New to training and new to TR. I love seeing improvements and learning about cycling training. Progress so far is slow but steady. I’m trying to get to 3W/kg by August, and am training for a 165 km ride.
FTP results:
16.01.2021: 164 (2.1 W/kg)
06.02.2021: 182 (2.4 W/kg)
20.03.2021: 185 (2.5 W/kg)
13.04.2021: 198 (2.6 W/kg)
11.05.2021: 205 (2.7 W/kg)
| Date | FTP | W/kg | |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 2020 | First Ramp Test | 166 | 2.3 |
| July 2020 | End Zwift FTP Builder | 197 | 2.9 |
| September 2020 | End of TR Oly Tri Base MV | 218 | 3.2 |
| October 2020 | End of TR Oly Tri Build MV | 231 | 3.4 |
| March 2021 | 3 months off the bike | 180 | 2.3 |
| May 2021 | Half Distance Tri Base LV - Adaptive Training Beta | 208 | 2.8 |
Getting back into shape after being off the bike for more than 3 months.
2/2019 - 240w
8/2019 - 260w
12/2019 272w
4/2020 280w
6/2020 310w
3/2021 295w
5/2021 317w
weight has been stable around 69-70 kg.
over that time ive probably averaged 4 hrs a week of running with a strong emphasis on running last year from June up until 3/2021 (6-7 hours/week). most noticeable improvements came from long days of aerobic climbing (around AeT or under) and then started getting into zwift races last year due to the pandemic. All the cycling i did in 2019 was easy (60-70% of max HR). Currently doing a lot of SST work and that is definitely helping with fatigue resistance so far.
I don’t know if I should update my FTP 
Its set to 250 which is comfortably hard and much above sees me fall into the ERG spiral of death (although the new powermatch seems to give more tolerance). My last ramp test 3weeks ago was 248w but I went out on Saturday and did 296w NP (262w ave) for 57minutes on a TT. 296w is a post op PB for me, Ive only ever managed it for a 20mins test.
If Strava is to believed there prediction of 313w is a all time record. I had an 90% tempo HR so perhaps could have went harder but that’s probably pushing it 
~14 months of Trainer Road
Mar 28, 2020 - 208W
Apr 13, 2020 - 238W
May 3, 2020 - 260W
June 13, 2020 - 285W
August 9, 2020 - 303W
Saturday, Oct 3, 2020 - 285W
Tuesday, Nov 17, 2020 - 296W
Friday, Feb 26, 2021 - 265W
Thursday, Apr 8, 2021 - 282W
Tuesday, May 18, 2021 - 306W
Reached a new all time high today + back over 4W/kg. Fully recovered from a nasty case of covid back in January which sunk a good bit of progress from the previous year. On to the new sustained power build plan at medium volume.
Wow, thats incredible. You went from 208 to 303, added 95 watts in 4.5 months!
Sorry to hear about your covid woes - it seems like it cost you 4 months.
Great to see you have bounced back well in a relatively short time 
I mentioned it earlier in the thread but that first ramp test was a pretty weak go at it after a long stretch of being off the bike - that being said I’ve definitely responded well to the TR plans and am glad to have bounced back from covid (and to have gotten my double dose of vaccine!). Not really training for anything specific anyways so I’m just glad to be feeling good and enjoying riding the bike.
Hello TR,
i need some help with my phenotype, i wonder what rider type i am, maybe you have some input for me.
WKO says my Vo2Max is around 72 and i can sustain around 315 - 330 watts for an hour with 68kg.
I don’t know if i can trust the vo2 number from wko5, from my feeling i produce lots of the energy via the glycolosis “anaerobically”.
So maybe if this is true and my vo2 is around 70 - 75 it means that i can clear the huge amounts of pyruvate/lactate i produce (more sprinter type)?
Second possibility would be that my vo2 is lower and also the longer efforts like the 1 hour ~320watts are just having a higher “anaerobically / glycolytic” contribution?
Or third possibility would be that my vo2 is lower then the 70 - 75 and also my glycolytic system is weak which also would lead to this threshold value maybe ?
Maybe somebody has expierence with this absolute numbers and has a better idea how to interpret it, would be nice.
