FTP, a concept refined by power authority, Dr. Andy Coggan, is an estimation of the amount of work you are able to do in an hour. It serves as the basis for loads of other important metrics (e.g. TSS, CTL, ATL, TSB, etc.) that will be covered in future entries. Most immediately, the FTP value serves as the cornerstone to setting up training zones.
Rather than asking athletes to attempt a one hour maximal effort to determine FTP, I prescribe the method that Hunter Allen, co-author with Dr. Coggan of Training and Racing with a Power Meter, has developed. The protocol itself is actually quite simple: after a substantial warmup, start a lap on your head unit, and smash it for 20 minutes, as hard as you can. The average power recorded for the 20 minute test is multiplied by .95 to estimate what your “hour of power” (or FTP) would be.
The ideal terrain for a 20 minute test is a moderate (3-5%) steady climb that can be ridden safely without interruption (e.g. no stop lights). Of course, most of us might not have access to terrain that meets these requirements. A flat road (with the same requirement for safety) will do and of course, riding the test on a stationary trainer indoors is a great alternative.
“Smashing it” for 20 minutes might sound pretty straightforward but, to get the most out of your test, some smart pacing will be required. When prescribing an FTP test to my athletes, I encourage them to break the test down into smaller, more manageable chunks, like four-five minute efforts. For each five-minute time period, have a soft goal for average wattage. Trying to increase the average power for each five-minute segment (compared to the segment prior) will go a long way to helping you achieve proper pacing. As you get to the end of each five-minute portion, take an assessment based on your rate of perceived effort (RPE) and ask yourself, “Can I keep up this intensity? Can I increase the intensity for the next five minutes and the remainder of the test?” When it comes to the last few minutes, you should be at full effort, eking out every last bit of energy to assure that you have averaged the highest power possible. I refer to the wattage goal as “soft” because no matter what the goal power might be, you are going to be limited by your feeling on a given day. You might be able to do more work than you anticipate and you might not be having the absolute best day and will potentially fall short of your expected power output. Don’t let expectations get in the way of having your best test. Remember, the goal of testing isn’t to meet a particular number but rather, to measure your best performance you can do on a given day. Being in tune with your RPE is critical.
With your new FTP number in hand (best 20 minute power x .95), you can create training zones. With some simple calculations, you will be able to determine your training zones based on Allen and Coggan’s chart below.
Now that you are armed with your training zones, I suggest you record some of your regular rides and take a look at the files afterward to see how much time you are spending in each of your zones. This information can go a long way to helping determine what the demands of a ride/race/event are and potentially guide your training a bit, to meet those demands.
ABOUT BEN SHARP: Formerly a program director for USA Cycling, Benjamin Sharp is the resident Power Education Specialist for Stages Cycling. Prior to joining the Stages Cycling team, Benjamin spent seven years coaching the USA Cycling National Team. Under Benjamin’s guidance, riders racing for various national programs won 13 World Championships, and stood on 8 additional World Championship podiums. Benjamin’s crowning achievement was coaching the US women’s team pursuit team to the silver medal at the London Olympic Games in 2012. An accomplished athlete in his own right, Benjamin has amassed more than a dozen national championships in a cycling career that has spanned three decades. Benjamin is a USA Cycling Level 1 coach and has earned the USA Cycling Power Certification. As a coach, Benjamin’s strength is making accessible to the masses, the science of high performance elite athletics. As a Continuing Education provider for Stages Cycling, Benjamin now spends his time educating professional, amateur, and indoor athletes alike on the virtues of training with power.
I hate math, especially when I'm forced to do quick calculations in my head.
Figuring (forgive the pun) that many other people dislike math, I won't ask anyone to do any calculations in my classes. For example, I would never cue something to the effect of;now I need everyone at 85% of AT for one minute… and then we'll push up to 95% for the final 30 seconds! Against a background of loud, pounding music, at that point I've got my head up and I'm mouthing to you:
Wait… what are you asking me to do?
Won't do it. Instead I base my Life Time Performance Cycle classes on two numbers; PTP (Personal Threshold Power) and JRAP (Just Riding Along Power – AKA > Base Watts > VT1 / First Ventilatory Threshold Power). From these two rider identified threshold wattages, we can construct three meaningful power Zones;[wlm_private ‘PRO-Platinum|PRO-Monthly|PRO-Gratis|PRO-Seasonal|Platinum-trial|Monthly-trial|PRO-Military|30-Days-of-PRO|90 Day PRO|Stages-Instructor|Schwinn-Instructor|Instructor-Bonus|28 Day Challenge']
Recover zone – watts below JRAP
Perform zone – watts between JRAP and PTP
Improve zone – watts above PTP
That's all I need to coach and cue an easily understandable class, to a variety of riders. Regulars include committed endurance athletes, Cat 2 cyclists (A group riders), weekend warriors (B group) and lots of; “I'm not training for anything John… I just like your class” regular folks.
Using these three simple zones makes the cuing each task much easier to communicate and, without a lot of numbers and percentages flying around the room, much more actionable by my riders.
Now I need everyone in the upper part of their Performance Zone for one minute… and then we'll push up to the Edge of your threshold the final 30 seconds!
