Watts keep on coming:
Feb 170 watts
Beg March 180 watts
Mid March 192 watts
Late march 199 watts
Today 215 watts
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I forgot to take a screenshot but AI FTP has detected a 9w (3.6%) increase in my FTP last night. I was a bit dubious at first I could handle that without irking my knee but with the lowered PLs and the adapted SS wo it felt spot on 
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Very bad month for training. I expected to drop 5-10w. AI gave +1 (288 to 289). Iāll take it, and try to do better this month. Damn allergy season isnāt making it easy.
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Sharing FTP improvements in the last 15 months with on/off structured training.
Mostly I do base1 and base2 and mid of build phase and a lot of smash fest group rides. But this year Iām all-in on the plan and completing it 
Mid Jan 2022 - FTP: 167 @77kg ā couch potato, fresh from a 35kg weight loss journey doing keto/low carb diet.
May 2022 - FTP: 216 @78kg
July 2022 - FTP: 224 @78kg
October 2022 - FTP: 237 @78kg
January 2023 - FTP: 251 @79kg
April 2023 - FTP: 281 @78kg
A bit frustrating at times but itās more frustrating to get dropped on group rides.
Iām hoping to get to 4w/kg before end of year.
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Been playing football (soccer) all my life, and then started getting into cycling about August of last year, took on TrainerRoad for about a month, then needed to study for exams. I took a break from October to December. Got back into it just this January, and my FTP has noticeably improved!
Here are my FTPs, 27 years old, 63-66 kg
August 2022 - 98 W @ 67 kg
February 2023 - 112 W @ 66 kg
Early March 2023 - 136 W @ 65 kg
Late March 2023 - 150 W @ 63 kg
Today April 2023 - 167 W @ 63 kg
You might be wondering why theyāre relatively low despite me being into football all my childhood. Iāve been diagnosed with an Atrial Septal Defect recently, which is congenital (therefore Iāve had it all my life) and I believe it hampers my athletic ability as my HR shoots up a lot with minimal effort. This March-April, Iāve started medical treatment to lower my heart rate (hence a relatively good increase in FTP), and on May 2023 Iāll be undergoing surgical repair! Hopefully Iāll be back on the trainer and bike within 2-3 months, and will be feeling much better!
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more CH ā less drop on group rides 
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Could it be? Zwift calculates my FTP to 405 W now. Did a hour last week at 398 W NP without blowing up with 20 min at 418 W and 2x10 min at 405 W. Body weight 82,5 kg so Iām not yet in the 5 W/kg club.
Training plan has been a lot of volume (4 long rides per week) and two or three intensity sessions which have been sometimes included in the longer rides. One or two rest days every week and weekly hours have been on training weeks around 17-24 hours, rest weeks I just have āsnacks and napsā and try to be off the bike.
I began this training season with extensive FTP/TTE block, then a VO2max block in January. In February and March I have been smashing long over-under threshold intervals and trying to increase TTE. From November I have also done a lot of skills work to avoid technical difficulties in gravel and mtb races this summer.
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Just balancing the universe with your improvementā¦
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Started 12/31/2022 and my initial FTP was 154. second ramp test was the biggest jump, to 188. Have been using AI detection since then, and itās gone up to 197 and now 205, which feels right.
On low volume climbing road race plan. Pretty happy with results so far.
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Nicely done.
I started at a similar time from a similar baseline. Your gains are commendable. How old are you?. What is your past cycling experience? Why did you opt for a specialty block right out of the gate?
Thanks. Iām 40, started cycling in May 2021 (summer/fall only). The specialty block, didnāt know what I was doing exactly haha, I donāt recall the options but I saw only race-oriented ones and since I ride hills, I chose that. But now Iām thinking if I should switch up since I donāt intend on racing.
Started cycling Dec 2021 (hadnāt been on a bike since childhood). First FTP of 185 in July of 2022. Have just been doing unstructured with the occasional TrainNow workout to see what structure feels like.
Finally decided to buckle down and commit to a plan, POL LV. Month in feeling good and FTP of 214 (2.58w/kg). Hoping to get 3w/kg by end of year.
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52 years old hobby cyclist with many passive years cause of back issues. Bought indoor trainer last october and got 187, now at 212. Have lost some weight too, 2,62w/kg. Done low volume for upcoming 300km event. Starting to believe it might be possible to passš
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~127lb (<58kg) late 30s female. Memorializing my first year of training.
