Raise Your FTP Fast! | The Guide to FTP for Cyclists | Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast 504

Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast
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This episode was entirely focused on questions surrounding FTP, including how to raise it, diving deep into an athlete’s calendar who has a plateau’d FTP, how you should race differently with a higher FTP, and more.

Was fun to have Hannah’s perspective alongside the much more average perspectives of Nate and I :slight_smile:

// TOPICS COVERED
(00:00:00) Welcome!
(00:00:11) Understanding FTP and w/kg
(00:02:02) Why a High FTP Makes EVERYTHING Easier
(00:05:53) What is FTP and How Do You Test It?
(00:15:20) The Best Workouts and Training Plans to Raise FTP
(00:21:05) Why You Need to Balance Training and Recovery
(00:25:29) Consistency and Long-Term Gains
(00:43:13) Analyzing Training Patterns and Fatigue
(00:45:04) Adjusting Training Plans for Optimal Performance
(00:46:14) The Importance of Consistency and Patience
(00:47:29) FTP Improvements and Training Adjustments
(00:55:56) Racing Strategies for Higher FTP
(01:01:25) The Role of Team Dynamics in Racing
(01:14:02) Sprint Tactics and Power Management

// SHARE AND RATE THE PODCAST!
Spotify: https://trainerroad.cc/spotify2
iTunes: Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast - Presented by TrainerRoad Podcast - Apple Podcasts

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Glad to see training back on the menu! :wink:

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Lets listen the podcast as I need it… tried for some year now all kind of plans, but am not raising FTP…
FEB 2023 - 247
DEC 2024 - 254
in te meantime it was changing up and down a little bit…
Dont know what I’m doing wrong, sticking 100% to the plan(s), so maybe the podcast could help…

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This was an interesting podcast (I stopped at 55:00 when the talk turned to racing), but I don’t really feel like the takeaway was in line with the title, “Raise your FTP fast!”. I feel like the message was “slow down, don’t try to boil the ocean, be consistent, don’t over do it, and raise your FTP slowly”. I think that’s a great message, btw.

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Nice one Jonathan, Hannah, & Nate. :smiling_face: I think a good takeaway from this is something Hannah said about 50’ through:

:person_raising_hand: guilty from time to time, but sometimes I’m also going there out of curiosity: just how much can I push the envelope? What’s the maximum recoverable dose? But then is it still within maximum recoverable dose if I can only do it for one block, & every workout is daunting?

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Yes. That whole discussion about how we blow up ourselves, our plan, and our progress over ego was a good one. I’m also guilty.

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I really enjoyed this format. Usually, I listen as a podcast, but I’m glad I watched the YT video so I could see all the charts and workouts. I kept looking at the screen and the sequencing of efforts and thinking ‘do I do that too?’ which was a great exercise.

I’d love to see more of these workout analyses!

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It was really interesting. Kudos to the user who consented to have their training history pulled to pieces in front of thousands!

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That’s what we will know once we are able to completely quantify human physiology.
Check back in 30y or so.

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Depends on genetics, environment, mental fortitude, training and what drugs they are taking.
Humans will go extinct before we ever figure it out.

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I was literally doing this for my last interval while listening to Hannah state this… oooof. :grimacing:

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Hi @Jonathan ,

Loved the deep dive into a user’s training and the insight from it.

If you want another sacrificial lamb volunteer, I’d be happy to open up my training and goals particularly as now is the planning time for next season. You touched on outdoor training, and I think outdoor execution scuppered a small but steady improvement seen indoors this season. I’ve tried to implement the learnings from the Pfaffenbach interviews on nutrition but yet to reap the rewards. Next year will be my eighth with TR so might appeal to the longer term demographic here on TR.

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Yes, good podcast. I am benefitting from a substantial jump in FTP that I’ve trained into over the last couple years (235 Jan '23 to 315 now). I finally feel good during and after my mtb rides, no matter the pace.

I’m right at 3.5w/kg now, and almost down to 200# (5’8"). Power has continued to increase as I’ve lost the first 15#, but I need to lose another 25-30#, to get in a healthy weight range. I always hear it suggested that loss of power will often accompany this level of weight loss…I sure hope that isn’t true, and I can maintain or continue to gain on my ftp. I’m not in a huge hurry, so working on a controlled descent, without muscle loss. (eta: ooh, found a thread on maintaining ftp while losing weight, headed there to do some reading)

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I enjoyed this podcast. I’m hoping to do Leadville. Is it better for me to do a raise FTP at this time of year vs a century plan like it otherwise recommended. I’ll be aiming for 11:59.59 not 9 hrs!!

