embarrassing power figures

[jules21]

i did a 20 minute power test last night and got a miserable 265 watts. i'm 85 kg, putting me at 3.1 w/kg

i only just bought a power meter (Vector pedals) so had no idea what i was pushing out previously. i've actually had a couple of vaguely-decent race results this year, with a top-ten at Mt Baw Baw road race (Masters C grade) and a couple of similar results.

is my power meter under-reading or do i just need to pull my finger out?

i'm told that it should get a bit higher by doing it on the road, instead of the sauna-inducing ergo test i did..

[dalai47]

I wouldn't stress as FTP is only one power metric. Do testing for other durations...

[jules21]

i can probably do better.. i didn't load up enough at the start..

[g-boaf]

Okay, don't panic too much.

How did you prepare for it? Adequate hydration, eating enough, plenty of sleep the night before?

Adequate cooling helps too. If I'm doing trainer sessions, I need a fan blasting away directly at me or I overheat and feel terrible (and don't do well).

If the preparation was good, then you'll just need to do more work. Generally from what I've seen, it involves:

• 5x5 intervals at 55-65rpm (88-92% FTP) with 3min easy spinning (30-50% of FTP) in between them
• 3x10min intervals 55-65rpm (88-92% FTP) with 4min easy spinning (30-50% FTP) at low power in between them

When you get sufficiently comfortable with those and you can start pushing up the intended power much higher, start doing these:

• 5x5 intervals at 110% FTP - 100-120rpm with with 3min easy spinning (30-50% of FTP) in between them
• 3x10min intervals at 110% FTP - 100-120rpm with with 3min easy spinning (30-50% of FTP) in between them

When you start getting comfortable with those, then start doing 2x20min intervals at your existing FTP (265w). Do these at 100rpm or better. When you start getting comfortable with these intervals - time for an FTP test and give it your best. I think you know how to do those, don't go out too flat-out at the start or you'll be in trouble at 15-20mins.

What I've suggested above is basically what I was doing with good results until I got injured. Now I'm trying to pick it back up. I didn't prepare the above, it was suggested by someone else who is vastly better at this stuff than I am. But it's all pretty common stuff.

i can probably do better.. i didn't load up enough at the start..

A few dips at the early stages, was it fatigue a bit and then picked it back up again? You obviously did rev it up at the end pretty well. Some days it just doesn't work at all and you feel like crap.

[jules21]

those short dips are gear changes. the fluid trainer i'm using increases the resistance as it warms up, forcing me to down-shift.

but you can see the average is too low at the start. i can get that up a bit, but i'm a long way below what would be a good FTP

thanks for the tips G. i've actually just got a coach who is a club-mate. i'll be working on getting these up

[g-boaf]

those short dips are gear changes. the fluid trainer i'm using increases the resistance as it warms up, forcing me to down-shift.

but you can see the average is too low at the start. i can get that up a bit, but i'm a long way below what would be a good FTP

thanks for the tips G. i've actually just got a coach who is a club-mate. i'll be working on getting these up

Ah, okay - that explains it. The ones I'm experienced with are computrainers. You have to recalibrate them after they've warmed up, but after it you essentially just find a nice RPM and gear combo and then hopefully don't die. All that said, the FTP is just a number - but it's nice to have a good FTP figure, and it's frustrating when it isn't as high as you want. At the end of the day we are all competitive animals - so I understand what you are thinking. And indeed, these tests on stationary trainers are just miserable torture tests.

[jules21]

i'm not a sprinter. i don't really enjoy being that guy who hides all day and then jumps out at the end. i tend do better in races of attrition, so having a good FTP seems necessary.

[g-boaf]

i'm not a sprinter. i don't really enjoy being that guy who hides all day and then jumps out at the end. i tend do better in races of attrition, so having a good FTP seems necessary.

I'm not one either - so we are in the same boat. It's damn hard work to bump up the power by 20w.

[Cul]

Don't be embarrassed by your measly power numbers... FTP is not necessarily a measure of "performance" but rather arbitrary number to work to / with... Regardless if your power meter is reading low, it will provide a constant to work to, and give data to track progress over the period of days, weeks, months, years, etc... .

In addition, go find a hill to do your FTP testing on if you want a real world result to use in day to day riding / racing! If you are like me you will find your results will vary by quite a significant margin, my 20min result on a local climb is 28w higher than I can manage for 20min on the trainer. Alex Simmons has written quite extensively about the effects of training on the wind/fluid/turbo trainer in the past... http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com.au/2009/ ... ining.html

3x10min intervals at 110% FTP - 100-120rpm with with 3min easy spinning (30-50% of FTP) in between them

Mate that is a real sufferfest, I bet doing those once or twice a week "pulls" the FTP up in a real hurry!!!

