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My first EN FTP test... any advice?
Hello people,
I'll be doing my first ftp test tomorrow evening (tues) to start my first OS week. Any advice for it? I haven't done a test of this length before, so I thought I'd start at my current ftp and bump up the power every 5-7 minutes or so to see if I can hold it without taking it out too hard. I seem to work better with interval workouts where I set up small goals for longer intervals such as 20'. I'm assuming it will be much harder than the prescribed one I've been using by Coggan with only one 20' interval so I don't expect to improve to much from 6 weeks ago. Wish me luck!
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If you have time before your test- watch the Training with Power Seminar vids that Coach Rich has just published for us. The second lesson (pretty sure it was the second one) has a good breakdown on how that 2x20 is gonna feel.
Nemo, Thank you. I'll be doing it tonight. For some reason my computer at work won't go to the power seminar right now, I'll check in later. My power is on the weak side right now (195), should I begin at that and hold on, or start lower? Thanks for the help!
I works now, thank you for your help! Dan
Rich also warns that it takes about 3 tests to learn how to do these. So if you booger it, or feel you could have gone harder, or see other adjustments you could have made, that's normal. Take the number you get from the test, and train off of it. Make note of what you learned and you'll refine the test better next time. Over time you learn how to dial in the effort and pacing. I think I had my most perfect indoor testing effort to date yesterday, and I'm in season three. I think I finally know how to put it all together and can execute really well from here on out. We all get there eventually.
Whatever you do, don't use it all up in the first 5'!!! Your plan sounds smart and sound. Just make sure the watts during those first 5' are truly a number you can keep building on top of, and that over-enthusiasm doesn't have you at 3/4 effort starting out.
So easy to do.
Also, I think it's really important to be mentally calm. Don't waste energy being all tense and worried abuot how it will go. Be focused, put on a kill-'em game face, but be relaxed and trust yourself to be tough and finish strong. Put that energy into the pedals, not letting it escape through mental worry about how it will go.
Go get 'em, Dan!
thank you Linda, that was extremely helpful and supportive! Another question for you all, are you allowed to stand at all to keep pace at the end or is suggested to keep in the aero position. Thanks for everyone's help, this forum has been excellent!
Dan
Hmmm.....I hope others will weigh in on your question. On my TT bike indoors, my position just doesn't feel the same on the trainer, so I ride on the bullhorns for the most part. I doubt that's a good thing, so given that, I ride my roadie indoors. The when I get outdoors, I do an FTP test on the TT bike, and work from there.
I don't (or try not to) stand up during the test, just try to keep it hard and even. If I want to stand, I can tell I'm nearing the end of my rope! It will be interesting to learn what others do. I think there's a discussion like this in the way-back machine of 3.0. I'll see if I can dig it up.
Again, this is supposed to be a STEADY effort. Minimal spiking. When you stand- you are likely spiking the watts.
And if one is standing just to keep them in range, that is a very, very ugly place to be.
And I can say that with every bit of certainty because I've lived it--more than once, outside and indoors. Ugh.
I mention it because if I winding down in the last few minutes and stand to get the steady pace I'll do it. No way will it be done in the middle unless I have a comfort issue in the saddle, but usually I'm pretty comfortable on the rollers I have, (very similar to the road) so that won't be much of a problem staying aero. Thanks for the advice all, looking forward to the pain later.
Dan
I don't know if this is correct or not but I try to replicate my outdoor riding on my trainer - both in the normal weekly training sessions and the FTP tests. That means I usually work my way through all of the cassette gears and stand a couple of times as well (I do keep things in only the big front ring).
While doing this I do keep on eye on my watts to maintain as close to a 1.0 VI as possible, but just feel that keeping things in one gear during the entire indoor ride does not help me when I head back outside - I have never, ever ridden a perfectly flat outdoor course for any distance.
Plus this seems to help me practice at keeping watts steady during a variety of different cadences.
What does everyone else do?
P.S. Except when I am standing or riding in the 50/12 I am always in the aero position. That is where I am most comfortable - both indoors and outside. And indoors even in the 50/12 I often ride in the aero position.
Alright, I did it! It wasn't as bad as I thought, which means 2 things to me. One, I was a bit conservative because I didn't know what to expect on the second interval, two, the work I've done the past 5 weeks has worked! I went from 193 to 209. Not powerful, but a big jump. Now, if I can just figure out the data tool! Thanks everyone.
Oh, what I did was start out the first one around my original FTP and held it for 10 minutes, after that I dropped a gear, then 5 minutes later dropped another, then the last 2 dropped another and tried to hammer it home. Putzed around on the rest interval, then started the second at 200 and did the same. I had some gas left, but I'd rather err on the easy side instead of blowing up with 5 minutes to go. Now I know how it feels.
Dan
Dave