A Pleasant Surprise

I had a threshold interval planned for today consisting of 3 x 20min efforts with each one increasing in power from 95-98% of FTP and 4 mins recovery between intervals.

The description of the workout states "the goal is quite simply to improve your ability to tolerate that output for extended periods of time". 

When you do and FTP test and you estimate the power you can sustain for a whole hour, it's not exactly a true representation of what you can really sustain for a full hour. You might have a high VO2 Max for example and be able to hold a relatively high power for 8 mins, in which case your FTP estimate will also be high. Sustaining that for a full hour is another matter.

The ability to tolerate the pain for a whole hour is not only physiological but massively physiological as well. Your muscles may well be able to generate that much power. They may also be able to tolerate the lactic acid build up too... but can your mind stay focused... will your inner Couchlandrian give up before you reach the end. Sustained power like this is often a case of what will give up first... your legs... or you head. 9 times out of 10 its your head. 

These prolonged intervals at/near to FTP are a great way to condition your mind for this level of abuse.

Given that I am only 5 days over the cold and not really feeling on full form I didn't know what to expect. So when I started off and felt comfortable I was quite surprised. I was 10 mins into my first interval and my power was starting to rise over my FTP... it was almost a struggle to hold back. As I was coming to the end I had a wave of insanity cross my mind... I decided to go for a full 1 hour Time Trial/FTP test.

As I have a race next week it would certainly be good to know where my limits are... so what better way to find out...

My pacing wasn't exactly great... but given I wasn't exactly planning on doing this and not really knowing what to expect, I am more than happy with the outcome.

The 10 min splits are as follows:
0-10 - 278W
11-20 - 301W
21-30 - 302W
31-40 - 291W
41-50 - 282W
51-60 - 280W

Actual FTP was 289W

My last FTP test was 290W... I know I could do better over 20mins but considering the full 1 hour test is the same I am well chuffed!

Also gives me something to aim for next Sunday :)