Is it normal to have my ftp sit in one place for almost 5 month. What can i do to improve this?

TrainerRoad Software
22

A likely candidate is long-term fatigue.

The first thing I have noticed is that you haven’t taken time off the bike since late May 2025, and perhaps your body can’t handle that. I have learnt the hard way that if I pick a 10-month training block instead of a 6-month training block, I tend to get sick towards the end and I wouldn’t be able to complete the block.

So I’d take time off the bike, 2–3 weeks, after state championships.

When you start your next training plan, here is what I would try:

  • Track and improve your sleep.
  • I’d reduce volume, and I would start with removing endurance rides after hard workouts. I noticed you have a lot of 30ish-minute endurance workouts at > recovery power following a hard workout. Cut those out.
  • Change the stimulus. During the last training plan I made excellent gains, because I replaced a 2-hour endurance ride by a 2-hour sweet spot ride. I’m a diesel and if you can do 3x30 minutes at 90–95 % FTP, 2 hours at endurance pace is a piece of cake.

The first two items can be summarized as recover harder.

I would advise against that. From what you describe, PL 3–4 threshold workouts are ok, but you lose steam after 50+ minutes. That sounds more like a fatigue issue, but you haven’t included anything that’d make me point to having an FTP that is too high.

23

Thanks for the feedback, kind of think it may be long term fatigue. I had a 3 week block in October with low volume and thought that may have been enough but it’s possible it was not.

When you replaced your two hour endurance with sweet spot how many hard days were you doing per week (SS and above)?

I’ve been following the check volume feature and it’s been giving me that 30 minute endurance ride on Tuesday, lot of times it’s still in the Z2 low tempo range and was hoping to build up to an hour on it. May try losing it.

Think I will take a good break after my event this month before starting again.

24

@HuyCT @Elgro It sounds like you’re getting some good advice here already, but if you’d like me to take a closer look, I’d be happy to!

Just let me know if I can share your training details in this thread. :+1:

25

Thanks @Eddie. Would always appreciate your input. Feel free to share whatever you need from my calendar. It should be linked somewhere in this thread.

eddie 26

How are you planning and executing your recovery weeks?

I’m seeing a lot of hard workouts and not a ton of recovery in your recent training.

You’ve been pretty good about them in the past, but your current plan looks like you’d have eight weeks on without a rest week. This might be due to your B race that landed mid-block on April 25th..

You’ve taken very little time off in almost a year, but your training has had its ups and downs. It looks like since late February, you’ve been really consistent, though, which will likely pay off during your A race in just a couple of weeks. Are you still planning on taking that event on?

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It looks like you’re struggling with the switch to hard start threshold workouts. How are those going for you? Those are always tough and can be quite jarring if you aren’t used to them. If you aren’t doing your A race anymore, switching to a different type of workout/plan might help you break free of those workouts if you don’t need that type of specificity anymore..

Do your best to ensure that you’re coming into those workouts well rested, fueled well, and ready to go. You’ve had some tough weekends lately, and if you’re carrying too much fatigue into your tough workouts on Mondays and Wednesdays, you won’t be able to absorb your training as well as you could. If you’re feeling really tired on Tuesdays, feel free to skip that easy spin to ensure you’re well rested for Wednesday.

With a difficult job and a toddler, it’s really important to listen to your body and rest when you need it. Applying bike stress to your life when you’re already running low on energy is probably only going to be counterproductive. Sometimes less is more, and life doesn’t always allow us to get the training in that we really want (speaking from current experience :smiling_face_with_tear:). You’ve done a really impressive job getting the work in with all you’ve got going on!!

Take a look at your nutrition too. Getting enough protein back on board will certainly help, but carbohydrates are king in endurance sports. We built a nutrition calculator that I’ve linked below. Take a look at that and try to use the “maintain body composition” option since you’re probably burning a lot of calories in daily life right now. You might be surprised how much you should be eating for peak performance!

Let me know your thoughts, and best of luck moving forward!

27

Thanks for the deep dive into it @eddie. I’ve been trying to follow the scheduled rest weeks that TR has in my plan and aside from the B race that fell in the most recent one I thought I was doing a pretty good job with them. I dont know if the mini-base block caused issues with those getting out of sorts, but I may be carrying a bit more fatigue than I am used to. Had rest weeks on March 2nd and March 23rd and then rest week into that race on April 20th.

B race was really hard, so that probably didn’t help reducing some of that fatigue. I came in 3rd so happy with my results especially since I wasn’t on my actual race bike and likely went out too hard on the first lap.