This is an expanded version of Dennis Mellon's Below/@/Above threshold cues he uses and similar to the well documented heart rate based concepts that makeup the Zoning Program.
Using this system to cue wattage intensity, I've successfully taught this class for past two years – this is our third on the FreeMotion S11.9 Indoor Cycles. We do not have a Display Training system like Performance IQ or Spivi to project rider metrics on a screen and/or do the “math” for you to display percentage based power zones. The numbers on the console are what we have to work with.
Over this times I have had numerous (dozens maybe) participants thank me for NOT using percentages of “something” to communicate intensity levels of heart rate or wattages. That makes me happy and it really simplifies my job as the Instructor/Coach > Coach is a much better description of my role in these classes training sessions as I will typically ride side by side with them, rather than up front in the normal Instructor position.
NOTE: I still have control of my music when I'm riding with the group. See this post about using an inexpensive bluetooth receiver so your iPhone is wirelessly connected to the sound system.
Today's 75 minute session > Pinning Down Two Numbers
I you look at the song lengths of my playlist you'll quickly understand the class format >
A long (9-13 minute) song where we play around finding JRAP / Base Watts
Followed by a short (3-4 minute) track where we explore PTP
Rinse and repeat
The first track is of course a warm up that includes 3-4 x 30 second accelerations / openers near the end to get everyone ready to work.
Track #2 – the first PTP track is important. We'll use this average wattage for each of the four PTP efforts to follow. Everyone seemed to enjoy Billy Idol — Rebel Yell – 1999 – Remaster – maybe suffered a bit as well. At 4:47 there's plenty of time to explore PTP. We use the Stage button to reset the averages at the beginning of what I describe as; Your Best Sustainable Effort. It's normal for riders to miss-judge where they should be, so I'll often have everyone make needed adjustments and hit the Stage button again to reset the averages.
Track #3 is for finding JRAP / Base Watts. The very recognisable Peter Frampton — Do You Feel Like We Do – Live is perfect for this. We used the first few minutes of the long track to recover and then begins of dialing in the wattage that has everyone at JRAP/Base Watts. It's fast @ 108 RPM – I don't demand they follow it exactly, encouraging cadences above 90RPM. With one hand on the resistance knob, we add / subtract load in small increments… and then wait for our breathing response. I cue the feeling where you're just above “chatty” = you are first noticing you'd prefer breathing through your mouth.
My own unscientific research has be seeing JRAP / Base Watts ~ 65-70% of PTP. Sorry, there are those damn percentages I hate > I offer that just for your perspective.
If using VT1 / First Ventilatory Threshold Power or heart rate is new for you this series of posts have a bunch more detail. This video from ACE does a great job demonstrating VT1 / First Ventilatory Threshold.
I get questions; John, they're talking about heart rates here, not power, so how does this apply?
Heart Rate BPM's are just an indication of effort (how hard you're working). Watts are the same. You work “X Watts” hard, it feels like “Y RPE” and your HR is “Z BPM”. Does that make sense? It doesn't need to be any more complicated than that. Remember, I hate math 🙂
Rinse & Repeat
Self direction is a key component of how I coach my Performance classes. After all, I'm not going to be there with them on the road. So once everyone understands the drills and what what they're supposed to accomplish, I pretty much turn them loose.
Please let me know if you use this > or your questions.
In our latest Audio Class PROfile, USA Cycling Coach Robin Robertson suggests we all get back to the basics of form fundamentals.
From time to time it is always good to get back to basics with form fundamentals. Form is often overlooked and not practiced enough. This workout takes you back to 5 fundamentals: independent leg work, pedal stroke, smooth transitions in and out of the saddle, the elements of adding and releasing tension through rolling hills while maintaining intensity, and a long seated & standing climb that gets progressively steeper.
Focus on fundamentals will help each rider to get more power out of every pedal stroke and to become more efficient on the bike, whether indoors or outside.
This is an ideal class for everyone — teaching beginners good form and reminding veteran riders of how to get more out of every pedal stroke. The overall intensity is moderate to heavy with the end climb. The focus is on good form!
The cuing for this class includes both indoor stationary cycles and bikes on trainers. This is the kind of class that is perfect for those who enjoy cycling outside because the drills practiced are directly transferrable to outdoor riding.
I love teaching pyramid profiles in my classes and I find that it’s a ride that I return to again and again. The idea of the pyramid is quite simple and there are many different ways to create profiles using the basic premise.
With this particular profile, we are riding two pyramids with recoveries at the top and then again between each pyramid. If you have never used a pyramid profile before, you will notice that as you climb the pyramid, the timing of the intervals increases, until you reach the top and then as you descend, the timing decreases.
If you are able to, I always find it helpful to create a visual for your riders so that they can follow along — see this[wlm_private ‘PRO-Platinum|PRO-Monthly|PRO-Gratis|PRO-Seasonal|Platinum-trial|Monthly-trial|PRO-Military|30-Days-of-PRO|90 Day PRO|Stages-Instructor|Schwinn-Instructor|Instructor-Bonus|28 Day Challenge'] profile graphic included with the Profile.
The music can easily be changed out in this profile to incorporate your favorites, but I’ve used some of my favorite songs of the summer here in this profile. I hope you enjoy it!
