I’ve been a little puzzled with how to interpret my FTP and VO2 max numbers as I’m trying to get fitter and faster and have a theory.
FTP - 2.8 w/kg. Garmin shows that as just very slightly into the “Good” category.
VO2 max - 48 which Garmin shows as well into the “excellent” category.
The FTP seems out of whack - why isn’t it higher - into the “excellent” category like VO2 max is? Well I finally just paid some attention the the “Torque Effectiveness” metric from my power meter which is averaging around 50% ish from recent rides. “Normal is apparently 60/70% and higher.
So - am I losing a whole load of power through poor pedalling and hence could get good FTP gains via focussing in pedalling drills etc rather than continuing to just thrash myself ?
FWIW
My FTP is 208 W (2.77 W/Kg) which Garmnin reckons is "Fair"
My Cycling VO2 max is 43, which Garmin reckons is "Excellent".
I'm not sure there is an easy correlation. I'd like to know if there is though!
My Running FTP is currently 45 and was 47 a few weeks ago. (before flu-type thing).
If you are searching for improvement in power/ftp it’s going to be more about hours and dedication I’m afraid. You can certainly make small gains in pedalling efficiency but it really is only small gains. I like to practice pedalling efficiently and the easiest way I’ve found is to concentrate on it when doing intervals on your turbo trainer. I used to have a mirror set up beside mine so I could see if I was bobbing or moving. You need to make it second nature as things go to pot when the pressure is on.
There really is no substitute for consistent training. If you like following a program there are plenty on the likes of Zwift or something like trainer road. If not then just regular Zwift races or events picked to mirror the kind of intervals you should be doing will be almost as good.
That’s what I did for last years race season, was at 4.10wkg (300w) and according to garmin vo2 max of 59 but Covid and a bad winter training soon knocked that out of me. I’m rebuilding again from the end of the summer and I’ll be using Zwift just as I described.
Thanks Daz and Scotroutes.
Plain old hard work is definitely the main part of the plan - mainly outdoors for the rest of the summer but then on the turbo through the winter.
I’ll focus a bit more on proper pedalling than perhaps I otherwise would - and let’s see what happens. The goal is to break 3w/kg which is almost there (started at 2.4 several months back) but getting to the next goal of 3.5w/kg will take quite a bit more work I think and require / benefit from starting some actual training in addition to generally eating less and riding more.
Your Garmin FTP number is probably wrong.
It only “knows” your ftp from what you’ve been doing.
For example, mine is showing as 306w on Garmin Connect but Intervals.icu is giving me an eFTP of 343.
What they said. You need to measure ftp properly, and Garmin metrics aren’t know to be particularly accurate. Mine shows ftp at 3.1wkg and 56 vo2max, but my last properly tested ftp was 3.8wkg.
However, I’m now in the same position as Daz, putting this year to bed after Covid x 2 and fatigue before starting again in November for next year.
@crosshair - yea the Garmin automatically generated one fluctuates all of the time - e.g. it bumped me up to 255w after a 2 hr hard ride on Saturday but then lowered me to 225 after a 4 hr slower ride on Sunday.
I’ve taken the approach of doing a specific FTP test and declining the Garmin auto calculated number. That was 251 from my last ramp test but I’m sure if could have gone one 10w “step” further if I’d really tried. I’m trying to put off the torture of doing a proper 20 min FTP test - I suspect it might come back higher, at more like 260 or 265 but it’s a painful session especially to fail at that power and have to retry at a more conservative one. A good short sharp training session in itself though.
Thanks for the intervals.icu link, I just signed up and it looks great - rather like the Strava premium fitness, form etc data but free.
It gives me an eFTP of 256 so cleary uses a very similar / same algorithm as Garmin.
There is a note there “ The algorithm requires just 1 max effort of between 180 seconds and 30 minutes.”
I.e. it’s agreeing with you all - do a test !
I don't do the power meter thing, so I have no power data of my own. But aren't VO2MAX and FTP measuring two different systems.
VO2MAX is a measure of how well developed your whole cardiovascular system is, and how efficient it is at getting oxygen to the muscles
Power is how good your muscles are at exerting force.
You can develop VO2MAX without impacting power (thinking marathon runners) or develop power without boosting VO2MAX (thinking power lifters)
So you probably want to do some sessions on the bike that specifically target power, and maybe do some leg days in the gym that will boost that number. I suspect that might give you better gains than thinking pedal efficiency.
My Cycling VO2 max is 43, which Garmin reckons is “Excellent”.
Unless this was measured in a lab with an oxygen mask etc, it's pretty meaningless...
So – am I losing a whole load of power through poor pedalling
There's also no evidence that pedalling efficiency matters (last time I looked - was chatting to one of the SW developers at Polar when I had their power meter).