Big drop in FTP after 3 easy weeks. Should I be worried?

I started with Trainerroad at the beginning of August 2019 for triathlon training. I actually made a lot of gains during the first half-year and even went above 4.0 W/KG (see chart). No with corona, as for everybody, all my triathlon races are postponed and I tried to take it easy the last two weeks, but I suddenly felt really off on the bike and during my runs during these weeks.
So today I decided to take another ramp test to confirm my feelings and indeed my FTP went down from 264 (4.2W/KG) tot 243 (3.95W/KG) in only three weeks. I did do around 3 to 4 hours of training during these easy weeks, but I’m still perplexed by how much I lost.

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Is it normal to lose this amount of performance during rest weeks or is something else going on? Overtraining? Or am I overthinking this?

If you used the ramp test then there’s a bigger anaerobic fitness component to it, and that’s the fitness that you lose (and regain) the most quickly.

Also if you haven’t done much training for a while you might just be a bit stale. Can take a workout or 2 to clear the pipes and get everything working again.

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Thanks for the answer, but I know it’s not just being a bit stale. I know that for sure. It’s already two weeks where my legs feel burned after 30min of riding and if I take 2-3 days of nothing changes and the legs feel exactly the same again, but I don’t feel sick or anything like that.

It’s not only the ramp test that is under-performing. It’s every single training I do.

No problem! You just lost a little bit of your peak. A little bit of training load & some VO2 work and it’ll come right back.

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I had to have a three week rest off the bike due to work/stress/mood and saw a pretty big dip as well. It took me about 2 weeks to ease back in to how I felt prior to the break. This was the first week back I felt “good” on all my rides, and even then I’m still struggling towards the end of workouts. Give it time and it’ll come back quicker than you think.

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Try to relax about its perfectly normal to have a drop of fitness after having 2or 3 weeks off. Depending on where you where in the zones before the rest you might have being at the top of the zone and now at the bottom. So still all good. Honestly give it a couple of weeks. Then test if you want to. At the end of last season my ftp was at 281. At the end of last season on a training ride for a 2 hour interval I managed to average 240 watts with a NP 241 then at the start of this season’s training I could only manage 230 for 1 hour. I did have to have my zones dropped a little to 265. Then after a couple weeks it went back up to 285 obvious it was tough at the start and as I got used to them through my body adaption to the zone they then got put up again to 297 and again I’m thinking thinking oh no then a fee weeks later as I got used to the zones. Basically dont panic to much about dropping your zones it will definitely come back. Try to do some zone 2 with zone 3 stuff dont bother with vo2 at the moment you are really want to train your body to be efficient when do the ride also keep a check on your heart rate zones and if starts to go over just simply back till it’s in the right zone then carry on the zone until the heart rate goes over then just back off a little and let it settle. Doing this will teach your body to be super efficient and is basically what you have lost

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it’s just the time off; get back on a schedule and you’ll rebound quickly

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