Peak60min Power on a recent ride
Hey, had a really good outdoor ride yesterday, especially for early March (thx EN and OS!)
to sum it up, the plan was to get 3x15' worked into my familiar 3hr ride. It's REALLY hard to get pretty 15' framed intervals out here due to the rollers. So, I adjusted the plan. 3hr Always Be Pushing Ride with three 15' intervals of Always Be Pushing A Little Harder.
going into it...indoor FTP of 220, outdoor adjusted to 240.
results of the ride looked like good progress from OS.
57 miles in 2:55
Pnorm of 238, IF of 1.08
Peak60min of 247
CRAP, should I just use this info for my FTP test this week? Not trying to get out of the test, but I am super busy this week. This might allow me to sub a shorter/harder workout for test day, IF I can get some kind of testing numbers out of yesterday's results.
How would you Power Guru's handle this?
Comments
@Chris, without dragging this too long, I think it is entirely legitimate to do that. If you believe the integrity of the data is good, go for it. If you read wiki on the subject, it would support your call to use those numbers.
The question is, how do you use this info instead of a test? As you held 247 for 60', your outside ft looks like 245-250. You would then have to swag backwards to what the indoor should be and that can be sketchy without testing on the trainer. Outside ft's can be influenced by a lot of things, mostly terrain. Indoors are very controlled and specific, but I'd guess 235ish indoors. If you're going to be primarily outside from here on out, cool. But I'd make sure I had an accurate indoor number and swag up for my outside number instead of vice versa. My spread from outside to inside was about 20 points but that was a tt up a hill for 40' and that always garnered me a higher number than a rolling tt (real world race terrain) so it really wasn't that high, it just looked better.
Nice work.
I do the believe the effort was legit. And I understand the value of having accurate inside and outside FTP numbers. By mid week, I'll evaluate how my legs are feeling and if there's some juice in 'em, I'll test on the trainer. I'll keep 247 for a new outside baseline. I expect to be riding outdoors more often, but the trainer workouts are so efficient that I will continue in the Pain Cave when called for. Thus, an accurate indoor number is a good idea.
and good point about the terrain skewing the numbers up. But, even though a more realistic racing terrain may yield a lower FTP, isn't a tougher course still an indication of 'hard-as-you-can-for-an-hour' effort?
@ Chris M - I see your point, sounds like the idea of specificity. Luckily, this route is perfect for specificity, in my training world. It is a route that I try to get in a couple of times a month, from spring to fall. Very repeatable, weather permitting. So, I guess that Peak60min value is useful in this scenario....
I guess what I need to be sure of is whether or not it's 'legal' to use Peak60min as a new FTP. I wasn't 'testing' on the Saturday ride, though I was Always Be Pushing. Due to the terrain, I'm not able to look at WKO+ and pull out a clean 20' or 42' effort. Am I off base in looking at the Peak60min?
C