Still planning on doing my A race and think I should be in good shape for it. I think I am getting faster for sure. Hard starts have been difficult, but I feel like I’ve been performing better on them than the over/unders I had been doing. This week first 3 hard starts felt really good, 4th I feel like I hadn’t recovered enough in between sets and then sort of got back to it for the last. I think I have just struggled with threshold intervals for a bit now.

I’ll take a look at the nutrition calculator. May be an area of improvement.

I think I probably am dealing with a bit more fatigue than I am used to and after my A race will take a week or two off before getting back into things. May try to work in my group rides and back down to two hard workouts a week when I come back. October was sort of my off-season, but looking at the calendar there was still not complete time off the bike. Will likely plan an actual off-season for the fall as well.

Appreciate the help from you and everyone else. I do think I am certainly getting faster with TR, it’s just the stagnating FTP and max-effort threshold workouts that have sort of got me down a bit. FTP isn’t everything though.

28

That all sounds great. Congrats on a podium finish by the way! That’s a good sign for what’s to come.

Make sure that you throttle those hard workouts if you need to. Turning down the intensity if you’re struggling will likely get you a better stimulus, and that’s not a bad thing.

You want to make sure that you’re not totally cooked rolling up to that start line, so keep a good balance moving forward. Try to sleep well, and eat lots!!

Let me know how things go moving forward. Best of luck! :handshake:

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:confetti_ball:

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Sorry for late reply. Really happy to hear your advicehttps://www.trainerroad.com/app/calendar/huyct

31

It looks like you’ve been a bit up and down with your training since the start of the year, and your FTP has followed.

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It does look like you’re going to see a good-sized bump this week, though! :crossed_fingers:

It looks like you’re getting dropouts of some sort during most of your workouts, and I noticed that you used “Equipment Issue” as a post-workout survey response earlier in the year. How are your indoor workouts going? Are you able to notice those dropouts that I’m seeing?

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There are some cases where one week you really struggle with a hard workout, and then the next you’re knocking them out with a lower RPE.

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How do your workouts feel from week to week? Are they challenging, but not pushing you over the edge? It looks like you’ve had a few really tough ones. In those cases, remember that it’s okay, and probably best if you lower the workout intensity slightly to ensure that you’re able to get through the workout with the right stimulus. Also, if you’re simply having a rough day, it might be best long-term to just pull the plug and either pick up an easy spin or rest for the day.

Right now, I mostly want to ensure that there isn’t some sort of technical issue that’s causing you to struggle with some of your workout, though..

32

So kinda struggle with heat at the moment even tho i have 4 fan setup.i find the vo2max workout level alway super high while my threshold alway low level and stuck at 3 . I just done a 12km short local crit with all out efforts and i notice that i can do 200w for 10m.maybe i should change plan from hill climb specific to ftp increase instead ?

33

What types of efforts are you training for?

It looks like both your VO2 and threshold workouts have been appropriately hard.

I can see that you pause your workouts pretty often, which does affect your overall workout score. If you can, try to pedal through the entire workout.

If things feel too hard, don’t be afraid to turn the workout intensity down by a couple of percent to ensure that you can get through with the right stimulus and feel decently well the following day. :+1:

34

This year i just trying to gain ftp to 210w and race some local crit .i alway have to stop because of overheat and butt hurt

35

What does your cooling situation look like? Are you using fans for your workouts?

How about hydration? Pre-cooling your workout drinks could help, too.

Also, are you using a decent chamois and saddle?

All of those things are really important! :sweat_smile:

36

I have 4 house fan setup around me

I usually have a camelback bottle fill with electrolytes and ice and 2 iced bottle put inside the back of my bibs

I currently using Shimano rc5 shoes that feel kinda downgrade now since i feel kind of uncomfortable and not secure my foot make it pretty loosely when putting high torque. I currently using ykywbike bibs short . Saddle is from my old giant defy aluminum

37

Whoa. :hot_face:

How hot are we talking here?

I think I’d freeze with 4 fans and a bunch of ice in my pack and in my bottles. :cold_face:

38

It summer in Japan and the humid mostly avg 75 to 90% . Even at zone 2 power i have a hard time to enjoy watching anything. When the power get to ss zone above it just pure torture if i train with no air condition. But sadly my room dont have AC until September :skull:

39

My power curve while training indoor is mostly no change while i have a lot of power pr while outdoor

40

I know what hot and humid feels like. :nauseated_face:

I’d just focus on keeping your efforts in check. If you’re struggling to hang on, just turn down the workout intensity a little bit. Heat can easily push your HR from one zone to the next, and that can change the effect of the workout considerably.

If you’re seeing good progress when riding outside, I’d say that’s a good sign. :+1:

41

Thank you for your reply . I guess what i can do now is Git Gud :disappointed_face:. Dont know if there any adaptations when training in this kind of environment