Retest after 2.5 weeks?

A little background- I herniated two discs badly in sept 2022 that kept me completely off the bike until April 2023(except some failed attempts at z2 in January). I had a microdiscectomy in Feb of this year. I started some super easy and short Z2 stuff in April and did an FTP test on May 6th. My FTP had dropped from 270 in August 2022 to 218.

Since then I’ve been doing increasingly longer sweet spot workouts at 90-94% a couple times a week with a z2 workout to round out my 3 rides a week. Last night I did a 60 minute interval with no rest at 92%(PL 7.1) just 2.5 weeks out from my FTP test.

Should I retest already?

I don’t think there’s any harm in letting these higher PLs sink in for another week or so.

I let AiFTP raise my FTP too quickly when I was coming back in December. It wasn’t sustainable. I was (mostly) out for 8 weeks with Epstein Barr before that.

I’ve declined the last 2 FTP increases (I manually increased it just an little) and am now only just ready to properly train with a higher FTP. This has given me more confidence, better workouts (higher PLs), and fewer bailouts as I return to full-on training mode.

For me it was worth slowing the FTP ramp up speed.

Hey @jdlbb, nice work on your recovery thus far! We’re glad to hear that you’re back on the bike and knocking out workouts. :slightly_smiling_face:

When coming back from injury or illness, it’s always best to take things slowly at first, which it seems like you’ve done a good job of.

In your situation, I’d recommend retesting when you can to get things back on track, as fitness has the potential to jump back up after time off (this is a great opportunity to utilize AI FTP Detection). Ensuring that your FTP is accurate will prompt Adaptive Training to keep steadily feeding you productive workouts. If you were to avoid updating your FTP while climbing up to higher PLs rather than retesting, you’d likely encounter workouts with more specificity to help prep you for racing (similar to a specialty phase), which isn’t the case here.

Keep up the good work!

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Hey @eddiegrinwald, thanks for the reply! I actually do have AP FTP Detection turned on and was kind of expecting a new FTP detection since I just completed a 4x20 minute sweet spot(PL 7.7) workout this weekend but it didn’t recommend anything.

I’m not following a TR plan at the moment. I’ve basically been doing progressively longer sweet spot workouts @ 90% following 1x15 > 2x20 > 3x15 > 2x25 > 1x50 > 4x15> 3x20 > 2x30 > 1x60. Once I got to 60 minutes I expected TR to update my FTP but it didn’t, so that’s why I did the 4x20 this weekend. I plan to do 3x30 today. My 28 days will be this Saturday so I should be able to manually trigger it then if it doesn’t recommend updating before then. I also plan to do a ramp test to confirm whatever it recommends just because of my unique circumstances.

Did three fools-1(3x 30mins @90%) last night. PL 9.2. AIFTPD still did not recommend I increase my FTP. It definitely seems like something isn’t working or being triggered like it should.

Hey @jdlbb, nice work on your recent workouts! It looks like you’ve set quite a few PRs recently. :muscle:

The only instance where AI FTP Detection will suggest/bump your FTP between the 28-day window is if you complete a level 9 or above Threshold, VO2 Max, or Anaerobic workout. This auto recognition of fitness increases is only available with AI FTP Detection enabled in Early Access. Anyone who’s curious should check it out in your Account settings!

If an athlete is able to complete one of these types of workouts, it’s a sign that their FTP is likely set too low and due for an update.

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