Your FTP improvements

Happy with the bump after the slight drop last time, but man these hurt :sweat_smile:

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you guys are making me look slow! :joy:

bought myself a bike in june, started riding casually at prospect park a couple times a week for the first month or two. fast forward to october and i buy myself a trainer and get to work!

height: 6ā€™5"
weight: 210lbs

oct. 19: 152
nov.23: 187
dec. 17: 207

goal is to get in race shape by april / june, depending on covid. basically just waiting for law school to start so i have a ton of time to rideā€¦ debating whether to stick with the SSB plans or go with some LSD. only problem with that is anything more than 2 hours on the trainer is maddening :roll_eyes:

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I missed my 1 year anniversary when I meant to post an update. I started with a notional FTP of 306w from a TT where I did at 322w for 25:10 earlier in 2019. Obviously it was longer than 20 mins and included a roundabout turn halfway, but I didnā€™t do a 5 min clearing effort. As you can tell there was no structure - I just rode my bike 6 - 8 hours a week outdoors.

Once I got a trainer and TR, I messed around for a week including completing Baird Peak - which was a brutal introduction to indoor rides. I then FTP tested and went through SSBMV1, SSBMV2, GBMV. From there I just did my own thing and picked up tons of knowledge from this forum (not that I consider myself knowledgeable).

I quit ramp testing by Feb or March 2020 and just bumped FTP by feel. Iā€™ve moved to longer assessments like the sort Kolie Moore talks about. These are more to occassionally check my internal guage is still calibrated about right than not knowing at all what my FTP is.

My FTP progress wasnā€™t quite as linear as it looks below - there were times when I tried to bump by 10w and backed off by 5w after a couple of workouts. The time between increases is getting slower, but not too slow. But things have moved in the right direction so Iā€™m happy enough. I always set to a round 5w number to make zones and %FTP easier to remember/calculate in my head. I recently did an hour at 360w average, but it felt most like threshold when I was just above that, so again by feel I set it to 365w.

Hoping to get out there and do some Cat 4 (UK noob) racing when possible!

Weight is 74kg, so currently 4.93w/kg (may as well do the weigh in before Xmas!)

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My Garmin FR945 also comes up with its own FTP estimates (or suggestionsā€¦). I accept these but also sort of ignore them as opposed to TR-based FTP from the Ramp Test.

Iā€™m in the East of England - with your power, please tell me that you live on the other side of the countryā€¦ :joy:

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Nope east too!! I live in Norwich. I entered my first ever race last year - Kings Lynn 3/4 Road race (but Covid put paid to that). So I just focused on training all year

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51yr old male, 6ā€™ 4"ā€¦literally off the couch with no fitness after 15 yrs away from cycling.

09/28: 147 113kg
11/10: 190 110kg
12/23 207 108kg 1.91W/kg

ā€¦wasnā€™t feeling great tonight mentally or physically, but it is what it is.

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great stuff! Canā€™t wait to hear about your progress in the coming months :muscle:

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My first TR ramp test was 1/1/19 and I put up 268w. Most recent one was 11/20/20 at 316w

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Best ever 20min power today @65kg :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

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Wow amazing dude, congrats :grin:

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Excellent effort!

Question about icu ā€¦ Did it update your threshold HR because you hit a new max HR? Is that what happened?

Thank you!!

I hit the max HR on the 5min effort, but whenever I do a 20min effort my one automatically updates. According to icu my threshold HR has gone down

Just hit 4w/kg today via Ramp Test! 317w at 79kg. Started cycling in April and Trainerroad just over a month ago. Loving this program and the much needed (in these times) structure it provides. Looking forward to getting into racing and specifically time trialling in the future. Any tips?

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There are a couple of threads here worth a read:

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Really impressive improvements. What is your height?

I`m new in TR and after SSBMV1&2 ramp tested at 334W FTP @ 80-81kg (188cm). I hope to get 350W next year. I have also a lot of body fat that I could lose. Racing weight calculator http://racingweight.com/rwe/#/ gives 71kg but I would be really happy if I could even get down to 74kg. I donĀ“t know which would be better try to achieve first. Lose weight and maintain current power or try gain power while maintain weight?

I started GBMV last week but I may return to repet base as I think it might be too much intesity in Build this time of year

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Thank you :blush: I kept consistent all year with training and barely did any ā€œshowing offā€ rides or junk miles. I think lockdown helped a lot with being able to FTFP 99% of the time.

From memory Iā€™m 189cm. My weight stays pretty steady, but depending on hydration etc goes from 76-73kg. Iā€™d say at 73-74kg Iā€™m very lean, and think 71kg would be a bit too much of a famished Wiggins look.

My n=1: stick with training consistently, fuel your rides appropriately but not excessively and the weight will take care of itself. Iā€™ve always been slim/lanky, but naturally dropped a couple of KGs since upping the load. I eat like a horse, but itā€™s a lot of low fat carbs like pasta, rice, oats, semolina, sweet potatoes.

I did my own plans for a lot of the year - feel free to check my profile (should be public).

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Do lots of threshold! :grinning:

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Iā€™m 5ā€™9, and approximately 65 kg.

Last summer, my FTP was 215. This was after a season of structured training with a private coach. But my weight was more like 63kg then. I attribute my weight gain to covid-induced snacking and working from home (not commuting to work by bike).

This fall, I tested using the Ramp Test and was dismayed to see 184, though that did make sense since I had spent most of the summer running and hiking and not cycling.

I started the Full IM Mid Volume at the beginning of October, and today I tested again using the 20 minute test, and I am happy to say my FTP is back up to 200.

Iā€™m hoping to get higher than 215. I am slated to race IMC in August and a local 70.3 in June. For a full IM, especially, I am hoping to improve my bike time. Itā€™d be awesome to get down to 63 kg again and also increase my FTP to 220 or 230! The weight is do-ableā€¦but the FTP gain? Not sure.

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Well, it seems the workouts are working for me. Starting the MV Base2 and the Ramp Testā€¦

Lets see how it goes ā€¦

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