Earlier in the week I rode a virtual / simulated climb and wondered if I can draw any conclusions from it.
I rode it blind, just went up at what I thought was a sustainable but hard pace for the length of the climb. At the top I didn’t feel like I had held anything back but pushed as hard as I could over the crest just onto the downhill.
It was approx 9:30 in duration. First 9 mins sat at 113% FTP, last 30 seconds averaged 135% of FTP with 175% of FTP for the last 5 seconds as went over the crest.
After I was shot to bits, did 3-4 mins zone 2 then back up to SS but couldn’t increase power any higher. Took 5 mins there then cooled down and sat inside feeling trashed.
Does that mean anything useful? This isn’t a humblebrag by any means, have left out the FTP number intentionally as it is best part of 15% lower than when I was fit a couple of years back, and even at it’s peak it wasn’t particularly impressive
There are a few “standard” testing protocols such as the 8 minute test and 20 minute test. 8 minute test calculates the FTP from the average of 2 8 minute blocks at 90%. But the tests all have pretty specific clearing efforts included as well, so I wouldn’t draw any conclusions from such an effort.
Best thing to do is just do a ramp test. it’s pretty quick and doesn’t take a huge toll on the upcoming days.
Correlation from short duration efforts to FTP varies widely depending on a number of different factors and its not a good idea to try and draw any conclusion other than “I got stronger” relative to a similarly paced effort of similar duration or “I should retest” using whatever assessment protocol you’ve decided to stick to.
Power PRs are great! They often tell you that your training is working, but they aren’t going to tell you your FTP and they shouldn’t determine where you should be training to continue to get stronger
You could try something like loading the ride into https://Intervals.icu where it will estimate your FTP from the effort. Then set your TrainerRoad FTP to that and try some work outs. Worse case is its not right(to much or to little) and you go back to your TrainerRoad estimated FTP.