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That’s tremendous growth. What do you attribute the gains to? I am MTB only and have really plateaued despite working very hard. Fearful I am doing the wrong work and that TR isn’t necessarily programing the right way for me when doing lots of outdoor riding.

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Yeah, I’m not exactly young or the healthiest, being 55 and 30+ lbs overweight, but this spring, my zone 2 power kept going up (I mostly use HR to stay in zone, for this reason), and I suddenly started crushing my Strava PRs set back in 2017 and 2018. And I don’t use TR software, but I do credit this forum and the TR podcast with a lot of my success, because I had all the usual struggles at one time or another in the years before, and have gained a lot of knowledge here. My intensity is mostly done outside on my mtb using HR, sometimes on the road for all or part. It’s very flat in my county, but the county just north of me has “hills” (I’m in FL), and I have lots of Nat Forest 5 miles away, that I can ride for days and days.

I’d probably go with consistency at the top of the list. I ride/train all year and I push pretty hard on intensity days, pushing my TTE a lot. I do 3 weeks on, 1 week easier, I do either 2 or 3 zone 2 sessions (1.25 to 1.5 hrs, @ whatever IF feels good) between Tues & Thurs, and usually ride outside Fri, Sat, Sun, usually with (1) in tempo 2+ hrs (bottom half of z3), one in SS for 2ish hrs, and then usually I need an easier ride on Sunday if I’m not doing a no-drop ride that our IMBA chapter puts on (that is like sprint for 10-15 mins, wait and rest for 10 minutes, sprint…). I rode 2:08 Saturday and was in z4 HR for 1:50, on sandy singletrack with punchy climbs.

If I feel like I need to do some VO2 intervals or specific threshold stuff, or check my FTP, I do it inside (because I can measure power) maybe on Wed or Thurs, and then ride another easy z2/3 day outside over the weekend.

On my easy week, the Tue-Thurs is usually an easy 30 min spin and a 1-1.5 hr z2 ride, then my regular Fri-Sun schedule, unless I’m feeling like I need more rest. Not too long after covid hit, I found I had worked myself into an overreached (or overtrained?) hole that it took me a while to dig out of, so I’m pretty conscious of how my legs feel. Oh, in 2022, a big part of digging myself out of that hole was I started doing zone 2 rides…like 5 days a week…I was buried working 6 and 7 days a week for months, and only had time to ride outside once a week, and couldn’t sleep, so at some point decided if I was going to be awake at 4am every morning, I’d get on the bike, and started at 30mins, saw something (Inigo San Milan?) that said the benefits start at 0:45 so bumped my rides to 0:45, then started seeing the power rising at the low end of my z2 HR, and eventually ended up averaging 1:15 to 1:30 per day. I retired at the end of that year, so switched to riding outside the 3 days each weekend, with the other days at z2.

I keep saying I’m going to get a better inside setup and join TR, but I’m afraid it’ll take the fun out of what I’m doing (I don’t race). And I need to work on climbing more, but I’m hoping weight loss will help with that…so far so good.

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I’m mostly MTB as well. Can you link your training to look at?
What are you local XC courses like? How are you measuring your plateau? MTB is sooooo much more than just FTP but also (at least where I am at) surviving endless punches, technical skills and ability to recover quickly.

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No question it is a different beast than road. I have been on TR for 4 years and have power meter outdoor as well. I have grown from 170 to 270 peak last January. I had biggest growth with a focus on slamming protein beginning Jan 23 and went from 207 to that 270. watts per kg peaked at same time at 3.3 w/kg. Since that time last Jan I plateaued and then fell off over the summer and sit at 253 despite lots of riding. All my data points to losing fitness…Garmin, Strava and TR. I let TR build an FTP growth plan with the new builder in Oct and have been following that but that is what I am questioning because it seems light. Local rides are very punch XC…typical rides are 2 hours and anaerobic in focus. 40% in z4. Do most of my light rides indoor but when I don’t get the punch outdoor I do what TR says to do indoor intervals wise. Amidst all this, Vo2 max has gone from 52 to 49.

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I’m curious how you are going about losing weight. I’m 56 years old and would love to lose about 10 pounds but it is hard with all the family gatherings around Thanksgiving and Christmas.

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