Interpreting results of first bike test

gonnzo

Hi all - looking for some help figuring out FTP from first test.  First 20' went fine, but when I started the second 20' a sharp pain developed in the left groin which made me stop pedaling repeatedly.  I kept going, just to finish it out, and the pain went away in about 5 -6 minutes.  The rest of the test was the pain it was supposed to be.  So here's the results:

1st interval Norm Power: 183

2nd interval: 160

Overall 42': 168

[ Can we tell why I need EN?? ]

So, anybody know what I should use for FTP for the next 8 weeks, or is this a question for RnP?

Thanks,

Brian

Nemo Brauch

I have a hunch. But before I go there, can you break down that second 20 min set into 5' intervals and tell us what the NP was for each of those?

PS- Way to push through that sharp pain and finish the test. Tough to do for sure. I probably would have just shut the test down and tried again another day.

William Jenks

BTW, welcome.. there will be a bunch of us out at WI this year.

Nemo knows everything. (Trust me on that.) So she will give you an excellent answer. The worst case scenario, though, is just to take the first 20 min power and cut back about 5% from it, i.e., around 174 W.

gonnzo

@Nemo - thanks for helping me out. Second 20' norms looks like this:

1st 5' (pain time) - 138
2nd 5' (mostly resolved)- 162
3rd 5' - 159
4th 5' - 162

Actually ends up being 156 altogether. I'm not sure where I read the 160 before - too many new buttons to push. Using PowerAgent, if that makes any difference.

I had the internal debate when the hurt started. My logical brain said "stop", my stubborn brain didn't listen.

Thanks much,
Brian

tuckerm

I would say use the number William came up with. You will know soon enough whether, say week 2-3 whether that is a reasonable number or not. Or just do another test after you are rested. The plans are great but you don't need to follow them to the letter. And welcome to EN.

Nemo Brauch

Well, that confirms my suspicion that you likely went out a little too hard on the first 20' interval. The good news is that your last 15 minutes were all fairly steady and you didn't have a huge drop off at the end. If you make an assumption that instead of having a pain issue during the first 5 minutes of the second 20, you held the same watts as the last 15 minutes, that would roughly put you around 170.

I'd suggest going with that and then seeing how you feel on the intervals. If you are starting from the beginning of an OS plan, your FTP intervals will be fairly short and the workouts should feel fairly easy to complete. (don't worry- it gets hard soon enough)

Al Truscott

I agree, for now an FTP of 170-175 makes some sense. Since we do the intervals in the 95-100% range, sticking between 166 and 175 ought to work.

Another thought: on any time trial, FTP test, or even race of any length, it's always best to start out going with a perceived effort of 5-15% less than you think you should for maybe the first 10% of the way, or 4-5 minutes in this case (2 x 20'), and build from there.

BTW, where exactly was the pain, on the inside of the thigh, or more like at the very base of the abdominal muscles, where they attach to the pelvic bone? The former makes me think of fit issues (too high a saddle?), while the latter can have several different origins.

gonnzo

Thanks to everyone for your help! This place is great

@Nemo - Yup, I started too hard, but didn't realize it until about 5 minutes into the first interval. Hard to tell when it's really too much and when I'm just being a wuss. I should be smarter the next time around.

@Al - Pain was essentially top of inner thigh, not abs. Felt fine through the end of the interval, but very tight and tender for 10 minutes after I started trying to walk. Seems fine now. Bike fit makes sense, I "fixed" it by shifting my weight off-center on the saddle for the rest of the test. I'll have to spend some time figuring that one out too.

Now at least I have some kind of baseline to work from. We'll see how the first weeks go and shift if needed. Now to update my sig with a starting FTP...
(any other computer geeks out there that have a hard time looking at "FTP" without thinking File Transfer??)

Cheers all,
Brian

GMAN 19030

The pain was likely in your hip flexors. Sprinting-type motions (like pedaling as hard as you can) will put a tremendous amount of stress on your hip flexor muscles. Google search some hip flexor stretches. Odds are that your hip flexor muscles are kind of weak. It will get better but I'm sure you've learned not to go out too hard.

gonnzo

@Bob - thanks for the tip.  I do have very tight hip flexors, as in the upper front of the thigh, just below the hip bone.  This pain was more "underneath", slightly posterior of midline on the inner thigh.  Knowing that all these systems work together, you might just have a point even though it's not what I usually think of as hip flexor.  I'll keep working those and see what happens next time.  And now I have a better idea of starting pace, so less likely go too hard.  If there's a problem I'll post in the medical forum.

Thanks for all the help folks!

Brian

GMAN 19030

http://www.lift-fitness.com/images/...er_leg.gif

What muscle group of the leg would you think the pain was located?

gonnzo

Bob - great diagram to aid in a discussion like this. From this view, it would probably be the m. gracilis, or the group sits directly posterior to it. With a rear view I could be more certain, but I couldn't figure out how to find a different view on that site.

Should this discussion be moved to another forum? And if so, how best to do that? It's certainly not about power and pace anymore.

Nemo Brauch

Brian- yeah, probably best to move this discussion to a new thread. I suggest you start a post in the Medical forum describing the pain/problem and asking for input. You can always insert a link back to this thread for folks to get a little more background on the discussion.