Good points. It’s very easy to get hung up over following the process to a T, but at the end of the day, the formula used to generate an FTP value from the test is somewhat arbitrary. Taking 75% of your 1-minute power is just the top of the bell curve. I’ve found that my number ends up being 73%. Really the test is just about getting you into the right neighborhood.
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I seem to have the opposite problem with the ramp test. I set the watts after 10 higher to do my workouts and only have trouble with the Vo2 max workouts. Also I never seem to have an increase in my FTP. However, I am 71 so getting a higher FTP is tougher.
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Very helpful. Was doing first week of SPB II after a Ramp test this week and found that for my first two workouts after the Ramp test I was unable to complete last interval. I had it at 93%. Darn. I’ll have to readjust levels. I too have stopped going so very deep when I do Ramp.
Yes, getting improvements in FTP for us older athletes is hard.
My problem with the FTP test is that my FTP numbers are fine, almost too easy for the SS and endurance training, but mega hard for the VO2 max, and max sprints.
I was just about scraping through, in general build ,and sustained power build, but now at the end of short power build, i have finally broken down, and have failed my last 4 workouts, or opted to do a short version, and/or lower the intensity.
It has become so demoralising that I ve decided to abandon ship with 2 weeks to go.
The plan is to have a rest, then start SSB1LV at the FTP I tested at the beginning of SPB.
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As someone who is focused on mainly TT/ climbing, I generally OVER test. I probably have just become too good at F@&€ing me up 20 minutes. All my zones however become pretty unrealistic afterwards. Especially endurance and tempo just become too high.
If I base my zones on my actual one hour power (around 10watts below my tested FTP), things look better.
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What does that mean for the intensity of your VO2max workouts?
I have a pretty good VO2 max, and can go pretty deep, I definitely overtest on the ramp. Doesnt really matter so long as you are aware of it IMO. Awareness is the issue though!
Last ramp test says 307w FTP, but my best all time 20min power isnt even that (305w for the record). Normalised though, I did 315w for nearly 50mins on Friday last week, all VO2 max efforts!
Gives me a good target anyway 
I have been training on a polarised model so far this year, just 8 min efforts at whatever i can hold, keeping HR above ~90% HRMax. So far so good 
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I think I may be in the boat of overtesting on ramp tests as well. Last ramp test for reference day after one of the last crit races for the season was 247 watts.
I’m able to get through the sweet spot workouts with some difficulty, but always seem to crack and unable to finish workouts very close to FTP (I.e. Donner). Currently on a 16 week plan builder for a climbing road race, in SSBLV2.
I find the V02 workouts im starting now are very achievable leading me to think i’m powering through the last minutes of the ramp test. After reading through some posts on here, i’ve lowered my FTP to 0.73 of last 1m power of ramp instead of 0.75.
Will post back to see how I feel here for anyone in a similar situation but keen for any other ideas or if I should just stick to what i’ve tested at.
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My last ramp test put me at 278. I have suspected I overtest for a while, as over-unders and threshold intervals are horrible 
I actually attempted to hold max power for an hour last night (on a flat Strava loop). Now I mispaced it slightly (started a touch slow), and miscalculated how long each lap would take me, but ended up holding an average of 262 for 53 minutes. I suspect 265-70 would be genuine ‘hour power’ for me. I am pretty sure I couldn’t hold 280 for more than 35 minutes.
So I think I do slightly over-test, and the (attempted) 60 minute test was useful. N=1, YMMV.
I’ll be working off an FTP of 265 for this next block and seeing what happens.
VO2 seems to be spot on at 100% intensity for me.
Hard to do when your first foray into cycling training is Trainer Road, as it was for me. I just thought “Damn this cycling training is bloody hard!” Why would I question it…
Just saying, it is not a good introduction to cycling for people new to cycling training and would lead to Trainer Road losing new people.
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I think you’re spot on there! I think Trainer Road should provide this sort of advice for the RAMP test, especially for new users; it is better to train a little under your power zones than over. Anyway, just feedback for Trainer Road.
