My FTP Mystery
The question of which method to use for finding your FTP still haunts me. Coggan's power level document suggests a 40k TT. I have some teammates who are coached by Cycle-smart and they use an extrapolation of 3 minute and 12 minute (or longer) times. Frielites suggest 30 minute TTs. Hunter Allen says 20 minutes minus 5%. I know the standard answers which basically amount to whatever floats your boat, just be consistant.
Here's a little more detail. I gave the results of a 3 and 12 minute test to my teammate and his magic spreadsheet spit out 250 watts. Great, I should be able to hold 250 for 30 minutes to an hour if I am properly rested right? Well, I can't. I've tried several times in a couple of different settings to average 250 watts for 30 minutes. The best I can do is about 230. And so I begin to wonder what my FTP really is?
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That 3 and 12 minute test
That 3 and 12 minute test you refer to is the Monod & Sherrer Critical Power Model test.
You should do those tests when rested and you should go to exhaustion. IOW you should have an average wattage and a time for which you held that wattage which should be in the range of 3 or 12 minutes. I believe that more than two tests are recommended because the model uses a best fit line. I have also seen recommendations for not doing more than one test per day, or at the very least separate them by the better part of a day.
Critical Power test
I agree with this.
I think the Monod & Sherrer model does a pretty good job estimating what I could do for a 40km time trial after a taper.
That said, I have not used the Monod CP test in a very long while. With my season in the dumpster this year, I haven't even thought of using it.
I set my own FTP by taking a more direct measurement. Occasionally when I'm well rested and motivated I'll just do an hour long ride, giving it everything I have. Usually the outcome is in line with the Mean Maximal Power curve, hopefully a little higher.
I found that at first the
I found that at first the Monod test was a predictor of my 1 hour effort under the same conditions that I tested. i.e. if I was tapered for the test, then I must be tapered to reproduce the wattage for an hour.
However, as I progressed, I got really good at testing. Said another way, I got good at suffering for short durations. But I needed to be well tapered or mentally rested to reproduce the wattage for an hour and endure the suffering associated with it.
As far as data to back this up...I ran 2 40K TTs last year and both were within 6 watts of my Monod predicted hour power. The first was in the middle of a training block and the other was tapered. I was mentally rested for the first perfomance even though I was not tapered (coincidentally I rode at my FTP on this ride), but I was a mental wreck for the tapered perfomance.
We all are wired a bit different, I think everyone needs to find their own answer to how Monod works for you, and race/train accordingly.
There are other tests out there, but for me, Monod is the best.
Good Thoughts
Those are some wise words Unit. I think for me, the monod just doesn't really come close to reality. Doing a 30 minute test seems to be the most realistic.
Nothing New
Guest,
You are telling me nothing new. In fact, I did the tests on the same day yet still cannot match the output when I attempt a 30 minute test. My teammates use only two tests and they are coached by guys in the know.
But...
Is your hour long ride in line with the monod?
I wish I knew the answer,
but I don't. I have not done a Monod test in a very long time; and at the time when I did them (a little over a year ago) I had not been doing hour-long tests. I don't have two data points to compare to each other.
I suspect that I would not have been able to ride an hour at my Monod-predicted CP because for me I think it's a better indicator optimum (tapered) performance.
Ideal Conditions
So monod predicts FTP when rested, full tapered, i. e. ideal conditions?
YMMV
I don't think I'd make that a blanket statement, but for me that seems to be the case. For me at least, the Monod & Sherrer Critical Power test does a good job telling me what power level, or wattage, I should center on in a 40km Time Trial.
determining functional threshold power
Coggan's Seven Deadly Sins
Good Summation
Thanks Andy, yes, that is a good summation of the various methods. The key phrase which seems to apply especially to my question is, "roughly in order of increasing certainty."
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