"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Power Testing- Training Help

So saturday morning I did some power testing. Dang power meter, how humiliating!:o Ok, anyway I had two glaring weakness's that I desperately need to improve. One is power, mine is very bad for my size, actually for any size.:rolleyes: So my 5sec, 10 sec and you get the point are way low. The other, is my ftp. While not all that bad, it fades drastically after 30 minutes, so perhaps its just conditioning.

Will increasing my 5sec power help all areas, or just that one area? What should I work on to improve this area? How can I raise my FTP?

Thanks for the help.

If your FTP fades drastically after 30 minutes, you have over-estimated it. FTP is what you should be able to hold for an hour.

Increasing 5 second power will really only help with those short violent bursts. Raising your FTP will help across the board. Although you will still need to perform sprint work, raising FTP will probably help you the most all around, I would think.

Look up Sweet Spot Training. That seems to be the most bang for your buck in training to raise FTP. But really the only way to improve the numbers you want, are to train at those numbers.

http://www.fascatcoaching.com/sweetspot.html

http://train-this.blogspot.com/2008/01/finding-your-sweet-spot.html

And some good reading here:
http://www.cyclingforums.com/f88-power-training.html

and here:
http://groups.google.com/group/wattage

And how did you determine your FTP?

And how did you determine your FTP?

I did the testing from Cogans book. 20 min - 5%, twice. Then some shorter sprints. I also had the fade problem while on a long climb the day after testing. So my legs were a bit tired already.

You may need to do the hour test then to get a proper FTP if you are fading after 30'. Some people just don't fit into that category of 20' -5%. Some people are minus 10 or 15%. Which is why Coggan himself will tell you he doesn't like the 20' test. His preference is the 60'.

You may need to do the hour test then to get a proper FTP if you are fading after 30'. Some people just don't fit into that category of 20' -5%. Some people are minus 10 or 15%. Which is why Coggan himself will tell you he doesn't like the 20' test. His preference is the 60'.

Guess I need to find a place I can ride un-interupted for an hour. I will wait till a rest week to re-test.

Some people just don't fit into that category of 20' -5%. Some people are minus 10 or 15%. Which is why Coggan himself will tell you he doesn't like the 20' test. His preference is the 60'.


If you really want to know your one hour power, obviously the most accurate way is to do a one hour TT effort. However not many people are going to be willing to do a 40k TT on a repeated basis. Thus a 2 o minute test, or even an 8 minute test ( 8 minute twice with 10 minutes rest, taking 92% of the average.) is a lot more practical.

As long as you're consistent, any of these tests should be adequate to set zones, and an measure progress.

But when he did the 20 minute test and came up with that FTP, he couldn't hold it for much over 30 minutes, so obviously the 20'-5% isn't working for him.

Well the fade may not be so bad actually. It was on a 40 minute climb where the ascent ranges from 4% to 11%, so in all fairness my wattage was up and down through out, but I tried not to let it drop below 265 watts, and it was as high as 345 watts. My FTP according to the test is 280 +/-.

You'll get better at pacing. It's important to recognize that the 60m FTP test is to be conducted when you are really well prepared. You should taper a bit for it, treat it like a race, and remain motivated throughout. You should about fall over and puke when you're done.

This is why I have no interest in testing it -- it's too invasive with respect to my training plan. I can set zones properly using shorter tests, so I do.

+1 to SST for FTP development. It started turning around really fast for me.

+1 to 5s power not being all that important. I have very strong 5s power, but my FTP was low enough that I wasn't always able to get that good position or make the break to use my sprint.

Also, training with SST, my FTP went up 10% in 11 weeks or so, and my sprint went up 7%. I only did three sprint workouts in that 11 weeks, just for maintenance. So, developing FTP really helps with everything.

Well the fade may not be so bad actually. It was on a 40 minute climb where the ascent ranges from 4% to 11%, so in all fairness my wattage was up and down through out, but I tried not to let it drop below 265 watts, and it was as high as 345 watts. My FTP according to the test is 280 +/-.

Yeah, I missed the climbing part. I wouldn't sweat it about the climb. Get a few more weeks of training and pick the data from there. Check out the other ways you can form FTP, 60' TT, NP from a 60' race, power bin drop off, etc and form an FTP from there. It's not really an exact number, within a few watts should still be okay.

At this point, I would set it at the 280w and see how the training goes from there. Re-evaluate after a few hard rides and see if you are close.