine training metrics and benchmark starting fitness.
The results of the start ramp test gave me a ftp of 220w at 74kg / 2.9wkg
So today was test time again but zwifts final workout is the 20min ftp test. Since Iād gained my origanal ftp using the ramp test I wanted to use the same method again to keep things equal. Iāve been obsessing about trainer road and have been waiting for the zwift plan to come to an end so that I can join.
I did the trainerroad ramp test this morning which resulted in a ftp of 248 at 73kg / 3.4wkg an increase of 13% over the 12 weeks.
Been new to cycling I was expecting a decent power gain so Iām happy with that depite wanting more (Iām greedy)
I still needed to do the the 20min zwift workout to finish the plan so after ignoring the advice given on a diffrent thread I decided to extent my morning ride. My reason for doing it was that even if its purpose was no longer to gain accurate numbers I would at least get a decent workout and spend a bit more time at or around threshold. Wasnt expecting much and didnt know if I was going to even try for the 20mins knowing it wasnt going to be a true reflection of where Iām currently at.
Anyway after a long walm up and some shorter pickups I started the 20min and decided to see how I felt just above old ftp. Every 5mins or so I increased the power by 5-10 watts before ending with more or less all out. I was tired at the end and close to my limits but felt ok considering Iād done the ramp test as part of the same ride. The result of the 20min test were alomost identical as the ramp giving me a ftp of 245w .
Iām happy with my improvments but the results from the 20min test surprise me as I thought i wouldnt be able to get to that number due to the fatigue gained from the ramp test. This then makes me question my ramp test. I can honestly say I did the ramp to the best of my abbilty. My legs totally shut down at 330w and my heart rate was the most I have ever seen it on the bike at 181bpm which is in fack my max running heart rate which i rarely hit.
Hoping to hear peoples opinions on these test results. What do the show? My strenghs and weaknesses? In running Iāve always been better at longer distances and do better at longer training sessions at a more moderate intensity. Do these results show this?
To recap - New to cycling - 12weeks training - Start ftp 220w / 2.9wkg - End ftp 248w/ 3.4wkg
Been new to cycling these numbers dont mean all that much other than a 13% increase in power over a given time. Id be interested to hear peoples thoughts on this increase and where Iām currently at.
Any improvement is good. Now follow the Sweet spot Base I and II plans and see what happens !
I had an improvement from 229 ftp to 265 ftp after SSBI and SSB II being new to structured training a couple of years ago . Keep following the plans and trust it, also remember that progress is not linear and expect some set-backs along the way
Height is 190cm/6ā2ā.
Weight loss was a big factor earlier on. I definitely lost a lot of fat, but also a lot upper body muscle. I used ālook strongerā by classic standards, although I am clearly as fit as I have ever been. Still the visual change may not be for everyone, as I am pretty slender now.
I am doing 8 to 11 hours weekly, progressing in intensity and volume in 4 week blocks and an easier week at the end. FTP test every 8 weeks. 450 to 600 TSS usually.
I did a ramp test today and I scored a 300! Very excited.
I started with TrainerRoad on October 31st, 2017 with an FTP of 222. Since then, Iāve done countless FTPs tests. Often only gaining 3-5 watts, or even dropping 3-5 watts. However, Iāve slowly managed to keep building towards my ultimate goal of hitting 300 and today it happened. Just in time for the cancelled cyclocross season
First FTP Test Today on Traineroad - after a Road Race on Sunday, Rest on Monday, Tuesday and FTP Test Today was feeling strong.
Have been an āoutsideā rider until recently, with a few weeks of illness thrown in at the start of my first training block. Managed a 253 to 281 FTP Increase at 60kg (4.7 watts per kg).
Happy with that - eyes on 300 and pumped to see when TR will get me there!
I will soon do my second TR ramp test. So far Iāve improved from 238 on Sufferfest earlier this year after a bad motorcycle crash in February. Have some experience training, but this is the first time iām trianing with structure for cycling.
First 6 weeks of TR will be done tuesday the 3rd of November. Just over a week from now. Will report back then. I feel strong, legs have visibly changed, will go all out.
I started cycling in June 2019. Newbie gains were relatively good until December.
I did a whole bunch of long outdoor rides with friends smashing ourselves up every climb, then the autumn arrived and Zwifting became more and more prevalent for my midweek sessions. After January Trainerroad made up most of my training volume and by July I gained another 15Wā¦ But more importantly my muscle endurance improved a whole bunch.
Unfortunately I crashed in August when I found some unexpected dirt on a fast cornerā¦ admittedly I got the KOM on the descent so itās not like I didnāt deserve to crashā¦
The shock and road rash kept me off the road for two months
Now Iām at it again hoping to push past the 265W barrier
I started trainer road July 21,2020
I had done an outside 8 minute test on July 4th and was at 275. It might have been set to high, some reason I decided to roll with it for sweet spot base 2. At the end of that block my first ramp test was a lot different than what I thought it was, my pacing wasnāt that great. Now Each time I do the ramp test I feel more confident for the next one!
After ssb2MV 270
End of gbMV first blockā¦ 285
After the second month of gbMVā¦ 290
I missed a couple workouts the second week of the second month in build (life happens)
Iām still pretty happy where Iām at, I feel a lot stronger and able to repeat these efforts.
With hopes of racing there were a couple races that might have happened but since they are now canceled. Iām going back to ssb1mv and going to build this fitness!
I started structured training (for cycling) last year in December targeting a SUB8h time on a 300km ride in June this year (which obviously was cancelled). Before that I did some ācoffey-shop-ridingā (or should we say pub) with the boys, however nothing serious. That was more or less what I did for the last 5 years. Alltough, I do have a history of hard structured training (being in the national team in orienteering and cross-country running as a kid, but that was 12Y ago).
So, all of the below from the Zwift ramp test:
Dec 2019: 250W, ~3W/kg (83kg).
Jan 2020: 290W, 3.6W/kg (80kg)
March 2020: 310W, 4W/kg (78kg)
May 2020: 330W, 4.4W/kg (75kg)
And in June I pretty much managed to āreach my FTPā when hunting KOMs on longer Strava segments.
During rest of the summer I focused more on other stuff and currently train with an FTP of 290W with a few kg more than in May
Would be cool to reach the 5W/kg FTP threshold next season, however not priority numero uno!
Some good progress here from the last few months
Ramp test August 19th 218
Have manually bumped up as I felt it needed in between ramp tests.
Finished SSB2 with FTP at 230 then ramp test after that came out at 225 on 28th September. Ignored that and continued at 230 then bumped to 240 when I felt like I was increasing workout % more often then not.
Halfway through sustained build and ramp test today was my first ramp win in a while with 243.
Super happy with progress. Focusing on keeping the same consistency over the upcoming months with a XCM in mid January.
not to forget you constantly worry that you could loose itā¦and yes, you are faster on the bike so you can do Z2 when you friends doing a threshold and after 30 min you will be doing recovery ride on a group rideā¦or you find a new friends and they all faster than you and they are doing recovery ride when you are doing threshold 
