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I did an FTP test last night, but instead did the test outdoors. After about 10 minutes I was blowing and starting to suffer and was really feeling it towards the end.
In the end I set a 20 watt higher value than on my indoor trainer, but my average HR for the 20 mins was 177 and my max HR is 188
I know these tests are supposed to be hard, but should it be that by the end you feel completely spent?
I've never ridden for 20 mins at that HR before and 177 for me would usually be a max 3 minute effort.
Yes, you should be spent at the end of a 20 minute test.
Inside and outside FTPs are often different, be careful using your new FTP inside.
^^What he said.
If you're aren't almost vomiting at the end of the 20 minutes it probably wasn't quite hard enough.
Inside does not equal outside due to how much more cooling you get outside amongst other things.
Be careful also that a "proper" FTP test (I've never done one) supposedly requires you to do a hardish effort before starting to stop you inadvertently adding in some anaerobic grunt near the beginning of your test (sounds like you may have done that a bit from what you said)
"They" also say that your second test is higher than your first because you learn to suffer more - seems like you nailed that bit pretty well this time 🤪🤪🤪
My guess is your result is probably about right for outside (95% of the 20 min average, innit ?)
Are you sure 188 is yer max ?
Sounds about right. My max heart rate is 185 and in a 10 mile tt (lasts about 24 min) I'm at 177 average.
You should be utterly done at the end of an ftp test.
As others have said, indoor and outdoor ftp is different. I'm around 265 indoors, and 280 outdoors.
Thanks for the heads up regarding inside and outside values as I although I have a fan indoors, I reckon I'd struggle to use those values for steady state workouts or those where you ride at 105% of FTP for a duration.
Outside on a cool night like last night certainly did mean your heart rate wasn't elevated due to your body trying to dissipate heat.
I must admit they are not something I relish doing.
I did do a full out 5 minute effort 5 before the test.
Sounds about right. My max heart rate is 185 and in a 10 mile tt (lasts about 24 min) I’m at 177 average.
Interesting. Thanks
The BC test is over 30 mins but you only take the last 20 mins for threshold data because of reasons mentioned above.
I think there is a knack to doing them and it is not to go flat out as hard as you can because you keep blowing. The key is trying to hit your hardest sustainable effort for the duration.
Bloody awful things.
Cycling along burping like you are going to throw up is not how I normally ride my bike.
Interesting. Thanks
Well, no. Everyone’s HR is different, you can’t and should not compare using HR.
Well, no. Everyone’s HR is different, you can’t and should not compare using HR.
Everyone's max heart rate is different, but the zones we'll be training in as a percentage are fairly well defined.
So id be confident in saying if his max heart rate is the same as mine then his heart rate when doing a 20 min full gas effort will also be similar no?
Well fair enough, similar yes.
As others have said - be careful using it indoors!
I try not to think of FTP as some kind of objective truth, rather an estimated benchmark you can use to scale your efforts effectively. For it to work well then the testing conditions should be as similar as possible to the training conditions. I've spoken to folk who use a different FTP depending on whether they are training in TT position or not.
For indoor workouts I find my FTP (via Ramp Test) to be a bit low, maybe 3% depending on what the actual workout is. I'm very much a diesel so the ramp test is a bit full on for me, I bailed early on my last but one attempt but did a warmup workout before my last one, there was a 10% difference between the two. So long as you find a methodology that works for you and you are consistent in applying it then it's a starting point.
As @stevious says, it's a guideline, unless you've done it under lab conditions with blood lactate being monitored.
Cycling along burping like you are going to throw up is not how I normally ride my bike.
If you don't actually throw up down your top, you're not really trying...
From my experience, my power and heart fitness are very dynamic, according to my general wellbeing and how much "training" I've been doing. Consequently, I only regard figures for both for a maximum of 42 days.
My Lactate Threshold Heart Rate estimate, according to www.crickles.org (free), has typically been anywhere in the 158-175bpm range over the last three years. I was up near the top of that range climbing Cheddar Gorge mid September after cramming in some interval training just before we went on holiday, but after a month of feeling rough and not doing regular 5min+ intervals , I was just above the bottom of that range on Monday in a Zwift ~18Km TT.
Full-on efforts usually leave me feeling absolutely wrecked, once I've cooled down and got off the bike, leaving me feeling like doing nothing physical for a few hours.
If you do enough interval training indoors with enough fans and plenty of fluid, you should find your power and heart stats indoors will closely match indoors, once your body had had ~3 weeks to adapt.
Yeah I've often found it takes a while to acclimatise to the turbo after some time away from it.
Decent fan makes a huge difference as often documented, but as above so does decent hydration which doesn't seem to get as much attention.
I used to get about 10% difference between indoors and out, much closer these days.