Ai and change of ftp

So, I’m not a consistent trainer, but over the years my fro had varied from 220 to 266. Last one was in the 230s. Due to various reasons I haven’t been able to do much cycling in the last six months , so I dropped my ftp to 225. I was finding the workouts relatively easy, so I did my ramp test, but it came back at 217? Is this not going to make future workouts easier

And as I finish typing this, I hear the topic on the pod saying not every workout should be hard, they will come! So my question is already answered on todays pod

1 Like

There are two factors that affect workout difficulty. One is duration, the other is intensity at that duration. The FTP input anchors the intensity, the PL generally sets the duration around a given intensity. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but that’s the rough idea. So bottom line, if you undershoot your actual FTP, you can do higher PL workouts. If you overshoot your actual FTP,
you should do lower PL workouts. The workout difficulty can be very similar and training stimulus as well (within reason). This is why PL decreases with an increase in FTP - the goal is to keep difficulty the same while giving room to keep growing.

This all ties back to a linear work-time relationship for human physiology. The more intense the effort, the shorter the time you can do it. And if you compare that trend in the context of work done over a given period of time it changes linearly for a large portion of durations we care about.

I think it’s better in TR to have too high an FTP input than too low. Easier to tell for me when something is too hard vs too easy. I also am happy to just send it on a stretch/breakthrough/not recommended workout if I think PL are too low. YRMV

I prefer sticking to the lower side as I find for me it helps me stay motivated and consistent

1 Like

Pre-AT lower 100%. Or at least more accurate than a ramp would give me.

Post- AT lower gives me super high PLs. Which means for sweet spot I’m getting 3x30s - all the time. Or threshold super long stuff as well.

I like the workouts in that 5-8 range mostly. Depending on volume.

1 Like

What PL are you for threshold generally? As a PL10 for SS I’m generally around PL6 for threshold but really struggle with the 105% for 10min workouts.

It depends on what I’m doing and I’m less likely to tailor FTP input to what PL I want for threshold than take whatever I’m at and try to progress it up.

That’s in contrast to doing sweet spot last few months where I’ve dialed my FTP input up to keep my PL lower and stay away from 10+ workout suggestions.

Doing sweet spot only and going through some FTP input increases my threshold PL dropped to 1.2 or 1.4. I did Starlight to recalibrate and it is over 4. If I were doing threshold focus - as in I want to TT for 30-60 min, I’d drop FTP input and aggressively work to raise that threshold PL up to 8 or higher. But my focus right now is muscular endurance in that 90-98% range. So exact threshold PL isn’t a major focus.

1 Like

2 Likes