FTP's what the???

OK, I know some of you might not have any idea about this bike training geek talk so I thought I would run through a brief description.

FTP stands for Functional threshold power which does not help much. FTP is the normalised power that a rider can maintain for 1 hour, and is given as a unit of watts. It is something that is hard to get an accurate figure on. The easiest way without blowing yourself up too much is to do a 20min time trial on a consistent slight uphill rise, these are hard to find. After the 20min TT, you multiply your average power (not normalised power) by 0.95 this will give you a close enough FTP. So some may ask what is the difference between normalised power and average power. Average power includes all the stopping and starting whereas Normalised takes an average but removes all of the stopping and times you are not really producing power.

So the point of knowing your FTP is so that you can perform accurate intervals at a known power output. You can also use these numbers if you were in a race, say if you gapped the field and wanted to sit at a pace you could maintain you would try to sit close to your FTP if you had about 1 hour left of racing. As I don’t really road race I use the FTP for intervals. I receive my program from my coach on what I should be doing in each interval, 3min at 110% of FTP, 3 min rest, 2min at 115% of FTP, 2min rest etc, etc. Each interval set is planned to work at your limits for your own specific goal without overdoing it.

So that is a little insight to my training, and it is tough very tough. It has been my last 3+ months and I have been showing an increase in much needed speed, endurance I have not tested yet. Really it is all about pushing the limits in both power output and endurance. Intervals are a great way to train but doing it with power really steps it all up to another level.

Well I have another little trick that I have up my sleave, but it is all to do with my power meter. My power meter is all software based, and I can pre-program my interval sets. So I put them all in the meter go and do them with my meter telling me how long and what power I should be at, I can see my average power for that interval to make sure I am on target. So I can do my best to meet all target while out on the bike, I don’t have to wait till I get home and download the data to see that I pushed it too hard in my first set, and failed for the last 3, I actually know as I am riding. I also enter my FTP value into the meter and I can see my training stress score or the intensity factor, or my average normalised power for that ride. These features are what sets apart my ibike apart from other power meters. Although the ibike maybe slightly inaccurate depending on how you calibrate it, once you have it right it is a great bit of training kit.

So has this type of training worked for me yet? I don’t know but it makes me extremely tired if that counts, but I will find out in a few weeks ;).