Is 40 watts too much?



bigbadwoulfe

New Member
Dec 2, 2007
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Is an increase of 40 watts in FTP a reasonable goal at the end of the year?

Backgrounder:
Been riding for 8 monhts
Trained 11 hrs per week since December
Have a reasonable grasp on power training.
Current FTP at ~298 watts since last testing. (average of 2x20 multiplied by 95%)
20 MP at ~314 watts
Weight at ~74 kg
Age (relatively young)

Thanks for the answer. :)
 
bigbadwoulfe said:
Is an increase of 40 watts in FTP a reasonable goal at the end of the year?...
~13% increase, sounds a bit aggressive but you haven't been at this for years so who knows? Only one way to find out.....
 
Depends how well trained you are right now.

I can increase FTP 80-100watts going from winter slug to pure race shape.
 
Turns out I only need another 20 watts to achieve that goal. Did an all out test this morning and power came up to 320watts. Its been a long time since I've done a full 1 hour test so the figure surprised me a bit. I was a bit intrigue as to the amount of RPE that I had put in. I was not even trying too hard. The difference though is the way I tackle the small hills, I did not push it but instead stayed focused on RPE not going over board and me entering L5.

As to the level of training I in right now, I'd say I'm in peak form. I timed my peak to my first ever MTB race, but sadly, I crashed two times and DNF. Before the 1st crash I was in third position, after the 2nd crash due to a blown tire and dropped chain on my chainring, I was in 12th position. Decided to call it quits right there and then. Thats what I get for having trained mostly on the road with minimal training on MTB trails. Next A race will be on the 15th of June. Hoping to not make the same mistakes that I did before.

1st mistake - Little training on the trails. (I was too fast for my own good)
2nd mistake - Was going too fast on the decents which resulted into two crashes.
3rd mistake - I decided to not go on. I figured that If only I continued on, I could have gotten 4th which is not bad at all.
4th mistake - I did not pre ride the course at full racing speed.
 
40 watts is considerable is you are already near your peak form. On the other hand, 40 watts increase is not much from the winter recovery period to peak racing form. Another factor, is if you have been racing for less than 1-2 years, you can expect your FTP to increase every year. Cycling performance builds up over the years. Once you have been racing/training for a few years, increasing FTP in peak form becomes so much more difficult.

My FTP will certainly vary 60+ watts from winter hibernation to summer peak form.

Best regards,

Michel
http://www.freetrainingplan.com