FTP raiser

You should search the archives as there's already a lot of stuff on this topic in there.

I don't think anyone knows the answer for certain, but that said I think most people believe that the best way to increase your FTP is to spend a lot of time each week simply working in L4 (90-105%).

As for where you work in that region, there are some tradeoffs. If you work at 90% you can do it for a lot longer and some believe that may be the best way to push up your FTP. Indeed, the Allen/Coggan book has a graph which suggests that 90% is about the ideal level to work at to increase FTP.

If you have less time to train or have less mental tolerance for training, however, it may be better to work at closer to 100% to get the most out of the time you have.

Either way, in my opinion, you should also sprinkle in some L5 along the way. It seems to help me.

grahamspringett said:

I was under the impression that SST and lower levels of L4 will build CTL nicely and help me sustain wattages near FTP for extended periods, but to push FTP higher I need to be working at or above FTP.

Now is this a false impression? Will large volumes of say 90 or so per cent of FTP push the FTP up as well as build good doses of CTL?

If your impression is that 30-120min rides at IF 0.88-0.93 (just to throw out a sample ballpark) will not grow your FTP, then yes, you are mistaken.

grahamspringett said:

I'm putting together a rough plan which involves 2x20s at L4 on two days and tempo for an hour or more on the trainer on two other days, these days being weekdays. I intend to push out to 3x20 and 90min L3. Where should the 2x20s be ridden? Low L4 or at or above FTP if I can manage it?

There are two guiding thoughts that I have on 2x20s:
1) the "alls you can do is alls you can do" approach rules. In your very first set of intervals, you start with your best guess for a target power for the work intervals (for me, maybe IF 0.95-1.0). Thereafter, your target is start at the prior average for the two intervals, and do what you can do on that day - maybe a bit less if fatigued, or maybe a bit more as, a) you push closer to your actual FTP, or b)your FTP improvement allows.
2) these intervals become the foundation for Seven Deadly Sins #6 (Alex's Cycle Blog: The seven deadly sins). In my application, these intervals tend to gravitate around IF 1.0 and formulate one of my more reliable and valid estimators of my FTP.

Generally, I find that extending time at say 90-95% FTP works better (e.g. is mentally easier) to improve FTP while growing CTL. My attempts at riding at higher L4 power to push FTP higher usually end in frustration since they require freshness to be successful. You can't be fresh every week. If one day I'm riding 1 hr @ 95% FTP and I feel great and extend it by 15 min, I know my FTP is improving. If I don't feel great, then I can still complete the plan. OTOH, if I increase power for say 2x20 by 5-10W and fail, it will probably ruin the whole ride.

Someone (J. Verheul?) on Wattage mentioned that in their coaching experience they noticed that extending time tends to work better for explosive riders, while increasing power is better for slow-twitchers. I'm really neither.

Piotr said:

Generally, I find that extending time at say 90-95% FTP works better (e.g. is mentally easier) to improve FTP while growing CTL. My attempts at riding at higher L4 power to push FTP higher usually end in frustration since they require freshness to be successful. You can't be fresh every week. If one day I'm riding 1 hr @ 95% FTP and I feel great and extend it by 15 min, I know my FTP is improving. If I don't feel great, then I can still complete the plan. OTOH, if I increase power for say 2x20 by 5-10W and fail, it will probably ruin the whole ride.

Someone (J. Verheul?) on Wattage mentioned that in their coaching experience they noticed that extending time tends to work better for explosive riders, while increasing power is better for slow-twitchers. I'm really neither.

Since my last two wins were from a sprint (which surprised me, I'm only a lil fella) I guess I'm in the explosive mould. So extending the good ole 2x20s but maintaining the lower end of L4 would appear to be the way forward.

This seems to chime in with my experiences. Advances in FTP have become apparent when I can ride more and longer rather than harder.

I'm guessing it's a bit of an individual thing, but I've had success working on my FTP with three different workouts. 1st is short (about 4-8 minutes) intervals at about 115%-120% of FTP. 2nd is 20 minute intervals as close to FTP as possible. Usually 3rd and 4th intervals fall off a bit or a lot depending on the day. 3rd is a long effort at about 90% of FTP. Usually 90 to 120 minutes. I usually have to work up to the duration if I've been taking it easy on the bike for a while. So, may do 10-15 minute intervals instead of 20 at first. Or, 90% effort for 60 minutes.
Hope that helps.