Cycling Forums › Forums › Bikes › Cycling Training › Low FTP for my VO2max
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Low FTP for my VO2max

post #1 of 7
2/12/12 at 5:47am
Thread Starter 

Hello! As the topic suggests I need help to figure out why my FTP is so low even though I have quite good vo2max and very good lactate threshold. I've tested recently and I have 76 ml/kg/min vo2max and my lactate threshold is at 96% of max HR. My weight is 71 kg and I'm 193 cm tall. The problem is that my power output is generally very low considering my vo2max and LT. At vo2max my power is only 400 watt and my FTP is 310 watt. Others with approxematly the same absolute VO2max and LT have FTP at about 350-370 watt. I'm not a very experianced cyclist which could explain the low FTP but my VO2max power is still very low so the VO2max power / FTP ratio is not the problem. Could the answer be that my legs and/or abdomen simply arn't strong enough?

Reply
Reply
post #2 of 7
2/12/12 at 5:24pm

Not a very experiance cyclist and your FTP is 4.3watt/kg?  I am not sure I would worry much about those #s, that is Cat 2 range...

Reply
Reply
post #3 of 7
2/12/12 at 6:00pm

Hopefully Dave (or someone else in the know) will answer you.  There's a formula for taking your relative VO2 and your weight and figuring out what your potential power output is given your efficiency, and I'm being lazy by not looking it up and plugging in the numbers.  However, I think I know what the answer is going to be anyway. The answer is most likely going to be that your body is inefficient.  I.e., you move a lot of O2 but use it inefficiently.  In other words, you need to develop your slow twitch muscle fibers.  You can do this with training of course, though some people respond a lot more than others.  My guess is training will get you a lot more watts since you say you are inexperienced and your implied efficiency seems likely to be pretty low.

 

Edit: BTW the title of the thread is wrong because your FTP is just right given your VO2max power.


Edited by lanierb - 2/12/12 at 6:35pm
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 7
2/20/12 at 4:16pm

Just a quick follow up: I ran across my spreadsheet for VO2max/FTP and figured I could run your numbers.  First, I computed your ratio of FTP/VO2max power at 0.775, which is actually a bit lower than average.  You should be able to train this by doing lots of L3-L4 work.   Plugging this into the spreadsheet along with your 76 VO2max and 71kg body mass, I get that you are 21.5% efficient, which is actually pretty normal.  

 

So, bottom line is my answer above was wrong.  You're ratio of FTP/VO2max power is low and your efficiency is average.  

The prescription is the same: lots of L3/L4 work.  Again, since you are new to cycling you should expect some big gains at first.  Actually, even your VO2max should be trainable at first, though yours is so high already that there may be not much more to get there.

Reply
Reply
post #5 of 7
2/23/12 at 2:47am
Thread Starter 
Thanks alot for the answer and sorry for the late reply. I just have one more question that might be a little offropic. I think i can improve my vo2max much more since i havn't done any vo2max intervalls on the bike whatsoever. Should i do these kind of intervalls even tho it's just base training to improve my vo2max close to my genetic max before i start racing or should i be patient and start with these when tje build starts?
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 7
2/23/12 at 9:27am

You probably will mostly benefit from L3/L4 work for now.  This is based on you calling yourself inexperienced and the fact that your VO2max is already high relative to your FTP.  If you have some big races coming up it will help to do some L5 as well, but most of your work should still be L3/4.  The L3/4 work will also serve to raise your VO2max (especially because of your lack of experience) and, even though it's already high, I wouldn't be surprised to see that go up another 25watts at least just from the L3/4 work.

Reply
Reply
post #7 of 7
2/23/12 at 10:04am
Thread Starter 

Yea it's probably best if I stick to the L3/L4 to avoid getting overtrained which I might get quite easily considering I've been a cyclist for only about 9 months. Or atleast I've been training cycling seriously for that long dunno if I get to call myself a cyclist yet ;) again, thanks alot lanierb!

Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Cycling Training
Cycling Forums › Forums › Bikes › Cycling Training › Low FTP for my VO2max