Thanks
If all depends how well maintained is your PDC. If it has your true maximal efforts (especially short power) it is pretty close to reality. Usually the short power that is under-tested skews the vo2 max value and mFTP to be higher. So test properly your 1s, 5s, 30s, 1 min, 1.5 min to check things outm
In WKO you have also the chart that shows you energy contribution to given duration. To 1h power there is usually minimal contribution - lower than 1÷ in your case it will be something like 4W probably. Looking at your weight and power this seems correct. As I have similar numbers.
Thanks a lot for your reply.
I filled my PDC with the short efforts some weeks ago and indeed the vo2 came one point down after it, FRC increased from 14 to 17kj or so. Confused me a bit first because i thought physiologically if i have a stronger glycolosis also my aerobic system must be stronger so it can deal with the byproducts from the glycolosis and i expected that my vo2 number in wko will rise.
But maybe it is just not calculated this way, hmm…, i think it’s more calculated like “if there is more power coming from the glycolosis then there is less power coming from the aerobic system (pyruvate & fatty acides)” … and this sounds also logical to me but it stands a bit in contrast with my glycolytic byproduct assumption.
Just checked out the energy contribution chart, it says ~5w 1,5% - ~7w 2.4% depending on the date range i choose.
You have interplay between two energy systems. If you are able to produce more energy anaerobicaly, it does not mean that you can also produce more energy aerobicaly. Take typical track sprinter - HUGE anaerobic power and capacity and usually quite low FTP. On the other hand you have TT’er - HUGE FTP and quite low anaerobic power and FRC.
Here’s the chart to better visualize energy demand in relation to effort duration:
And some things to read for fun:
Hey there, i also wanted to share my progression because i had quite some success with low volume plans since the beginning of this year. I first started with unstructured outdoor riding. Then i used coggans workouts from his books, that got me quite far. Two years ago i got into trainerroad an i have been loving it ever since. I did some riding indoors but my riding last summer was mostly outdoor, of course with the outdoor workouts. Then i got myself a smarttrainer in November of last year and it made all the difference. Power went through the roof.
Hit my all time high with 456W last time and on monday we will see how far i’ve gotten in the last couple of weeks.
very interesting developement,
can you tell us a bit more of what type of workouts have you done for this huge increase?
Well i did the sweetspot base low volume 1 and 2 and then a sustained power build also low volume. I think i really hit home my recovery with this. Getting enogh sleep also was a massive gamechanger. And of course nutrition. I stopped focussing on loosing weight but rather on performance. Weight stayed the same but the power spiked.
Good job! Let yourself be inspired by your huge improvements: 40% FTP increase and 4,4% weight loss. Probably you gained muscle mass so your bodyfat loss is most likely even more than 5%.
Only a month into TR but I’ve seen some improvements
March 23 2021. 120- zwift
April 26 2021. 147- TR
May 19 2021. 164
17 watt increase in 3 weeks on a LV base. Ended up deleting my plan mid block to account for ride changes and new plans
The ftp change in addition to losing 30 lbs in the last 2 months put me just into 2 w/kg. Goal of 200 watts by september!
Jan 150 —> Feb 182 —> Mar —> 194 —> Today 214
In late September I hit a new high of 237.
After dialing it down in the fall and then ramping training back up in mid-November, by January 7 I was up to back up to 235 and I was stoked.
3 days later, my Dad passed away unexpectedly and I spent 7 weeks living with my Mom while we tried to sort out care for her. By the time I saw my bike again it was March and I was down to 215.
Given all that’s transpired, I’ve taken a more measured approach to my training this spring. I can’t say I’ve been more consistent, but I’ve aimed to chew what I bite, and bite accordingly, rather than biting off more than I can chew.
In April I was up to 228.
This morning I hit 243, my highest Ramp Test FTP ever.
I was pleasantly surprised, I think in part because without group rides (though they are coming back) it’s been harder for me to tell how I’m doing. Also, my headspace has been out of whack with family on my mind, so I just haven’t been feeling the juice! But whatever I’ve been doing has been working.
I notice that without the over/under nature of my weekly group ride that my ability to recover from hard threshold/VO2 efforts is still in early season form. But my sustained power is way ahead of where I’ve been before this time of year.
Fingers crossed that progress continues.
My condolences, sorry to hear about your loss. Hope you guys can all be in a better place.
Those are good gains, which plan were you following?
