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Translating 10k TT into FTP

kimmydctkimmydct
in General Training Discussions
A local cycling group does 10k time trials, which I'm estimating would be in the 20 min ballpark for me and was wondering if there was a way I could translate the AP or NP from such an event into FTP? I looked for something in my power meter book but didn't see anything, i thought there might be a formula or something. Seems like a good way to get a test done but I wouldn't want to do a 5 min VO2 test prior to the race....

Comments

  • Al TruscottAl Truscott

    Posted By Kim DuBord on 17 Mar 2013 05:31 ... I wouldn't want to do a 5 min VO2 test prior to the race....
    Why not? You're going to warm up before the TT; a good warm up would naturally include some hard effort. Eg, the TR protocol for 20 min FTP test includes 5 min @ 110%. You don't have to do the full 120%, but you do want to really get the juices flowing before an all out 20 min effort. That should make your 0.95 x 20 Min avg power close enough to your FTP for EN training purposes
  • Brenda RossBrenda Ross
    I agree with Al on this one.
  • kens1964kens1964
    In the Training and Racing with Power EN webinar series they talk about how, because the 20 minute effort is an estimate of a 60 minute effort (even taking into account that you use 95% of the 20 minute average) the 5 minute VO2 max test "burns off" some of your anaerobic reserve, and is therefore necessary to have an accurate 20 minute test.
  • tim cronktim cronk
    Kim,

    I've done 2 of these TT's recently. Been thinking about doing a double RR on them. Anyway my first one was 6.6 miles and took me 18min , I used .95 of that number for and FTP test and it worked fine. I confirmed it with a higher 2x20 test a few weeks later. The last one I did was 6.06 I think and took me 16min. Even .95 of that number is pretty accurate to my current FTP. So I found them to be a lot of fun , and even useful for an FTP test. I wouldn't hesitate at all to use .95 of your effort as your FTP , specially if your closer to 20 minutes , should be even more accurate.

    The other option is to use that number in Golden Cheetah or other software for a Critical Power number.

    For my warm ups I did 10-15min easy spin at home, and another 30 min at the event with 4-5 1 minute efforts above FTP... nothing crazy
  • kimmydctkimmydct
    I think it is a 20 min ride to the start from the point of registration so I could do the 5 min VO2 effort.... I was just thinking for "racing" purposes I'd want to save my energy for the TT itself. No worries. Maybe I'll do it one way the first time, then the other way the next and compare.
  • Al TruscottAl Truscott

    Kim ... regarding racing. Unless you are doing a race longer than 2 hours or so, you will not burn yourself out by doing a substantial warm-up. Of course, you don't want to work as hard for as long as you will in the race. But remember that you will only be going for 20 minutes. During that time you can't possibly use up all your fuel reserves if you pace the 20 minutes properly. So you have some energy to spare to use up increasing your heart rate, local blood flow in the muscles, fluids lubricating joints, and getting all the little chemical reactions needed for hard work primed and ready to fire on all cylinders at the start gun/whistle/whatever.

    While we're not as well-trained as pro cyclists, it still is good to know that they would probably be warming up for 30-60 minutes before a 5-10 minute prologue-style TT. They must know something useful?

    Now if you were doing a half marathon or an Olympic Tri or longer, than the warm-up needs to be more judicious.

  • Coach RichCoach Rich

    As others have said, .95 of that number is good enough for training purposes

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