Ramp Test Tips & Tricks

Hi, started the second half of general build (Med vol) tonight with the ramp test, old ftp was 322 and I completed all the previous workouts bar the first Sunday session, failed due to dehydration and poor recovery from the previous Saturdays exertions. FTP came out tonight at only 318 so 10 mins later once I’d caught my breath and done test again, again 318w. Does the fact that my second test was more or less the same as the first indicate that’s the first test wasn’t a true reflection of my current FTP.

The simplest way is to divide your target FTP by .75:

Target FTP: 312W
Power required on last full minute of ramp test = 312 / .75 = 416W

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Absolutely as if you’d gone hard enough in the first test you would never be able to complete another 10 mins later, to the same level!

Yeah, I do Taku before. Short, feels like a warm up and easy to remember what I did (yeah, I can see it in the calendar too, but it’s nice to just have it in my head).

Ramp test last night, not good!! Note to self, “do not do your first gym session in over a year the evening before a ramp test!!”. Legs were sore before I even started, got within 8W of my current FTP setting so I’ll rest up now for a few days and try again on Friday, hopefully a jump in FTP after general build 2, MV.

FTP ramp test today. This is my mental preparation:

In all seriousness though, what are your strategies to best mentally prepare and execute on ramp test days?

I’ve found aggressive music during the test and some above rule #5 related self talk to help (as long as it doesn’t turn self destructive). Particularly for the last 5 minutes consistently having a mantra of “just 10 seconds more” helps squeezing the last bit out, but would love to hear your individual strategies on the mental side before and during.

Thank you for any input!

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Preparation? Bike’s on trainer (tight!), room is the right temp, chilled water in bottle, made peace with myself for what I’m about to do to myself.

Execution: I have ~ 30 minute FTP test playlist (with songs I avoid overplaying in other training). Then I’m watching the last 30 minutes of a race on mute on my laptop (with TR on a tablet). Up to the individual as to what race scenario is most effective. Thomas De Gendt on a breakaway, Belgian classic, MSR…

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I kind of think that for a ramp test you need to just do what you’d do for a normal training session. Maybe have a special playlist to make you more motivated, but anything more than that seems overkill.

All you’re trying to do is get a number that will shape your training. If you test too high because you did a bunch of extra stuff, then you’re going to have a miserable time when you do workouts based on your test result in my opinion.

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This tends to be my approach. I just treat it like a normal training session only I’m a bit more excited and nervous about it. Basically just make sure I’m well rested and well fed and see what the result is. I do my 5th ramp test in an hour so here goes nothing.

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My method. Don’t care about it too much. It’s just a workout you’re doing today. The worst thing you can do is psych yourself up all day (and the day before, and the day before).

So DON’T play any energetic music, just some quality tunes. DON’T get pumped up. Just get on the trainer and pedal. Until…

…as you start reach the business end of things, maybe as you get close to current threshold, make a mental switch. Change the playlist from cool to FIRE (maybe timed to end on the 20 minute mark). Take a quick drink. Move your hands from the tops to the hoods. Get your game face on. Then 100% focus and commitment until the bitter end.

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Did a ramp test last week, with the good weather now I set the trainer up outside, still had massive issues overheating compared to doing them in the winter. This it affected the results

Did you still use fans?

I treat a ramp test almost like a race. I wear nice bibs, and put on a tight jersey, cycling socks, all the rest. I’ll usually clean and lube the chain (which really just keeps me taking care of it regularly even while on the trainer all winter).

I divide the ramp mentally into three segments - the first few minutes of warm-up, then the ramp to 17 minutes are the first two. I completely focus on the countdown to 17 minutes (by which time it’s usually really hard).

Then I pick up my cadence and basically give it everything I have, counting down four minutes in ten second segments. I try to completely commit to the four minutes. I find that even if I don’t get there, typically just considering 21 minutes the finish line lets me push past the 19:30 mark more easily. The downside of this is if I reach 21, I usually pop within ten seconds past it.

I also try to time an appropriate song playing, but by that point it’s not doing much for me. I find watching rugby games on youtube more helpful than anything else during the really hard stuff.

I understand what others are saying about not treating it differently, lest you overestimate your ftp. I haven’t found that to be the case, but maybe it is for some. To me, it IS different than other workouts. And different mental approaches and preparations for different workouts is appropriate. I also treat over unders or long VO2 intervals differently than endurance or sweet spot workouts. The worst case scenario is you adjust down the ftp setting afterward.

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I didn’t bother with the fan as I thought I’d be ok outside, gonna start a plan again next week and will test again with a fan this time

I genuinely don’t think I could do it indoors this time of year as it’s just too warm where my set up is in an attic conversion

Outside or inside, still air is bad. The one exception could be if it was particularly cold, but even then, some air flow is VERY helpful in conducting the heat away from your body.

