Im not sure how it adds to the discussion that you did a 17 hour, 850 TSS for one week last year, especially since your CTL was only 84. And id bet that was an event while we are talking training.
You never corrected himâŚand that was the main point of his argument 
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It could be as simple as duplicate rides being recorded in TRâs calendar. Itâs happened to me several times.
Seems we should probably just let it go? Forum rules and all?
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The 848 was 6 week average not from one ride.
I donât really have a dog in the fight, but it looks like he said he was riding 5-6hrs per week.
Thatâs all I meant
I donât think itâs a big deal, itâs just an indication he hadnât updated his FTP for a while prior to that Ramp Test.
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Yeah apologies it really doesnât. Was trying to illustrate I donât think 848 6 week average would be too high for pro riders so yeah one week doesnât say anything. So, including the week I screen shot the previous five were: 497, 770, 601, 685 and 939. This was mostly base for el Tour which was the next week so no events in the 6 weeks. After el Tour I started a plan for a race about 12 weeks later. 6 week average still relatively high but took a hit through Christmas. I stand by statement that I donât think 800+ is high for a pro. Again from what Iâve seen and from what I can do as an old guy and from other amateurs I know who ride much more than me.
I donât think we are that far off in our views. The missing piece is that if you go through the training rides of a typical amatur, they often put up 70+ hourly TSS and even a nice, slow ride targeting 60% of FTP (slower than most are comfortable riding) usually includes 10 or 15 min at or above FTP: A stop sign acceleration here or there, some hills, overtaking a rider⌠This ends up being a 50 to 60 TSS per hour effort.
Look through pro rider training rides (Mattieu van der poel is a great one to watch on Strava) and they pull 3 hour rides at 50% to 60% of FTP, but they usually target under one minute per hour at or over FTP. This nets 25 to 35 TSS per hour, or under 100 total TSS on a 3 hour training ride. Their harder efforts donât go much over FTP either and typically include short blocks totalling under 30 min near FTP on a single ride.
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16 weeks is enough to see real gains. 10% can definitely be beaten, though it is very difficult to forecast this type of improvement.
If nothing else, Iâd guess youâll test a little better next time just by having practiced the 20 min TT, and from being familiar with the protocol.
You really wonât get improvement in your FTP from the core work, though
If you do a ton of unstructured group riding in the summer I think the bigger risk than losing fitness would be building too much fatigue. Lots of people follow a structured plan of 4-8 hours in the winter with planned intensity and rest. Then summer, nice weather, and group rides come and they are now doing 6-12 hours of hard group rides and when they do something âeasyâ itâs a 4-5 hour group âenduranceâ ride that has lots of surges over hills and such. So they arenât getting that same work to rest ratio.
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Thinking about this as summer approaches after my first winter/spring on TR. I do plan to ride more outdoors soon. Thereâs no way I can continue on this current plan if I ride say, 3 times per week.
So letâs say I ride 3 outdoor rides per week, at a total of maybe 7 hours at reasonably hard riding. My outdoor rides, Strava estimates my avg power at around 190-200. I know thatâs not super accurate but it feels relatively close to my perceived exertion. The TSS on my last 2 outdoor rides (which are fairly typical for a weekday/weekend ride) were quite high, over 120. Would it be helpful to throw in endurance rides on the trainer in between? IT would give me more volume without taxing me too much for those outdoor rides. OR would this be useless? I also lift and run so itâs a lot to fit in but I figure with easy endurance rides on the trainer, I could do those at any time, and on the same days as other activities.
