Does anyone actually go a full hour to determine FTP?

Originally Posted by rmur17

many answers to be found here: http://cyclingpeakssoftware.com/power411/

But I guess you know all those already...

I agree it's no point worrying about a watt or two or three when it comes to FTP. In fact, I'd suggest always rounding to the nearest 5W to help avoid obsessing about it too much.

In general though for TSS/PMC it IS important to have firstly a consistent FTP method and secondly an accurate one. It's always good to compare training loads apples to apples and if your FTP is 10% different from anothers purely because of the way you determine it ... well that could lead to differences around 20% in TSS (and PMC). That's because of the ^2 factor in TSS of course.

As far as actual workouts go, I agree: do what you can with the training level %'s as non-prescriptive guidelines.

To the OP: i seldom do full-on hour tests in a state of training fatigue conducive to setting FTP. Since training with power from 2002 onwards, I've established a consistent pattern that my indoor 30MP equals outdoor FTP. So I normally set it from those workouts. Outdoors the terrain is pretty variable so I tend to look at NP for long efforts to make sure FTP is really 'there'.