SUCCESS!
After 5 weeks working on extended sessions riding at 80% to 90% of ‘FTP’ I took another ramp test which placed my MAP-based ‘FTP’ at 293W. Two days later I attempted the Hour of Power again.
In case you did not follow the thread, I attempted the Hour of Power back in March. At that time my most proximal TR MAP-based ‘FTP’ was 296…determined by ramp test w/in 12 days of the Hour of Power attempt. So, essentially the same MAP-based ‘FTP’ as today. Maybe a little better in March.
At the time I was doing Sustained Power Build.
Back in March I was able to hold 279W for ~27 minutes before I blew up…this at a TR MAP-base ‘FTP’ of 296. This morning I was able to hold 281W for ~43 minutes before I just figured I had proved my point and bagged the workout. Could have done more for sure.
So at a 1% lower ‘FTP’ I was able to pedal at a 1% higher power for 60% longer, at least.
Here is what I think is going on: TR uses (primarily) a MAP ramp test to determine FTP. Most would perceive all TR plans to be FTP based but they are not. They are Maximum Aerobic Power based & the first thing you do with your Maximum Aerobic Power is multiply it by 0.75 to get your ‘FTP’. So, really, all training plans are based on 0.75*MAP…not FTP.
Here is the problem with that MAP-derived FTP number: if you compare the actual FTP to the actual MAP of a population of riders with similar MAP you get a BROAD distribution. Remember that paper from way back in the day by Coyle and Coggan where they did exactly that? Determined FTP as a percentage of VO2Max for a bunch of trained cyclists? Some of them were 60% & some of them were 85%. A lot of them were less than 75%.
TR has no way to deal with those riders who have sub ~70% FTP. And in fact, at least for the sustained power build plan, TR puts those riders into a destructive positive-feedback loop. Imagine our trained cyclist who has an FTP that is 60% of their VO2Max. TR uses a ramp test to estimate VO2max, then assigns an estimated FTP of 75%*VO2Max.
Yikes! Our 60% rider’s next workout is Avalanche Spire! The poor fellow is doing over/unders at (nominally) ~118% of his true FTP. That’s a VO2Max workout. So he slogs it out. Does what he can. It’s a super tough workout…maybe he can’t complete it all. People on the forum tell him it should be ‘hard but doable’. Especially those riders who are lucky enough to be in the >80% FTP-to-VO2Max club.
Our 60% rider is one tough cookie. He hammers through workouts as best he can. Then, when it comes time to do the next ramp test, guess what? He hasn’t been doing sustained power for the past few weeks AT ALL. He’s been doing a ton of VO2max work. Guess what that does to your Maximum Aerobic Power? It makes it better…so now his next ramp test…surprise, surprise…is a little bit better.
But his FTP probably hasn’t improved that much.
That’s what I think was going on with me. My physiologic profile favored Maximum Aerobic Power. As a result my MAP test results caused 75% of MAP to overestimate my FTP. So when I executed a TR workout at 95% of TR-ramp-test-derived FTP…I as really doing intervals at >110% of true FTP.
But, good news! There is a solution!