Normalised power during racing

[tom_smith]

I almost feel bad for asking this, since it is possibly covered elsewhere...

But - say I've done a 20 minute time trial, to estimate FTP and ended with 220W. Then I do a 2hr road race (hard, on the rivet the whole time), and my normlaised power is 220W, but my peak 1 hour is an average of 203W with NP of 249W.

Alex Simmons says

Normalised Power (from a Hard ~1hr Race)
#4 is pretty handy, particularly as an indicator of when a rider's FTP may have changed. Frequently riders who do not do time trials, but do other races such as shorter road races or criteriums of approximately 1 hour duration, can use this as a crosscheck of their current FTP. Assuming the race was hard (that is, you were pretty much on the limit for most of the race), and you were not overly fatigued beforehand, then the 60 minute maximal Normalised Power should be at least at your FTP if not a little higher (up to about 5% higher). If your 60 minute Normalised Power is reported as more than 5% above your FTP, then that is a strong sign that your FTP needs re-setting (upwards).

So I guess my FTP is too low? The intensity factor was 1.05 for 2 hours, which seems high.

I wouldn't be surprised if my FTP was too low - I am a horrible time trialist!

[foo on patrol]

Not everyone is a ace time trialist!

What is your back ground in cycling ie; training, goals and how far are you prepared to push yourself?

[toolonglegs]

Take the time trial reading...that is the best way.
No doubt the "guru" will have the best answer .
NP is interesting to tell you how hard a race was,but it probably isn't the best for setting your training goals.
My best was 380w for 1 hour...350w for 2... .

[Alex Simmons/RST]

So I guess my FTP is too low? The intensity factor was 1.05 for 2 hours, which seems high.

It is.

I wouldn't be surprised if my FTP was too low - I am a horrible time trialist!

was it a well paced maximal effort?
were you motivated to give it all?
not overly fatigued or under fueled?

some riders do however pull more out when there are external motivational factors, such as other riders.
It takes practice to learn how to surf the TT pain wave and keep the pressure on the whole time

[tom_smith]

Alex - it was a 20 minute test (Coggan/Allan's FTP test).

If anything I faded in the back 10 minutes (from average power of about 240W to 230W).

I was more motivated than I would have been had I not had power - i.e. I found it easier to chase a number. But that said, I do find it very hard to push myself when I am not bunch racing (i.e. still don't like time trials). Not overly fatigued/under fueled. I guess the course was possibly not ideal, 1km loop (no traffic), but plenty of cornering.

But I don't suppose I can really infer an FTP from racing data - I am best to go off and try do some more testing, now knowing that I can probably push harder?

[tom_smith]

Take the time trial reading...that is the best way.
No doubt the "guru" will have the best answer .
NP is interesting to tell you how hard a race was,but it probably isn't the best for setting your training goals.
My best was 380w for 1 hour...350w for 2... .

Those number are crazy. I was in all sorts of pain today already! The only way is up I guess

[Alex Simmons/RST]

Alex - it was a 20 minute test (Coggan/Allan's FTP test).

If anything I faded in the back 10 minutes (from average power of about 240W to 230W).

I was more motivated than I would have been had I not had power - i.e. I found it easier to chase a number. But that said, I do find it very hard to push myself when I am not bunch racing (i.e. still don't like time trials). Not overly fatigued/under fueled. I guess the course was possibly not ideal, 1km loop (no traffic), but plenty of cornering.

But I don't suppose I can really infer an FTP from racing data - I am best to go off and try do some more testing, now knowing that I can probably push harder?

Well alls you can do is all you can do.

there's also the possibility your power meter wasn't reading correctly in one or other of the efforts (checked torque zero?).
Corners may have lost a bit of power off average, depending on how much you had to back off.

but keep trying - it's good training anyway

[toolonglegs]

Take the time trial reading...that is the best way.
No doubt the "guru" will have the best answer .
NP is interesting to tell you how hard a race was,but it probably isn't the best for setting your training goals.
My best was 380w for 1 hour...350w for 2... .

Those number are crazy. I was in all sorts of pain today already! The only way is up I guess

The Average power for that race was a LOT lower though,probably under 300w (don't have the software anymore so can't look ).