Yay no more 20 min FTP tests….. but anyone got a dummies guide to “critical power” and “W” vs FTP? I want to understand how that changes things for me.
Cheers.
What do you mean W vs FTP? I don't understand the question.
Actually it is File Transfer Protocol...sorry.
Not a clue. Are you speaking Roadie perchance?
I'm back from Google. W' means "W prime" and is measured in kJ. FFS, what an incredibly stupid letter to choose.
Criticial power is the steady state you reach when doing a maximal steady effort i.e. a long climb. You probably know what this is if you have long climbs near you. You can go a long way over this for a short time, or a bit over it for a longer time. The amount of work (not power) you can do over the critical power is called W prime.
It's a neat model but I am not sure how it relates to training. Maybe as a substitute for FTP... I have always known what my critical power HR is for me, from experience, and it always seemed to me to be a better guide than FTP. The reason being that the steady state power, and how long you can ride at that power are different things.
Actually it is File Transfer Protocol…sorry.
Of course, you’re correct. It must have been corrupted as I uploaded my answer.
I have always found W ie double U rather misleading. should it not be double V?
Pedal harder is the answer.
I thought you just push the pedals round and round
I have always found W ie double U rather misleading. should it not be double V?
Explained here:
https://historyofenglishpodcast.com/2013/12/23/episode-36-finalizing-the-alphabet/
FTP is file transfer program, barely used these days as it is not secure.
But what if you put the word Secure in front of it for SFTP...
intervals.icu shows my W' . I guess I've never really thought about it other than bigger is better.
FTP is file transfer program, barely used these days as it is not secure.
You also have to check that it's enabled on the server or you can spend an embarrassing amount of time troubleshooting why it doesn't work.
https://www.highnorth.co.uk/articles/critical-power-calculator
Is a good explanation and allows you to calculate ftp. I find it more accurate than the ramp test
Sounded like one of those artsy films that get critically acclaimed but nobody watches.
There's a good explanation of this somewhere in the annals of the Real Science of Sport Podcast.
Maybe one of these episodes:
https://play.acast.com/s/realscienceofsport/watttheftp-
https://play.acast.com/s/realscienceofsport/the-science-of-fatigue
I’ve read wheeliedirty’s link and I now know why my new coaching setup has moved to that - becuase 2yrs of respiratory issues have shifted my Wprime from 1700kj - ball park for a male xc racer - to 1300kj or low during that time according to intervals.icu. So this should lead to a better for me training program in the future than an FTP test may indicate.
Thanks for the videos ^^ I’ll watch those later.
To be fair that’s my attitude now, becuase I won’t be in a top 10 or maybe even 15 for a couple of years if ever now with a compromised system. May as well turn up and enjoy battering myself, I’m not hunting for results. <br /><br />
But it helps my lifestyle to have an accountable structure hence continuation with a coach, I just wanted to understand why the models I’m training to have changed. Even outside of racing it’s good to have an understanding of the health issues I have - compromised anerobic - and how to fix them.
Couple of things to think about comparing CP & W' to simply ftp. They can rehash it as much as the like, but there's not a significant difference in my opinion between CP and FTP/anaerobic threshold - they are all measures of a heart rate/power you can sustain for an appreciable length of time ( what that time is, be it 15 mins for anaerobic threshold , useful for a 5k runner, or 1 hour for ã cyclist/1/2 mar runner), but what W' tries to do is put a measure on how much capacity there is above this threshold.
This is useful and interesting, but bear in mind that things that improve CP will tend to reduce W' as there is an ultimate limit to how much power you can produce. As always the trick is in finding that balance between enducrance and power training that will lead you to an overall improvement, and adjusting the balance between the two that will best suit the event you're training for.
Further reading if you need it...
> https://www.highnorth.co.uk/articles/critical-power-calculator
And there was me thinking this thread was about people inexplicably referring to a win as a "W" - as in "going for the W", when it's so much harder to say. I'm sure I've heard it somewhere recently and couldn't for the life of me fathom why anyone would do that. No idea where though, or if it's commonplace . . .
Tj, it is in German.
You asked at the start how it changed things for you, and it doesn't, except you can now numerate where you're at a little bit better. And you've replaced 20min ftp tests with a longer 2 part test.
Bear in mind also, and this is important, that you can only use W' in combination with CP; and with a context of what you want to do, and total max power. You state that one ambition is to raise W' - well the quickest way to do that is reduce your aerobic fitness, which will drop CP, and make the creation of 'space above' CP in the plot of power against time easier. The trick will be to balance the two maintaining a high CP, with enough W' for short efforts