Week 8 FTP Test
Due to some holiday travel complications, I decided to switch around my weeks 7 and 8 and did my bike test this morning. Not too bad, went from a 222 to a 233, almost a 5% increase.
I was surprised to both of my 20 minute intervals were the same at 236, usually I fade on the second set. This time in set 2 I tried to summon my inner Halligan and "not let the machine beat me" (thanks Dave).
Good luck to everyone testing next week.
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I'm testing in week 7 also due to holiday plans. I'll be cruising next week so it'll be a great time to work on my treadmill running!!! I moved up from 210w to 220w.
2x20'(2'):
Duration: 42:00
Work: 548 kJ
TSS: 77 (intensity factor 1.049)
Norm Power: 220
VI: 1.01
Pw:HR: 3.67%
Pa:HR: 3.04%
Distance: 12.398 mi
Elevation Gain: 27 ft
Elevation Loss: 7 ft
Grade: 0.0 % (20 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 317 218 watts
Heart Rate: 142 180 167 bpm
Cadence: 70 117 83 rpm
Speed: 0 26.4 17.7 mph
Pace 2:16 0:00 3:23 min/mi
Altitude: 4041 4062 4057 ft
Crank Torque: 0 331 223 lb-in
Entire workout (191 watts):
Duration: 59:59 (1:00:02)
Work: 687 kJ
TSS: 95 (intensity factor 0.975)
Norm Power: 205
VI: 1.07
Pw:HR: 2.45%
Pa:HR: 8.07%
Distance: 16.454 mi
Elevation Gain: 33 ft
Elevation Loss: 7 ft
Grade: 0.0 % (27 ft)
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 317 191 watts
Heart Rate: 67 180 156 bpm
Cadence: 52 117 83 rpm
Speed: 0 26.4 16.5 mph
Pace 2:16 0:00 3:39 min/mi
Altitude: 4035 4062 4053 ft
Crank Torque: 0 331 195 lb-in
Hey Brad,
I'm glad that little nugget helped you. It certainly has helped me in the past, although there are times when I'm ready to surrender to the machine.
Nice bump in FTP.
Dave
Great job now I have some extra motivation for next week.
Gordon
Awesome gains and way to set the bar for the rest of us next week.
First interval felt good at 300w, second one really tested the brain cells from 8' in...297 for that one.
May retest next week just for kicks...
Tested today due to work travel on Monday.
Bumped from 217 to 229.
Really pleased as last 3 weeks included a 2 week holiday in Ireland & England, & a week in Folsam, CA using stationary bikes in gyms. The watts readings maybe completely off, but my sweat-o-meter was spot on
Duration: 42:30
Norm Power: 229
VI: 1.02
Power: 39 319 225 watts
Heart Rate: 137 176 167 bpm
Nice bump Robert! Your workouts just got a whole lot harder!
I got the FTP retest done today. Tomorrow I’m heading to a warm region – a Caribbean cruise for a week.
