I did an “FTP test” in the pub on Sunday. Mostly so I could show some of my friends the AI. But it was quite a good moment. Beer definitely made me fitter.
I was up from 225 to 230 and then completed the adapted workout on Monday. It was a stretch VO2 and felt exactly as it should have but the increase wasnt off the chart like others have found. I am also a LONG way from my peak fitness last year so everything is kinda feeling “easy” as I build back up.
I think it’s a little optimistic. Don’t trust I could really do that for 40+ mins. Left it alone so I could work up the threshold PL higher with longer intervals and figured that’d be better for my goals, for now. May reassess in a few weeks.
I’m a terrible ramp tester as well, and in the past I’ve found that I have to manually increase my FTP or the VO2max and threshold workouts aren’t challenging enough. The AI FTP estimator seems to have fixed this problem.
I’m wondering if it is optimistic for me also. Back on Dec 16th I did a ramp test and hit 256W. the following workouts were tough but doable. I didn’t have any failures. I took a week off in mid December, and covid in early Jan. After all that I felt that i was struggling in my zwift races and not able to hold the power i had earlier, so i kind of expected to see my FTP decrease. Then when AI FTP detection was announced I though id give it a try on Feb 12th, the AI gave me 262, good for the ego, but rough on the legs. I have failed a few threshold workouts since then, I have succeeded in SS and Endurance workouts, and I averaged 243 for 50 minutes in a ZRL race, but it was really hard and I had an average HR of 93%. So when a ramp test showed up yesterday, Like any reasonable person, I skipped it and asked the AI. To my surprise it replied 269. That’s an all time high for me, again good for the ego, but there is no way ill make it through SILL(PL 3.8, breakthrough) , my next workout , 3x9 overunders. So now i wonder if I should try an easier alternate, or manually lower my FTP 10 or more watts.
I suppose I could also try a ramp test and see what that yields. but I doubt id make it to 269.
I’m updating every 2 weeks as allowed since release
236 → 242 → 251
AI FTP gave me an increase from 213 to 221 FTP after Sweet Spot Low Volume I. I tried 2 x 20 min at sweet spot at 208 watts which in theory should of been an approachable workout. Well, I failed to complete that workout unfortunately. I grunted through the first 20 min intervals but couldn’t complete the second. Felt much more like a threshold effort.
Did you do an actual TR workout and if so, which one?
For reference, what was your SS Progression Level after the FTP change, and how did that compare to the Workout Level?
If there was a notable gap between levels, it might have been a Stretch or harder workout. That and the general questions about how well rested and fueled you were leading into the workout are necessary to review.
Also, the wattage you mention is 94% of FTP efforts, which are at the top of SS and nearly Threshold if you follow the hard lines of the zone definitions (Thresh starts at 95%). That being the case, the “hard but doable” commonly stated for SS is real, and any shortcoming in prep or readiness can surely lead that to feel like a Threshold effort.
I used trainnow and it was a productive workout. I believe it was Truchas +2. I had some thoughts of under fueling or excess fatigue as a factor but based on how hard if felt RPE wise (8/10) I wasn’t sure. Sunday I completed a breakthrough workout, Clark -2, which was fantastic. It was the first workout following a recovery week. Took two days off after that effort since my HRV was very low following that workout over two days, but, today I managed a 3 x 15 min at 180 watts. This was a custom workout and it felt comfortably hard. Even after one 20 minute effort at 208 watts yesterday and all the fatigue I felt, today was fine.
OK, Truchas +2 is actually 2x23 minutes with 92-94% steps, and only 3 mins of recovery. It’s 0.89 IF for an hour which is reasonably challenging workout in a general sense. It is 46 minutes total at the mid to top end of SS.
Clark -2 is just 4x8 minutes with 88-94% steps, and also has 3 minutes recovery between steps. It’s 0.83 IF for an hour as well, which is notably easier than the 2x23 above. It is 32 minutes total of low to top end SS, in smaller bites and lower average power overall.
The different feel you had between these two SS workouts is totally expected, and only exacerbated if you took fatigue and insufficient fueling into what is a harder workout by the values I see. 6.6 & 6.4 Workout Levels for them, which is a potential challenge depending on your PL at each time.
