Oh right…my assumption was the 4DP test was ordered to account for fatigue in some way to give numbers they feel are accurate. From my history this year only:
5sec - 947w
1min - 412w
5min - 301w
20min - 223w
Which goes right into what I’m saying I think. All my numbers there are equal or greater than yours…until we hit that 20 min number where I fall well back.
if you have enough recent hard efforts, no problem cherry picking from the chart (versus Sufferfest test). For better accuracy you might want to make a “last 90-days” season. As of today, May 3, I would simply make a new season from Feb 1 2019 thru May 3 2019. Or just look at the season PR dates on each of the durations.
Whatever TR recommends for my FTP (177 W). I might drop intensity 2-3% if that still leads to the workout being a “sweet spot” workout.
The 4DP test does allow you to take a break and get off the bike twice in the test (after 5 min and 20 min efforts), so it’s hard, but doable.
Yeah that’s almost exactly what the numbers I listed were. Only one that changes is the 20 min which goes down 2 watts.
sometimes its depressing, two years ago I was doing 240W for 2 hours, and my 1-min was 537W. Whole curve looked so much better, but hey, my knee issues fixed!
Good to know the author of “FTP Physiology and New Testing Protocols” has a podcast. Listened to the 2x20 episode, now listening to a couple more episodes.
Need some motivation so that my “Got Fast Once” Oct 2016 - May 2017 season has a companion in the future! 
Cool,
Interesting to see that the ramp test (presumably) gave you an FTP of 177W and the 20 minute portion of the Full Frontal test gave you 175W.
My understanding is that the Full Frontal test uses the full 20 minute average rather than the more common 95% that is used in the old TR test. They claim that the previous efforts blunt your ability to hold power for 20 minutes so doesn’t need a reduction factor. My problem with this is that the only addition to the classic 20 minute test is 2 no. 6 second neuromuscular efforts before the all out 5 minute effort that is already in the classic 20 minute test.
Based on that I believe your FTP should be a little lower at 175 x 0.95 = 166W (or thereabouts).
When you look at the proportion of 5 minute power to 20 minute power (236 / 175 = 1.34) you can see that the ramp test is probably also overestimating you FTP by some margin since the ramp test appears to work well when your 5 minute power to FTP ratio is close to 1.2. TR VO2max workouts are done at 120% of FTP, which is a pretty good estimate for the population.
If you really want to confirm if you’re training in the correct zones at and just below FTP, it may be worth seeing how long you can hold your FTP for.
Mike
Yes, the 177 W figure came from a ramp test. So I should reduce my FTP and increase intensity on VO2Max workouts?
Kolie is a mega smart dude. No wonder his peeps win so much.
That’s what I would do - I’d like to think you’ll see better improvements from lowering your FTP and working in the correct zone than if you continued to struggle along at the higher FTP.
Mike
I also had the feeling that the ramp test was overestimating my FTP to the point that sweet spot was extremely hard.
I took the lactate test by INSCYD and learned that my FTP was only slightly overestimated (which is okay as Nate already mentioned) BUT my aerobic ceiling is just too low (which is compensated by a decent anaerobic capacity). To give you numbers, my INSCYD threshold zone was 230-265 (TR ramp test put me at 265). However my INSCYD VO2max zone was 258-285, so both zones are actually overlapping. Whenever I did TR-VO2max workouts like Mills everything felt great since they are mostly short (<3min) and my capacity is okay as I mentioned. However, I could never do a set of 5min intervals at the TR-VO2max level of 120%, especially on a fresh ramp test value
So maybe the best solution for you is not to lower your FTP, but to go where it hurts most i.e. focus on raising your aerobic celing by doing a) 4-8min intervals at 103-105% b) 6-12min OverUnders (but with slightly lower lows) c) Intense 30/30s, 40/20s, 30/15s sessions.
Keep working on faster cadence, and you’ll get there. I played rugby for years, and was an explosive speed player, so muscle composition skewing fast twitch. When I stared cycling (MTB) my natural cadence was 70-80.
As I rode more, and started to ride road, my cadence increased to 85-95. I now can do most of the TR workouts holding 95rpm cadence. Just took time.
It’s worth training your cadence higher if you plan on doing long rides, as faster cadence tends to use more slow twitch muscles which have better fatigue resistance.
Did my ramp test again and FTP is 168 W - about 5% lower than previous figure of 177 W. I’ll try Sustained Build plan with this FTP and see how it goes
Reminds me of my Mum telling me to eat my greens.