Training is testing, testing is training. Well, I felt like I had to do a test again since the last 4 weeks or so I have deliberately not put any (read: not too much) lactate into my legs when training. A lower cadence, with focus on putting strain on the legs (low cadence, high gear) and focus on breathing / heart rate / trying to burn fat, left me with a good feeling and a feeling my training felt less and less intense. I also got the feeling that problems related to my injury were slowly fading away (finally).
Now, that's all fine but at the same time I do have to make a small change in my FTP. Otherwise I will just be doing less, because I am improving. So, I did the 20 minute Trainerroad test just like 3 weeks ago. Below you can see my feeling it show in the result.
Power (watt)
Cadence (rpm)
First graph shows the power, second the cadence. The red line is my old test of three weeks ago. Power for this test was very stable and consistenlty 30 watt higher, whereas a few weeks ago I started a bit too hard the first 2 minutes or so and had to back off. My new test is a good example of good pacing: getting into the right mode the first 2/3 minutes and then a stable wattage and cadence (88 rpm) until the last 1.5 minutes in which I increase the power output. My average heart rate went up from ca 120 (start) to 177 in the end. On average my HR was 167. Power to HR drift was 4.5% which I deem OK (<5%). I did feel I could do a bit more, but at the end I felt this was a good test of where I stand now.
The rule of thumb of taking 95% of the 330 watt for FTP setting would put it at 315watt. However, I would like to take conservatism into account and I will put it on 305 watts. Why? It was on 285 and I find the step to 315 too big. I want to build up slowly and really make sure my engine becomes very well trained (for fat burning and moving up to long tempo rides). I want to take that slow and not to overdo anything.
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