Originally Posted by
DrIsotope
Whenever I feel like I'm having a low-output day, I just remember that one of my buddies at the LBS had his girlfriend do an FTP test. She's a little thing, with the power to match. Her average 20-minute power? 81 watts. I think I need about a hundred just to maintain forward motion on level ground.
Exactly.
My head works a little different than most. I went to college to be an accountant, and I used to farm for a living. There's always metrics, and there's always best practices within those metrics.
Most people coming off the couch aren't going to jump into a big serious training program (I did but I'm not most people). I did and failed miserably because I over trained. So I hired a trainer who put a muzzle on me, and limited my initial work. Pretty much all I was doing was endurance (zone 2, or sweet spot) riding. We did a FTP test and I made 245w. After six weeks, we retested and I made 317.
All I did was a ton of cardio development work, but it raised the floor, which raised my FTP in sympathy.
And I submit thats where most people are. Building fitness and improving performance so you can reach the goals that you want. In my case, that was to ride one specific event that was four months away. And I learned a few things. One of them is to not let my TSS slope get much past 10 otherwise I get sick.
Note this article:
http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2015/05...ramp-rate.html
If you pledge to do enough work to raise your TSS floor by 7 per week, you'll be at 70 at the end of ten weeks and 182 at the end of six months. Your fitness will be the best it's ever been and your weight may be enough you can't post in the forum anymore.
You can do this.