Low Ramp Test Result: What could it be?

Hi Folks

Firstly I’d like to put a few things out there as I’m scratching my head a little. So I’m a new Dad of a now 6 month old. While things have been tough I have been adjusting to life as a parent. Also been able to manage a certain level of training. I’ve been racing some cross over the past month and find that everything is starting to wain a bit ie. hitting training targets, and mental fatigue. Now I haven’t been doing a plan I just go in and out of hour workouts as I feel up for them. Now I decided to retest as I’m starting to really struggle with workouts I’ve been used to. I retested and found my new FTP to now be 290w as opposed to the previous 325. This knocked me for six.

One major change in my training setup was changing my power source from my Elite Turno built in PM to my stages Dura-Ace PM. I knew there would be a difference but 30+w is way beyond what I thought. Like I’m not expecting it to go up but to drop like that is a shock. Another thing is that because my training time is really low I figured that I wouldn’t need a recovery week. I’ve been aware that doing too much intensity isn’t a good thing to be doing so I’ve been mixing up a solid Tuesday Sweet Spot workout with a more intense over under or VO2 workout on a Thursday. Each workout is a max of 1 hour. Am I finding out now that this isn’t sustainable? On top of that I’ve been racing cross on Sundays for the past month. Sleep has adjusted and it doesn’t effect me as much as it did initially and I wake up feeling ok.

My question is should I just bite the bullet and start a Base LV plan at the new lower FTP and just use the cross races as a part of training or just rest a bit and re-test? I’m not particularly competitive in the races anyway and I’m just saving face with my new found fatherhood. Is my outlook completely warped and I am on a one way flight to burn out town? It would be interesting in hearing some opinions.

As golden rule is a new power measuring device, do a ramp test. What you have experienced imo is the reason for this… 30w difference isn’t a shock to myself between devices, and a number of reasons discussed else where in the forum are why.

Goodluck with the new plan.

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I think you’ve answered all your own questions about reasons for a potential lack of strength.

Going forward, I would suggest using your most recent ramp test FTP, sticking with the same power measuring tool and following whichever plan suits your schedule. It really is as simple as that.

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This ^^^^, doesn’t really required any more pondering. Measure with the same PM going forward and get training.

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Cool thanks. Would I be best taking a recovery week before this do you reckon?

You could easily lose 30 watts in fitness over the stresses of becoming a parent…you could easily lose 30 watts by changing measuring devices…its just a number.

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Listen to your body. If you feel fatigued, you may need a week or more to fully recover. If you choose to do this, once you’re ready to start training again, start with a new ramp test as prescribed by the plan.

If you feel ok now then dive straight in to the plan.

In other words, whichever option you choose, don’t take a recovery week between a ramp test and your first workout

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I’d start the LV plan with the 290 watt result and see how you progress. If you’re super comfortable at 290, you could retest (using the same test protocol and setup) or, simply give yourself a 5-10 watt bump and see how that works for you.

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So the general consensus is to suck it up and get on with it!

I wouldn’t say ‘suck it up’. I’d say, use it as a jumping off position and adjust as required :+1:

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When I switched from a Tacx Satori Smart to a stages R5800 Left side my FTP went from about ~320 to about ~275. Which yeah was a pretty good hit to the ego but I’ve adjusted and about 9 months later tested at 315! So the equipment change could account for all 30W but I think its probably more likely that the equipment is ~10, the new parent stress is ~10 and the race/recover cycle is the other ~10.

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Would the SSB Low Volume be the way to go or would there be a more beneficial plan?

What are your goals?

The typical advice would be to choose a volume that is easy to maintain, adding in additional workouts if you have time, rather than choosing a higher volume and skipping workouts.

Sweet spot base is good for time crunched riders who want to build fitness quicker, but if you don’t have any goals or time restraints then traditional base could well set you up for better fitness building in the long term.

Yeah I’ll do a low volume plan for sure. I’m thinking I might skip through to a build phase as I have a good base already and want to be pushing towards early season mtb races next year.

You may have a good base but you’re also fatigued, with performance “waining”. Proceed directly to build with caution!

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Maybe thats how I ended up where I am in the first place. I’ll do SS Base I think :no_mouth:

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Good luck with the plan, as others have said, listen to your body and don’t beat yourself up either by taking extra rest days if required with whatever life throws at you. I do that now and achieve more that way.

Forgot to mention but I myself changed from a H1 ‘power meter’ to a Quarq. FTP went from 310 to 299. End of the day it doesn’t matter, it’s just a number the workouts use that make your workouts achievable…and almost enjoyable, especially when you nail them, and if your not nailing them, use the intensity slider and adjust FTP based on that weekly as required… Stay Dynamic!

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30W low on Shimano crank based PM :thinking:

If you need context here

@Paul_Caldwell are you planning on using power match at all or still training using the Turno PM for setting workouts?

No Im going to use the stages as I have other crank based meters I train with. The turno doesn’t do power match as it’s a dumb fluid trainer