VO2 / FTP testing question
Once we are out of the OS portion of an IM Training plan, I am not seeing any VO2 / z6 intervals on the bike. why do we still do the 5 min. VO2 test? Is it just to tire my legs for the 20 minute FTP test to keep all things equal? Is there a reason we don't always do the 20 minute test 1st and then the 5 minute can be dropped in season? just curious...
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Yes...the idea is that a true "gold standard" FTP test is one hour as hard as you can (Coach R always says, "like a dude on a motorcycle is riding alongside you with a gun to your head if you slow down)....which SUCKS and takes a long time and therefore requires more recovery. There are other shorter tests, which have been proven to be pretty accurate, that don't take as much time.
You can do 2 x 20min with 2min rest/spinning in between the two sets, and take your Pnorm from that as your FTP. Or, you can do the 5/10/20 test, that the coaches recommend. The 5 min all out gives you your VO2 (which should ideally be ~20% higher than your FTP) and also serves to "fatigue" you so that the 20min FTP test is not too high (you certainly would have a higher number if you started with the 20' FTP test and it would definitely be higher than a 60' FTP effort, right?). During that 5min VO2 all out session, you supposedly "burn out" your fast twitch fibers, etc. So, you do NOT want to do it in reverse order...you would overestimate your FTP....and then not be able to run!
I have done the 5/10/20 and then 20/2/20 and found them to be pretty similar in results. I prefer the 20/2/20 when testing outside, but on the trainer I do the 5/10/20....just my $0.02 though.