Muscle Fatigue but perfect heartrate

I did some hard climbs two weeks ago. This week I did a FTP test. I feel like my muscles gave up earlier than I expected. My heart rate was still under control.

When I go hard in intervals I feel my muscles are building up a lot of lactate while my heart rate is doing fine. I can still get my heart rate up easily by sprinting, and it drops quick as well. So I think I’m not overreaching or overtraining. But maybe my muscles are too weak or something.

I’m topped up with carbs (90g/h) on the bike and pasta the night before and oats 2 hours before training.

Any tips on how to get over this feeling and how I can unlock more powerfull legs?

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Use the auto-detect FTP feature in the app instead of doing an actual FTP test ?

What cadence are you doing for the flat out efforts, and what’s your training been like up to this test? This sounds like it could be a case of a well-developed base but not much top end, in which case some 4-5 minute VO2 intervals could be in your future :grimacing:

There’s a lot of factors that could contribute to tired muscles. For me, it’s usually a lack of recovery or more volume than I am used to. Some things to consider:

  1. Did you increase volume the previous week?
  2. How much recovery do you have between hard days? Are you actually recovering?
  3. Are you lifting weights?

Rest?

If rest is not the issue, you could work on muscular endurance. Sweet spot, longer Z2 rides, tempo, low cadence work…

How many rest / recovery days before your ftp test or did you just jump into it? A ride two weeks ago really shouldn’t have any effect on your muscles during ftp test.

That’s been my issue since day 1 of road biking January 2016. What ended up working for me was to do a lot more aerobic endurance rides, plus some high intensity work. Adding that in because it hasn’t been mentioned by anyone else.

Everyone is just tossing out ideas, there is no easy answer without more info. Athletes with high FTPs don’t have ‘stronger legs’ they have legs that are more efficient at using both fat and carbs as fuel.

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I suggest that you look into this article based on the work by Mikael Flockhart. Maybe it could shed some light on what is going on.

Z2 and more z2 riding. Low, high, whathever but z2 done wonders for my lactate clearing.

Push your pre-ride meal out to 3+ hours to maintain optimal levels of blood sugar. Also, ensure you’re properly hydrated before.