Update 31/12/2015

I've just finished the first half of Trainerroad's 'Sustained Power Build'. Before moving onto the second half, you are required to complete another FTP test.

Not going to lie... I wasn't exactly looking forward to it. They are painful... very painful!

Expecting an increase in power since I started the plan 4 weeks ago I added about 3% to the target power.

Before you complete the 20 min test you have to do an all out 5 min effort. Going into it hard but knowing I had to sustain it for 5 mins I started off at the target power of 297W... It wasn't long before I felt I could do more so starting building up the power... by the end of the 5 mins I was holding a very stable 350W. I started to become optimistic for the main 20 min effort.

The target was 275W... I started off at 290W. Once I had settled in I bumped it up further to 300W. 5 mins in and I was beginning to feel the burn. The 3rd quarter was the hardest by far... this is where your mind starts to play games with you... part of your brain is trying to convince you to give up... "you've gone off to hard", "you will never continue at this pace", "just back off for a bit"... the list of excuses become endless... your mind will come up will all sorts of reasons for giving up! This is where you need to use every trick in the book to keep control. Have the answers ready to retaliate with... "I can do this", "I haven't gone off to hard", "I will do this". Focus on breathing and relaxing your body. Deep breaths in... hard breaths out... the quicker and deeper you breathe, the more oxygen you can absorb. Relax every muscle in your body you do not need to use... your face, shoulders, arms and hands. Focus on a smooth pedal stroke. Before you know it, you feel like there is a new boost of energy... amd before you know it, you're into your final 5 mins. At this point I feel like I can start counting the minutes down. As soon as I feel my body tense I concentrate on relaxation. As soon as my mind questions my ability... I strike it down! 3 mins... 2 mins... 1 min... in the last minute something very odd happens. You start to increase in power... but it's not anymore difficult. Finishing off at over 340W I almost wonder if I could ave done more.... is it all about mind over matter?

My heart would disagree... at 194bmp... i'm not entirely sure it could take any more!!!

Below is the workout profile from Trainerroad. The blue blocks are the original target powers, the green line is the increase I was expecting and the yellow was the actual power output.

Following the test, Trainerroad calculated my new FTP at 287W. An increase of 12% in 4 weeks. As this is my first proper block of training where I have used a power meter I'm not entirely sure what to expect. The first test was completed after taking over two weeks off the bike and therefore I would expect my fitness levels to be remarkably lower... In fact, the fitness/freshness graph on Strava highlights that quite well.

So moving forward from here I'm doubtful I will get any massive increases in FTP. Maybe an extra 3-5% by the end of the 'Specialty Phase' in April if i'm lucky?

What I do know is, the next spout of intervals is going to hurt. Given that they are set on a % of FTP... They two have increased... Bugger!

With my body weight at 10st 12lb (12.6% body fat) it gives me a power to weight of 4.2W/kg. 

Update...

So i'm coming to the end of the second week of the sustained power build. The first week was a lot harder than expected... The TSS for the week was 702... actually less than the 8-900 i was doing in October... but the intensity was is lot higher now. I was certainly gratefull for the odd rest days TrainerRoad gives you. 

I have already started to notice a few weaknesses:

Sustained Power - I'm ok on the high intensity short intervals of 3-4 mins @ 105-110% FTP but as soon as I have a session that is hitting that hitting that sweet spot of 85% for 20 mins at a time... repeating 4 or so times... that's a real killer! But then that's what this is for... improving and pushing your sustained power zones. Or maybe its just mind power... how long can you sustain the pain until you give in!

Holding the TT Position - Something I was pretty rubbish at last year too. Last year i never really spent enough time on the TT bike so accept that might be a big part of the cause. I definitely lack core strength. Something I haven't really been working on these last few weeks. But I also think there is some fundamental positioning issue with the bike set-up. After speaking to others about it, i'm going to make some small adjustments to the seat position... moving it forward to open up the hip angle and to reduce some of the reach with my upper body. Just going to be a bit of trial and error for now... if its not sorted by February, I will bite the bullet and get a proper bike fit.

I've started to do a little bit of reading into monitoring performance, fitness, form and fatigue... very interesting stuff but certainly don't know anywhere near enough to blab about it on here... what i do know is though, Strava calculate it free on the premium account... here is mine for the last 6 months. 

The darker line is my fitness levels and the grey line is my form/freshness. The aim is to train to improve fitness then rest to peak up form/freshness. Every time you train hard the fitness rises and form drops. As you recover... the form rises and fitness will drop. This 'tapering' before an event gives you the optimum level of fitness & form. 

Fatigue is the opposite to form. I have not added this to the graph as it gets a bit messy... currently my fatigue levels are very high - as my form is very low.

The large increase in fitness earlier in the year was during the hill climb season and hard weekend rides i did following the competition season. The drop following that was when i went away on holiday for 2 weeks. Just goes to show how much fitness you loose when you stop like that!

Interestingly, this is the fastest rate I have ever increased in fitness. And similarly, this is the highest my fatigue has every been. I'm definitely due a rest. Next week is the last hard week before a complete rest week. This will provide enough time for my fatigue level to reduce before the next 3 week onslaught! 

Going to be really interesting to watch this develop further over this coming season!