P
Just tested this morning before catching a plane. I am happy with the gains. Looking forward to some sun and surf
Power-Tap #1:
Duration: 20:08
Work: 270 kJ
TSS: 51.7 (intensity factor 1.242)
Norm Power: 223
VI: 1
Pw:HR: 5.69%
Pa:HR: 5.92%
Distance: 8.893 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 175 341 223 watts
Heart Rate: 119 157 146 bpm
Cadence: 82 100 89 rpm
Speed: 23.2 30 26.4 mph
Pace 1:60 2:35 2:16 min/mi
Hub Torque: 46 76 56 lb-in
Crank Torque: 170 291 212 lb-in
Power-Tap #2:
Duration: 2:02
Work: 14 kJ
TSS: 2 (intensity factor 0.771)
Norm Power: n/a
VI: n/a
Pw:HR: -103.26%
Pa:HR: -39.59%
Distance: 0.638 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 215 117 watts
Heart Rate: 143 158 147 bpm
Cadence: 30 94 69 rpm
Speed: 5.6 27.9 18.8 mph
Pace 2:09 10:44 3:12 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 76 38 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 425 143 lb-in
Power-Tap #3:
Duration: 20:10
Work: 250 kJ
TSS: 44.3 (intensity factor 1.148)
Norm Power: 207
VI: 1
Pw:HR: 2.77%
Pa:HR: 2.39%
Distance: 8.705 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 136 272 207 watts
Heart Rate: 145 165 158 bpm
Cadence: 72 95 87 rpm
Speed: 21.4 28 25.9 mph
Pace 2:08 2:48 2:19 min/mi
Hub Torque: 41 76 53 lb-in
Crank Torque: 157 306 201 lb-in
Entire workout (199 watts):
Duration: 48:26
Work: 579 kJ
TSS: 107.7 (intensity factor 1.155)
Norm Power: 208
VI: 1.04
Pw:HR: 17.8%
Pa:HR: 13.86%
Distance: 20.099 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 341 199 watts
Heart Rate: 84 165 146 bpm
Cadence: 30 100 85 rpm
Speed: 0 30 24.8 mph
Pace 1:60 0:00 2:25 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 76 52 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 425 197 lb-in
egads. you guys are killing it. awesome job and way to set a high bar for the rest of us!
Had not been on the bike since Tuesday as I had my gums sliced open on Wednesday afternoon [not fun] and then took the kids skiing and went to a Kona watching party yesterday so I figured I would get it over with today. Also legs were feeling "interesting" after skiing yesterday and I did not think the "second day sore" thing tomorrow would be any better. Anyhow did not feel very good at all but got it done. Think I should have been able to hold them more even as the first one felt about right. Faded during the second. Having to parent during the test did not help much. Had it figured about 312 based on my data so the 308 from the test is pretty close. First ever trainer test over 300 so that is pretty cool. Think I will skip the HR strap from now on, the numbers are a bit scary and do not mean much to me anyhow. Glad that it is over!!!!!
318 for the first and then 306 for the second. Got off the bike for about a minute and then just super soft pedaled for the 2 mins, avg was 10 watts.
FTP Test 12/20:
Duration: 42:06
Work: 751 kJ
TSS: 74.9 (intensity factor 1.033)
Norm Power: 308
VI: 1.04
Pw:HR: 5.48%
Pa:HR: 2.69%
Distance: 15.241 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 441 297 watts
Heart Rate: 134 187 171 bpm
Cadence: 35 104 92 rpm
Speed: 2.2 24.9 22.0 mph
Pace 2:25 26:49 2:44 min/mi
Crank Torque: 0 481 272 lb-in
mental six pack building exercise for sure
@ Mancona - thought of you Friday in yoga class while we spent 30 minutes really stretching our feet and the different muscles, ligaments, tendons, etc. Did not know feet could be so tight!
FTP Test today because of travel day tomorrow. Really killed workouts this week and was looking forward to this test!
FTP bump of 5.5% or 12 watts. New FTP is 229 and new weight is 180 or a bit under. Strength going up and weght going down!
Supposed to happen that way.....right?? One huge mistake during test today with Ipod playlist selection. About 1' into 2nd 20' the "making of dani california" by Red Hot Chili Peppers comes on and it is basically a 15' plus dissertation on how/why/what went into the making of the music video. 
Not inspirational, motivating or anything. SUCKED big time and took extra mental energy to tune it out and bear down for the interval. Finally got a good song about 3' to go and it saved me! Have to get that sucka off the list!!
Here is to all you peeps who are going to crush your tests tomorrow!!
Newbie question here, regarding bike testing tomorrow, for week 8. I'm a HR person, and it has the test, but says NO test for HR. Is this a test day or not for me? Is it only a test week for the run?
You just need to do the workout that shows there. Testing for HR is not as often, but the workouts are equally difficult. Since the HR folks have to do the test RnP figures they will punish you with 2x20!