[jules21]

Cul, i will be re-testing on a hill. it will be interesting to see if i can improve, and by how much.

[r2160]

Why is it embarrassing. It is the power you put out. That is pretty much my FTP. I am not ashamed of it. Why should I be.

You shouldnt either.

Glenn

[dalai47]

Mate that is a real sufferfest, I bet doing those once or twice a week "pulls" the FTP up in a real hurry!!!

As a Masters cyclist, my preference is to push rather than pull so I can recover quicker for the next session...

I wouldn't necessarily use a hill for FTP effort unless you will be doing all your FTP efforts on climbs. My FTP is 20-30 Watts higher climbing, so will use the climbing FTP on hill repeats and for flat intervals use my flat lander FTP.

[jules21]

Why is it embarrassing. It is the power you put out. That is pretty much my FTP. I am not ashamed of it. Why should I be.

You shouldnt either.

damn it, you're right Glenn! i'm comfortable in my own FTP. if people don't find it attractive, that's their problem

[g-boaf]

3x10min intervals at 110% FTP - 100-120rpm with with 3min easy spinning (30-50% of FTP) in between them

Mate that is a real sufferfest, I bet doing those once or twice a week "pulls" the FTP up in a real hurry!!!

It hurts enough. Probably easy for someone else I suppose. It's pretty demoralising seeing someone else smash 350w for 19min and then blast at 450w for the final minute of a 20minute effort. Can only be happy that my w/kg was similar.

[toolonglegs]

You did it inside, poor cooling, your first test ... expect up to 20% ( pulls figure out of arse ) increase by doing it outside and getting pacing right... good pacing is the key.

[Alex Simmons/RST]

No power figure is embarrassing.

[Hugor]

I experienced similar emotions recently with my vectors.
My FTP had been making fairly steady improvements to a respectable value then it seemed to drop by close to 20% in a week.
Everytime I looked down at my garmin I was depressed by my output compared to my perceived effort.
Despite training very hard for a months holiday in Europe was leaving at a real trough in my fitness.
My current power curve had the identical shape as my best but it was 20% lower.

In my case in turned out to be a garmin firmware upgrade.
The bike settings page on your garmin has a crank length menu which only becomes visible when your vectors are detected.
The default setting is 145mm and the head unit setting overrides whatever length you specified in your vector firmware.
It was using this in its power calculation rather than the 175mm which I specified in my vector setup.

As the power calculation is directly proportional to crank length it follows that it was underestimating my output by almost 20%.

My FTP improved overnight!! Unfortunately it was only after my european holiday that I made this realisation.

[trailgumby]

I'm 78kg and my FTP test came out with 262W for a 25min effort. Unfortunately that ride killed the PM (it was wet and the battery cover leaked) but for a first effort after a respiratory illness I'm not unhappy.

Now I know where to start with my efforts.

[Roub]

FTP calc should be 0.95 x 20min effort power too

[piledhigher]

Just think how awesome your stats will be at 70kg, at 85kg I presume you are a sprint track rider where FTP doesn't really matter or you have some easy gains to make on the kg side of the equation.

[toolonglegs]

Looks a bit smoother on your strava file but still pretty poorly paced... plenty of gains to be made
What is embarrassing is knowing what your FTP was 3 or so years ago and knowing where it is now ... while also piling on the kilos ... I have gone from 4 wpkg to under 3.5 ... still think I have 4.25 hidden away somewhere but that would take a lot of work!.

[macca33]

Umm, Jules you managed Top-10 in Master's C up Baw Baw - you have PLENTY of power! I was the lead car for that race (I'm never riding up that blardy hill!) and my car struggled the last 6Km.

cheers

[march83]

@jules: get a bigger fan, do more tests. the more you do it, the better you get at it, the higher your numbers are. ftp tests are a special type of suffering that you just don't ever do in the real world.

[trailgumby]

FTP calc should be 0.95 x 20min effort power too

But in a race you would go 5% harder, so it kind of balances out.

[Alex Simmons/RST]

FTP calc should be 0.95 x 20min effort power too

It's unusual to be that high relative to 20-min power. That assumes the 20-min power was maximal, which is this case may not be the case for a few reasons.