May 2022 (ramp test): 159 watts (no prior training; history of commuting)
December 2022 (start of race season): 181 watts (after SSLV base 1, base 2, and MV polarized build)
April 2023 (A event): 192 watts (after low volume plan builder plan (sweet spot) + races)
May 2023: 180 watts (after dramatic volume reduction due to fractured clavicle during A event)
As much as it sucks to feel like Iāve lost 5-6 months of progress, if I can repeat this pattern of +30 watts, -10 watts (for a net ~+20) between now and May 2024, thatād be ok. Though I wouldnāt say no to a straight +40 that gets me closer to 4w/kg instead 
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TR user since 2018, Iām still making progress! Because I derailed so many timesā¦ 
Old TR plan was too much for my tiny little genetics and training newb head. During AT era, it looks good but I got injured outside of cycling(two big things I remember). After I healed my knee and ankle injury, started new training plan from Feb 2022. Usually low volume plan 3.5h per week with some exceptions of 5 to 6 hours per week, This is summary of what I got.
2022 Feb 160w @ 57~58kg
2022 Sep 30 190w @ 59kg
2022 Oct 16 A race (74km 1100m, rank 34%)
2022 Oct 26 195w @ 59kg
2022 Nov Started Running
2023 Apr 9 204w @ 60kg
2023 Apr 23 10k Running Event (54min)
2023 May 20 A race (103km 1600m, rank 18%)
2023 May 23 207w @ 61kg
So approximately Iām 3.4w/kg rider now, but I think my endurance is weak point. For my next A race I bumped up volume while limiting intensity using polarized base/build high volume plan.
Did some running last winter and spring for 10k event in Apr. Done well with record of 54min, but my current fitness doesnāt seem to handle both running and cycling volume well. Ankle is so prone to injure. My next A race(granfondo) is Oct 28 and cycling will be my main training.
Hope no more injury/burn-out for my training.
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2023 Jan 2 - 211w @ 75.5 kg (2.79w/kg)
2023 May 9 - 227w @ ~74 kg (3.07w/kg)
I only started to structure my workouts this year and did a lot of Z2 rides.
This FTP was over a 22 minute Zwift crit so assuming I might be able to hit a little higher.
Have done some VO2max and SweetSpot but not as structured as I would have liked to do.
Iām now 1 year smoke free and 6 months alcohol free and feeling a lot better and my endurance has improved significantly. Now Iām heading into my first ultra and looking forward to finishing it in time.
Next up is better structuring FTP and VO2 training to work on increasing my FTP while keeping the amount of endurance rides high. Ultimately I am aiming on increasing my power for longer durations so 20minute FTP is nice, but achieving a higher 1, 2 or 3+ hour power is my main goal.
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Havenāt done a longer effort recently, however 4 weeks ago I paced an 8-min effort at 300W and could have easily kept going for a full 20-min (putting my ftp around 280+W).
This past month my endurance pace has been 205-215W range, in warm air (80F / 27C), and last week I did a steady 215W for 90 minutes. Thats āzone2ā endurance riding for 90-minutes. And +10W higher than ANY 90-min effort from 2018 and 2019. And matches the 90-min power from a 1x60-min threshold workout in 2020.
Thats the power of 3 years consistently riding mostly endurance and sprinkling in some intervals. Not polarized but I do go really hard on some of the intervals. Training age of 7 years, and have completed sixty one laps around the sun. 
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Can you elaborate that a little bit? (Or link me to a post with explanation of yours - I think I saw something like it, but canāt find it.)
Just out of curiosity and to get some inspiration for my endurance based plan.
Congratulations to your improvements.
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It wasnāt easy committing to moderate volume and less intensity, but it worked for me.
Hours:
From January 1st of 2020, looking in the rear view mirror and pretty high-level breakdown by heart rate:
- 81% endurance
- 16% middle intensity: tempo and sweet spot and lower threshold
- 3% high-intensity
A lot of 90-150 minute endurance rides. Some of those have intervals. After warming up my endurance rides are usually in upper third of zone2 or 69-75%. To set my HR zones I used long rides in the mountains to determine my āall day HRā (think 6-8 hours of climbing, 10-12 hours total).
And in the FWIW category, last week my 25 year old friend podiumed in his first race with Voler factory racing team (in Mexico). He texted me this morning:
I was just reminding him what his coach was telling him last year (his coach gave him 150W ceiling! On a 340W @ 50-ish minute ftp). And that even old dudes like me have seen results from endurance as a first principle.
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Wow! 350-400h per year is not nothing. Also really staying in Zone 2 is something you seem to be good at.
Did you recover enough even from high Zone 2?
I gathered you live in a hilly region - no problem with hills/mountains?
This sounds a lot like what I am currently targeting. Thanks a lot for the summary.
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