Ha ha and you may have missed the real point… PLs and AT should drag people kicking and screaming to stop saying HTFU, and that everyone should NOT be slamming 6 vo2max intervals at 120% during a 12 week base. More on that below the FTP infomercial…
The head coach of is on record, repeatedly that FTP is useful and valuable, and I’ll extract a few quotes:
“Without actually testing your Lactate Threshold and VO2max in a lab, your FTP is an approximation. But, the applicability and usefulness of this number has been proven by generations of coaches and endurance athletes.”
and
“it’s important that this number estimates your actual sustainable-power threshold as closely as possible.”
Hope that clears things up for you.
For 5+ years TR missed the memo from Coggan to move away from classic zones to individual zones above threshold.
Fast forward to 2021 and happy days, TR responded by creating a “workout difficulty index” (PLs) and a work-in-progress semi-automated system (AT) to help users deal with:
- ramp tests that in some cases can give inaccurate FTP estimates
- the fact that number of intervals, power-above-threshold, and time-in-zone should be individualized based on athlete’s fitness for that type of workout
Overhauling the plans earlier this year, plus the stuff above, is very positive.