Thanks for the answer Bryan. Glad to know that RnP spread the love equally! Sufferama, here we come! May the force be with us!
Well glad to have that over!! After the hack test last week and other workouts along with work etc... I was feeling really run down and no mojo for a test at all. Luckily yesterday I took the day OFF completely and was a veggie on the couch a lot and I think this helped me seem to recover a little. Although the legs still feel a little pumped up like balloons from all the work last week.
Anyway on to the test results: (New indoor FTP by 4 watts
)
Pnorm 1st 20' = 273
Pnorm 2' rest = 151
Pnorm 2nd 20' = 269
New FTP = 269 ( The workouts should be real fun at the new level)
Also a nice drop it weight of 4lbs since last test (was 7lbs but been enjoyiing desserts) makes new w/kg=4.1
I really held it together for the whole test about right on 272 to 275 even to the 17' mark of the 2nd 20' then I just fell apart and the watts just started to free-fall till they hit 269 at the 20' mark. I really wanted both above 270 but I know I give it all I had. I think it was the hardest I've ever dug indoors on a test because at the 6' mark of the 2nd 20' I was feeling I usually feel at the 18' point of other test but somehow kept pushing and pushing through. The legs are going to pay for that. I'm just really glad I don't have to go out framing any houses today it is just office work in the chair.
Good Luck everyone and Go Hard!!
Trent: 4.1 kg/watt...you must love climbing.
Vince
Anyone in the house break 5.0 w/kg yet, or is Trent going to be the first to go for it?
What a disaster! I knew things wouldn't go well when I woke up at 4 am with some strange nightmare about Oprah Winfrey. I stayed in bed until 5:30 or so, then wandered downstairs to make a 42 minute itunes mix. The computer wouldn't recognize my ipod, so after fiddling with that for 30 minutes or so, I slugged downstairs for the dreaded 2x20.
I skipped the first test in week 1 due to the flu and have been working off an estimate of 225 that in retrospect was probably 10-15 watts too high. So this was my first ever 2x20 all out. (I'd done 2x20 at 210 in early October before the Longhorn 70.3 in my pre-EN days and had a little more in me, so I thought the 225 was a good initial estimate.)
So I hopped on the Computrainer and set the pacer at 233 watts. I thought that was a reasonable goal and planned on trying to stay with him through the first 35 minutes or so then go all out to the end. I slowly pulled away from the pacer, and the first 20 minutes went by at a miserable but tolerable 237 watts. I realized that I didn't have a towel, so the first 15 seconds of my 2' rest were spent running across the room to grab a dirty shirt to wipe sweat with.
I hopped on, recalibrated the CT (lower by .04, so my 237 watts was probably more like 235). I hopped on and started grinding away again. Five minutes into the second 20', my 6-year-old daughter wandered downstairs at 7:15. She never wakes up before 7:45 on her own, but she must have sensed that it was a snow day, so she woke up early. After three minutes of watching me race metal man on the CT, she pronounced that she was bored and started back upstairs. She absent-mindedly kicked a rubber ball that raced toward my bike, went under the crankarm, shot out the back on the next downstroke, and ripped the DIN cable out of the CTload generator. The resistance immediately dropped to nothing. I started yelling (not at her, but at the situation), hopped down, and tried to plug the CT back in. The cable was broken at the end. Arrrrrgggghhhhhhh!!!!! My daughter ran upstairs, and I spent a few minutes trying to figure out a way to resume (I had my Powertap wheel on as well to measure the load), but couldn't find a way to get the resistance up. (In retrospect, I probably could have cranked the tire down tighter against the flywheel and rode without the CT even being turned on, but I didn't think of it.)
So, here I am, 7.5 minutes into the second 20. I've got a broken Computrainer (hopefully it's just $10 for the new cable+ $20 for second-day air shipping--I hope the load generator isn't damaged as well.) I can't run outside due to lingering ice from the 20" of snow on Saturday. The pools are closed due to the snow. Am I stuck on the treadmill the rest of the week?