Bottom line, I think a good fan should always be in play unless you are deliberately doing heat training.

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Start with body cool and legs warm. Started to use an ice pack on the back of the neck until about 10min in (warm by then) and dump some cold water on the back around min 18. Heavily curated playlist to build and reduce rpe. Fans on high from the get go and just a lot of bargaining about junk food to eat at the end of the week if I last 30more seconds
20min - Can of Coke
20:30 - popsicle
21:00 - beer
21:30 - chocolate
22:30 -

Just fun way to motivate myself to suffer even more with the thought of a tangible reward for completing it

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something similar happened to me recently… finished Full distance Base jumped from 240 to 265 ftp. Just came out of full distance build finishing almost every prescribed workouts + 2 sessions of pettit or baxter per week in build. completely toasted, ftp dropped from 265 to 238. Ive taken last week off and this week as a ride-how-i-feel outside week before ramp testing next monday. I will have lost ftp overall but that’s ok i guess

This thread has got so long I haven’t had time to read through it all (which is lazy, I know!). However, at the risk of repeating one or two things that have gone before - and one thing, in particular, certainly bears repeating - I thought I’d throw in a few thoughts.

I recommend each time you do a ramp, include some ride notes afterwards. If you feel it was spot on, record why you felt that way. More usually, I’m recording why I think it should have gone better. For example, three tests ago I didn’t have my cadence high enough at the point that the intervals got tough; on Erg mode, getting your cadence up when things are tough means going way into the red, which is certainly going to bring your point of failure forwards. Therefore the next test I did I was able to focus on that. However, I got my cadence right, but in the final two minutes my power was fluctuating up and down too much, giving me the same problem. The spikes up were taking too much out of me. Therefore, my note to self for next time was to avoid that, if possible. I retested again and read my notes beforehand and, by improving on these two points, felt that I got the test ‘right’ for me. It was also my best result, whether by coincidence, conditioning, or because of reading my own tips beforehand.

My next point to those who are talking about lasting until 21 minutes, is that you probably aren’t testing frequently enough. As has been pointed out, 19.30 is the ‘break-even’ point (if you have kept to the power targets for the last minute of riding time). Therefore achieving 21 minutes means a huge increase in FTP. For me yesterday that would have meant a 6.5% increase in FTP, which is totally unrealistic. I was extremely happy with my 1.7% increase achieved by just making it to 20 minutes.

Which brings me on to my final point, which is about my only ever gripe with TrainerRoad… And I know it’s been said before. The text in the Ramp Test has some major flaws. On the whole it’s the usual, motivating stuff from Chad, which I like to keep on because I find it helps my focus. However, there are two glaring errors that jump out every time and make me lose focus and motivation. They are when Chad says that “for some they will fail at around 120% of FTP” and when he says people have “officially surpassed Coach Chad’s ability to endure”. If you ended the ramp at 120% of FTP you would, by definition, see a huge decrease in FTP as your result. For example, an FTP of 300W would drop to 270W. Retest and fail at 120% (which would be odd) and you’d be at 243W. You probably get my point. Then the point about Chad failing. I think this comes in around 18.30ish. Anyway, it’s well short of that break-even point of 19.30, so unless Chad is in a pretty sharp decline in terms of fitness (which we know he isn’t!), it just doesn’t make sense to say it. For it to be true and to still maintain an FTP, you’d have to change your FTP ahead of the test to a higher mark, which has never been something TrainerRoad have recommended. So, I urge TR to take this point on board and edit these two things out of the text. I know I’m not alone in asking this.

Having criticised TrainerRoad I now feel that I must say that I love the product! Even the Ramp Test, which is a brilliant alternative protocol to the 8-min and 20-min tests, which can be disruptive to a training block in a way that the ramp isn’t. Brilliant product, just a few tiny tweaks to the Ramp text, please!

Thanks.

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Tips and Tricks. Am I the only one that doesnt want tips and tricks?

I take the ramp test the same way I take my normal training day. Did I eat, yup. Do I have water yup. Is youtube ready to blast out some good tunes, check. Clip in, be bored for 15min and then go to a dark place.

I do not want to be in some zen like mental state that I can only achieve once a month. My goal of this test is to assess my current fitness level as a working dad. If my kid comes down 12min into the test to talk to me, so be it. Last test I got all worked up since my kids were flying around the house, I was outside playing and working on stuff, I was supposed to do the test 2 hours after I ate, and ended up going 4 hours after I ate. I drank a coke and got on the trainer. These are things that happen.

What I am getting at is.

If everyday normal life has all these stress factors added in, and your do your ramp test with 0 stress are you setting yourself up for an achievable goal. Are you over shooting what your normal day to day fitness is?

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Absolutely. :trophy:

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