So you just completed the FTP Test
1) Basketball players ask, “What’s in your bag?” — what type of shots can you make? How many moves do you have?
It’s a golf reference where you must choose which golf clubs to carry in your bag. Do you favor long shots off the tee? Thus needing multiple drivers. Or do you go for location and have more irons? Golfers must choose based on their physical abilities. This week we asked, “Is twenty minutes of continuous pedaling in your bag?” For most of you, the answer was a resounding “YES!!!!”
2) With the FTP test in our rearview mirror, we turn to analysis. Hopefully, you took my advice and used the power zone calculator to generate YOUR training zones based on your estimated FTP. Remember, since we did the 20-minute test, your FTP is .95 of the number you observed in class.
3) Dare to compare with other Stages riders? The numbers below are a compilation of all 20-minute FTP tests on Stages-connected bikes in 2019. A friend at Stages made the chart for me in pounds (versus kilograms). I don’t think this chart exists in pounds anywhere else on the Internet . . . you’re welcome:).
4) While not a perfect number, your functional threshold power is essentially your aerobic threshold; how hard you can
pedal for one hour without losing your breath. Said differently, how hard can you go before the build-up of lactic acid in your blood forces you to slow down? I’d argue the biggest difference between indoor cycling and riding outdoors is the penalty for losing your breath. Nothing worse than watching your friends pedal away from you. That NEVER happens indoors!
5) As an instructor and USA Cycling coach, my goal is to get folks outside. A recent NY Times article (it’s a gift link, you can read for free) asks, “Are Americans Doing Fitness Wrong? Four lessons about exercise from around the world.” The long and short, in America, fitness is “pay to play”:
“[In the United States] there are endless gyms, classes and products that promise to make you fitter, as long as you hand over your credit card.
But there are other ways of approaching exercise. In many nations, movement is baked into everyday life — as a way to commute from one place to another, to build community or to connect with nature.”
It may put me out of a job, but I’d love to see more folks riding outside!
6) While FTP is about power/watts, heart rate does play a major factor. Your average heart rate — see lactate threshold heart rate) over twenty minutes dictates your training zones. Power meters on outdoor bikes are quite expensive. I own four bikes and only one has a power meter. All you need is a fitness tracker to calculate your training or exercise zones.
7) A twenty-minute lactate heart rate threshold test can help you connect heart rate with watts. Recall, your lactate threshold is the number of beats per minute where lactate— a byproduct of your muscles and the work they do— rapidly builds in your bloodstream.
8) Watts can be a confusing metric . . .I know, we aren’t electricians. Conversely, everyone knows something about speed. It’s fun to go really ‘fast’ and almost feel the wind in our hair. The chart below shows the difference in watts as a function of speed. The two are not linear. The greater the speed, the more watts you must generate to increase your efforts. (Top right number going up?).
9) March is my favorite cycling month of the year. The Spring classics are one-day races held across Europe. The Omloop kicks l off the spring races. Most races are streamed — if you know where to look. February is a key month for training and getting ready for the first big races of the year.