As to your experience today, 180w is just 81.4% which is a real difference from any of the SS work discussed above. It should feel notably easier because it is.
All that to say that your AIFTPD may be a tad high, but I am not sure the Truchas workout is as negative an indicator as you think, IMO.
I admittingly made Clark -2 a harder workout than it should of been. It was our first 70 degree Sunday day here in the east and when the anaerobic sprints came on, I gave them more like 30 second efforts than 10 second efforts. Garmin classified the workout as a VO2 Max training workout label and ironically during the training session yesterday the performance condition feedback was -3. In Garmin’s eyes for the past week I’ve been unproductive, but, have been able to hold 2 x 20 minutes at 200-205 watts comfortably hard in a few workouts the past few weeks. I’m leaning more towards fatigued now. Thanks for the insight! And the ego boost haha, Truchas+2 definitely is a Bring your A game workout for me and it makes sense with the comparison as to why.
Good deal. I sympathize. For whatever reason, those longer duration SS workouts are some of the tougher ones for me compared to other VO2 & Thresh stuff. I know I have to be set mind and body to make sure I don’t fall apart at the end of those 
I did a ramp test and went down in power so I took another week of rest and went with AI test and saw 3% bump. My first workout with the new ftp was rated as hard and i missed my 2nd work out that week due to travel. I did ok in my race that i had saturday but failed my workout this week. I think its pretty close given all my issues. I dug a hole and working out is not going to solve that issue nor is it AI fault that I am in a hole. Looking forward to a rest week and starting the next block of training.
How can you update every 2 weeks?
Manually add a Ramp Test to your calendar every 2-weeks, and then access the Detection feature from the Career page on each day of said RT.
Thanks Chad!!!
I asked out of curiosity… Now that I know, at 53 years old I am trying to count all the ways this will blow up in my face!!!
I am over 15 reasons and counting.
Ha, it pays to understand the tools and what they can/can’t do. How and when we use them is the key.
This and so many other things like you hint at are beneficial and also dangerous depending on use
I’m just about to finish my three week block with my last workout tomorrow. The detected ftp mentioned in my first post has felt perfect.
Now I’m feeling like an idiot and might try riding my actual ftp for a legit hour tomorrow and need someone to convince otherwise 
I’ve done some long efforts at ftp over this block and want to see if I can do a true ftp ride. I’m carrying a lot of fatigue from training so the chances are low…but it sounds kinda fun. Not fun in the traditional sense, but fun in the cyclist, BDSM, narcissistic, sociopathic, lost touch with reality type of fun.
What do y’all want think, should I give it a go tomorrow?
Sounds like imperfect conditions, and unless you have more than “I wonder…” as the goal of this effort, I question the point and usefulness of the pain (regardless of the outcome).
If you consider it a worthwhile effort in the direction of your goals, it might be fine. But if it’s “just because”, I wonder if there are better things that point towards your goals.
My last workout is a threshold workout and my goal events are 40k TTs, so the goals are at least related And I always like to try and overachieve before a rest week…but I do realize there’s something wrong with me 
A couple months back, I began Trainerroad, but I have a long training history. My FTP in the past was set via a 20 minute FTP test. These are definitely hard to pace, and sometimes would cause a throw-away result.
On the other hand, I really underperformed my first couple of TR ramp tests. My in-season ftp would be around 228-ish, but I would ramp test at 203/204. I have a big engine but don’t really have much anaerobic capacity, probably because long MTB ultras are what I do vs. crits or cx. I I tried my workouts at 204 for a while, it was early enough in the season that it was believable, but my VO2 max workouts felt like sweet spot! I kept having to ride by feel to get the intended effect.
I did another 20 min test, which calculated me at around 220, so I mentioned this on another thread back in Jan, and Nate happened to be there and DM’ed me after running my numbers with the AI detection (pre-release) and the AI detected my ftp to be at 225. I have done about a month of training and re-did the AI detection, and it was 227.
I don’t care about the number. most importantly - IT FEELS RIGHT! The workouts like VO2/over-unders feel suitably challenging without killing me or causing me to fail. I did fail one sweet spot workout in this block though - I think it was just a rough day for other reasons though. Overall, happy with my training and am feeling good on the bike. Pretty impressed!