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No, I don’t think it should prompt you to elevate your FTP if you are following a training plan. That is why TR has FTP test at the start of each training block. Because of the progression of the workouts you could easily find yourself training out side of the intended zone. Sweet Spot is 83-97% of your FTP so a hour ride with 0.93 IF is well within the sweet spot zone. If you can finish a ride with an IF of 1 without feeling like you’re on the verge of breaking then your FTP maybe too low.
I wish I had an FTP setting for Sweet Spot and one for Threshold/VO2. I seem to always have to turn down SS and turn up the rest. Maybe I’d be better suited to a traditional FTP test 
I’m completely new to structured training as of November 2021. I fell in love with the idea of TR’s adaptive training and how the intensity of workouts would be tailored to my fitness level. Coming from over 7 years of CrossFit, where we just guesstimate how to scale workouts to fit a training stimulus, this level of order in TR sounded refreshing.
I did my first ramp test (FTP of 205) and set about SSB1 LV. It was all new to me, so I had no idea what SS or threshold workouts were supposed to feel like. SS was really tough; threshold was a grind. I love exercise, but I would dread my 90-minute threshold dates with the trainer. They weren’t fun.
Got through SSB1 and did my next ramp test: FTP of 240. I was thrilled with the improvement. Reality set in quickly, however, with SSB2. My SS workouts grew even tougher, and threshold workouts were barely doable. And soon I started bailing on threshold workouts and began questioning my gains, my grit, and even my genetic capacity for aerobic improvement. (VO2 max workouts were actually fine.)
So, I went back and read all the things: (1) ramp test isn’t perfect; (2) you need to reduce your FTP if you’re failing workouts; (3) FTP is only half the story—SSB might also do a lot to help improve time to exhaustion (vs. increase FTP); (4) although it’s tough for new riders to pace the 20-minute protocol, it’s important for new riders to know what threshold feels like and to learn how to pace; (5) if you smash—like obliterate—the ramp test (which I did—CrossFit is great for teaching you how to annihilate workouts at whatever cost), your FTP will be overestimated.
So today, amidst my SSB2 plan, I eschewed my scheduled workout and instead performed the Kolie Moore baseline FTP protocol (The Physiology of FTP and New FTP Test Protocols). I reviewed my past workouts to see what felt sustainable and where I’d failed and estimated my true FTP to be about 210. I used that to perform the test and nailed my FTP.
The nice thing about the protocol is that I could confirm what threshold should feel like (it used to feel like VO2 max; imagine doing 9-minute VO2 max intervals that you believe are supposed to be threshold over-unders!). The latter part has a slow ramp up in watts, and I could feel the lactate build up and see my heart rate venture into above-threshold territory. It’s really a great test to do if you have a ballpark notion of your FTP (based on my single experience).
So the ramp test was feeding me an FTP that was about 15% too high. For someone new to structured training with a smart trainer, I think that’s unacceptable guidance. The fact that SSB1 was doable had me trusting the process. I bought in. And then SSB2 hit me like a ton of bricks. It was really confusing—and demotivating. I’m really hoping the new AI-based FTP estimates do a better job than the ramp test does of accurately assessing everyone’s FTP, not just most people’s.
Although I’m a little salty about my TR experience thus far, it’s not so bad coming to learn that my high-end/sprint power probably isn’t so bad.
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Welcome @DonDC95
My experiences with Trainer Road is very much like how you described. Threshold workouts had me at 94% Max HR and my impossible to complete. My later solution was only go 90% on the FTP test (20min and later ramp test). That solved most of this. I just wish someone told me when I started with Trainer Road to only go about 90% in the FTP test. But between starting Trainer Road and figuring out the issues with FTP test, I’ve found other ways to train too. Such as learning the value of the long slow distance (LSD) ride (which has helped me tremendously).
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When I started with TR, I also had this feeling of “overtesting” with the Ramp Test. Meaning that SS and Threshold workouts felt really really hard with high Heart Rate.
After two years of not adjusting my tested ftp and riding through a lot of hard SS workouts, I have adapted well to SS, and my HR not only is substantially lower, but remains more or less constant through all intervals. SS now really feels like a constant load, that only gets a little harder after 75min into the workout.
I think with adaptive training, you should absolutely NOT change your ftp manually; but already before AT, adjusting the FTP minimized your possible gains, mainly for SS work.
Oh my. I can’t but help think how much further along you’d be by now had your training been more dialled. Bugger.