And that's to say nothing of the messed up test. I don't think I can summon the mojo to repeat. I feel like I could have kept the pace up for the remaining 12.5'. I've been playing around in WKO+ and Excel and figured out that the NP would have been 233 had I kept the pace up. I'm pretty sure I could have, and perhaps I could have gone faster for the last few minutes. Who knows? I'm going to call it 233 and proceed with that. The last 12 minutes is the easiest part, right?
My mood is finally starting to improve. I apologized to my daughter for snapping at her. I'm also going to have to delay the VDOT test. I had signed up for a 5k for Saturday that was cancelled due to snow. I think it might be a couple weeks before I can run outside full bore without slipping on ice. And I refuse to do it on the treadmill--I run so rarely on the treadmill that I have no way of translating it to an outside effort. I think there's a 5k in Hampton or Virginia Beach that I may do when I go see my parents New Year's weekend--they just got an inch or two that should be melted by then.
Vince
Ouch! Something similiar happened to me last OS, I was was cranking away on the CT and when I went to grab a towel, ripped the wire out of the handle bar mount and it just broke me. I hopped off and plug it back in, but it took awhile sime my hands and arms were shaking, I just mentally quit after that.
@ Trent - HUGE!!!!
Some nice results coming in...I'm testing tonight after work.
Had to test last night. Probably not ideal conditions (2 hours of shoveling earlier in the day, still recovering from a funky throat cold), but felt like I'd be able to give it a go, so I went for it.
First 20 were very strong, and I felt like I was doing a good job holding back a touch (until the last 3 minutes). NP of 247. The 2' rest I spun at Z1, instead of my usual sub-100 watts (don't know why, but 160 watts just didn't feel tough at all).
2nd 20 were a different story. First 5 minutes were solid. Second five minutes, I was having a real hard time getting watts above about 240 unless I gave the pedals an extra stomp every few pedal strokes (not a sustainable solution). The 3rd 5 minutes were the worst. Watts plummeted around 12' in, and I really felt the test going south. Mentally, the thought crossed my mind to call it a day. But, remembering to old posts, I took 15s of soft pedaling to put my head back on straight, and got back to it. Pushed it back to the 240 level until 5' to go, and then was able to will myself to push to the end, upping the average to 242 by the time the clock hit 20'. I was totally spent, and could barely move. I guess that's the mark of a good test!
So, a new FTP of 242 for me (up from 234 in week 1). Matches my 95% of 20' power from the Powerhack test pretty well, so it can't be too far off. Also matches my outdoor high from this past season, so I'm pleased with the direction I'm going in.
I'll be sending out good mojo for everyone testing tomorrow!
Mike
Ooooooh baby. I was scared of this but there was no need. Original FTP was 153. I've been hitting 170s and 180s on my intervals, so I figured the first test was a bit of a bust. I aimed to try to keep it in the low 170s. First interval was tough but doable. Second interval never got hard - for the last 5 minutes the angels starting singing as the wattage climbed to the 180s...then the 190s...then 200+ as I brought it home for the final 2 minutes. Yeah! I guess I could've gone even harder, huh? Final norm power was 175, so I've already hit RnP's prediction.
Keith - sorry to hear about your morning!
The test......
I had been pulling 300w for the 12 min intrevals recently but those were on the road bike. I knew that would be a pipe dream on the tri bike but still pushed pretty hard.
At the end of the test I ended with a new Pnorm of 270W, which is an increase of 5 from last test. Not a huge gain but I know that will translate to about a 290-295W out on the road.
Bring on the 30/30s!
Well that was fun. Old FTP 223. New FTP 245. Guessing that is like 10% gain. Kind of died on the last one. Need to work on pacing. Really thought I was gonna hurl at some point there.
Great my life just got a whole lot harder, but faster so that is good.