I’ve done 6 weeks of TrainerRoad built plan now - base 1 phase is complete.
This week was I assume a recovery week - most of my scheduled rides were Z2 and even Z1???
I don’t know if that’s by design, but I think it was meant to make me well rested for the FTP test on Tuesday.
Well, I went out today, with my training already on and I met some people and one thing led to another and we started ‘racing’ a bit.
I came back to my senses after an hour or so and then pedalled back home for anothe hour - again way harder than planned as I was behind schedule, but it was still a period of full on riding - as opposed to the easy ride i was supposed to do today.
Should wait a day longer or so to do the FTP test now?
Frankly - I’ve read that you should be doing your tests as part of regular training so that they reflect your typical ability rather than some hypothetical, ideal best that you can only achieve after a full week of recovery?
Still test Tuesday - remember that the “test” is to set your FTP for your next training block. Going into a test with bit of fatigue will not hurt you.
We’ve probably all done that! You start to feel good during the recovery week. Legs feel fast. Just makes you want to…go.
No harm, though. It won’t make that much difference, IMO. Take an extra day if it makes you more comfortable. I would just pay extra attention to my recovery between now and the test.
Depends how fatigued you are IMO. One of the major “selling points” of the ramp test over other formats is that you don’t have to be 100% recovered, and carrying a bit of fatigue probably won’t affect your results greatly.
If, however, you’re completely wiped, your result probably isn’t going to be a great representation of your capabilities, so I’d wait a bit in that case. Where you draw that line is pretty subjective, and unfortunately it’s pretty hard to know without the experience of a having done a few tests already. I’d say just listen to your body- at the very least it’ll be a learning experience, and you can always adjust the result up/down if necessary
The recovery week isn’t there to set you up for a ramp test, it’s there so you can absorb all the training from the preceding block. Do the test, you be fine
A similar thing happened to me before my last ramp test, and I didn’t test as well as I expected.
Initially, I was bummed at the results and was cursing myself for getting pulled along by my friends. But then I quickly realised that:
FTP is just a number, and that I was the only person judging my FTP, and
The whole point of doing TR (and getting stronger) is so that I can be egged on by my mates on outdoor rides.
If I had to go back in time, I wouldn’t have waited an extra day for recovery.
Remember - you can always add intensity to your workouts which can lead to a huge bump the next time you test.
Thanks everyone. The program seems to working!!!
In spite of not being fully recovered (I definitely felt that acidic burn in my muscles even during warmup) I was able to push myself further than even before on a ramp test - a nice 10% improvement from the last test in March (probably because I’m still a beginner such gains are still doable).
One thing I have noted (I am using Zwift’s ramp test) is that they suggest a cadence of 85-95 for the effort, however, especially early on my cadence was really low, which also kept the HR in check, until roughly LT level, at which point I started spinning a bit faster, which increased my HR even more I think.
I don’t know if it matters for the Ramp Test results, but it feels like HR is still holding me back - it goes pretty high relatively quickly, I guess it will stabilise with more training…
Anyway thanks again for a great program and for all the great feedback I’ve received here, on the forum.
I’m still pretty amazed that Sweet Spot workouts can result in such a boost in power, at levels where you’re not training - i.e. 1 minute at 400W felt a lot easier than ever, but past few weeks my training were pretty much never much above 300W. Crazy stuff, but it works!
