Ramp Test vs 20 Minute FTP Test vs 8 Minute FTP Test

The 20-minute test uses 95% of your 20-minute average. If you look at the 20-minute interval in TR, what was your average power?

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The 20 minute interval average was 225/226, 90% would 203.

225*.95 = 213.75, so it sounds like it gave you the right number.

Did the test result give you 213 or 203?

203 is 90%

Where does 90% come from?

Several sports scientists recommend 90%, because 95% could overestimate FTP of age group athletes.

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Itā€™s all a guess (or estimate if you want to be more scientific). For some itā€™s 90 or 95 and for some the ramp is better and for some it reads high. I think most amateur athletes focus is best spent on consistency rather than ensuring their test protocol
Is exactly perfectly correct

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When I look at the power duration model in WKO5 Iā€™m shown 94% for me. At my 20 minute power Iā€™m getting a 6% anaerobic contribution.

I highly recommend the Kolie Moore baseline test (35-45minutes). Going longer really shows you what you can do aerobically. I also found the progressive pacing of the 35-45 minute test easier than the all out 20 minute test.

Who?

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If it is useful you might not have seen these:
this calculator attempts to compare methods of working out FTP+zones from 20min test
and this calculator universally finds any point on your power-curve from any other point (advanced users can input cycling style eg climber). bw alex

I just did both the ramp test and 20 minute test out of curiosity (3 days apart). Painful curiosity. Ramp test put me at 315W, 20 min test put me at 294W (310 for 20ā€™).
This was kind of what I expected, as I always prefer VO2 over Threshold work. Itā€™s nice to know what the discrepancy is between those two numbers now. Iā€™m sticking with the ramp test number because itā€™s what Iā€™ve been using for training, and because itā€™s higher, ofc.

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Doesnā€™t Friel recommend you take the last 20 minutes of a 30 min all out effort?

Only for your threshold heart rate. Average power of the whole 30 is ftp he says.

I think TR should create a new specialty training block which consists solely of FTP protocols. ā€œFTP Anxiety Reduction - Specialty Phase.ā€

TR Ramp test
Zwift Ramp test
8 minute test
20 minute test
Kolie Moore short protocol
Kolie Moore medium protocol
Kolie Moore long protocol
60 minute test

And do this block multiple times

  • big ring vs small ring
  • fan on vs off
  • carbs vs no carbs before
  • hot vs cool room
  • inside vs outside
  • powermatch on vs off

At the end of this youā€™ll have a really good idea of your FTP. :rofl:

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Only being able to hold (-5w) FTP for a 20 minute max effort would set off alarm bells for me

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I did this 3 times last year just because it was fun. Not the 8 minute test, as that is probably my strongest duration (aside 2 - 3 hours) and doesnā€™t reflect my FTP very well at all. I did the Kolie Moore Prog 1 test instead.

Mid / late Base ~ Feb 2020
Ramp Test (Zwift) 274w
20 minute Test 285w
Kolie Moore Test 284w
WKO mFTP 280w

Mid season 2020
Ramp 282w
20 minute 285w
Kolie Moore 286w
WKO 285w

End of seasonā€¦
Ramp 288w
20 minute 275w
Kolie Moore 274w
WKO 273

So my conclusion, for me, it depends where you are the season. You canā€™t test at one point and say they are aligned or not aligned, they might or might not be next time.

They all look pretty aligned to me, depending on your setup/PM (if your PM has the +2/-2 accuracy).

Ramp test 9 - 10 under and then close then over by 13w compared with the others.

The others within 2 - 3 watts.

Vector 3 claimed accuracy 1%

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Itā€™s a strange world. Flip those numbers the other way round and you have almost exactly my results. :man_shrugging:

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I like suffering so I did an Hour of Power FTP test today.
After trying to find balance at start, I settled into a pretty well balanced pace.
Normalized Power for whole 60 mins was 254, for the 55 minutes 253. So I guess I can follow Tim Cusackā€™s method and set my FTP to 255.

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