How long did it take you guys to get your power up?

[awilki01]

Funny how that works huh? I don't know how valid it is, but Friel has this FTP estimation algorithm thingy that's kind of interesting.... http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2010/08/estimating-your-ftp.html?cid=6a0120a92f5af5970b0134864b6e01970c

 
I don't have a beef with someone coming here and asking questions.
 
I suspect from your posts that you lack motivation to get to 300w very fast. You will not accept that from me, but you might accept that from a coach.

I don't think motivation is my issue. But, that's fine. I appreciate your responses. Coaching may be an option in the future.

 

[Sworksjunkie]

Truth be told, FTP is very hard to raise. Both mentally and physically the intervals are very hard on your body. Busting out 240w for 20 minutes is pretty decent for someone who has only trained for a year. I've only "really" training for about 20 months (8-12 hours) and just recently busted out a 296w 20 minute effort (I'm 140lbs). My success was because of lots of hard work and dedication.

To the OP, don't stress thinking that you will never get 'there'. One of the first things I learned when I started racing was that there is always someone faster. Even your best efforts in Cat 1/2 can be humbled sometimes. 300w sounds nice, but I can guarantee you that once you hit it you will immediately start looking to 320w then 350w, etc. Just because you are not seeing huge gains early does not hint at some genetic limitation. It takes many athletes years to see the upper limit of their genetic ability. Just because your not busting out 400w in your first year does not mean your failing, it just means your learning.

 

[awilki01]

Originally Posted by Sworksjunkie .

Truth be told, FTP is very hard to raise. Both mentally and physically the intervals are very hard on your body. Busting out 240w for 20 minutes is pretty decent for someone who has only trained for a year. I've only "really" training for about 20 months (8-12 hours) and just recently busted out a 296w 20 minute effort (I'm 140lbs). My success was because of lots of hard work and dedication.

To the OP, don't stress thinking that you will never get 'there'. One of the first things I learned when I started racing was that there is always someone faster. Even your best efforts in Cat 1/2 can be humbled sometimes. 300w sounds nice, but I can guarantee you that once you hit it you will immediately start looking to 320w then 350w, etc. Just because you are not seeing huge gains early does not hint at some genetic limitation. It takes many athletes years to see the upper limit of their genetic ability. Just because your not busting out 400w in your first year does not mean your failing, it just means your learning.

Thank you!

 

[awilki01]

In my Build 2 phase, I was focusing on longer intervals exclusively (20+ minutes each). I even went out and did a test TT of 17 miles and 27 miles to simulate my back to back TTs I have coming up in a couple weeks. Several of you recommended the longer intervals. This really helped me out!

Four weeks ago, I went out and gave it all I had for a 20 minute TT. I averaged 240 watts on that effort. Today, I went out on the same course and averaged 252 watts. This puts my FTP around 239-240 right now. Thank you all so much for the great advice!!!!!

Adam