EBR Friday Focus

by ENDURANCE BIKE AND RUN

"Practical insights for sustainable progress"

Hello ,,

Beyond FTP | Simple Power Tests Don't Tell The Whole Story

Single-point metrics like FTP have become endurance performance's baseline standard, yet many athletes with impressive power numbers still struggle in longer events.

FTP is a very strong indicator of endurance performance but your capacity to handle accumulated fatigue from repeated variable efforts often determines success more than any peak power value.

3 Insights About Moving Beyond Quick Fixes

I.

"Shorter continuous tests of up to an hour measure FTP and peak powers but they don't give much insight into how you will perform for longer durations with variable intensities. Performance beyond an hour or two depends on how well you handle fatigue but there is no convenient metric, so the importance of training 'fatigue resistance' is often overlooked."

II.

"In real events, powers aren't constant—effort and intensity vary with terrain, weather and other participants' behaviors. There are models to estimate this impact but they are only a rough guide. People who practice and become adept at delivering variable powers and recovering over event specific durations are often better than their competitors with slightly higher FTPs."

III.

"Fatigue resistance is trainable separately from power production. Many athletes focus exclusively on raising their FTP or VO2max when they could be reinforcing their ability to keep producing good pace under accumulated fatigue."

2 Questions For You

I.

How does your power in the last third of a long event compare to your power in the first third, and what might that ratio tell you about your training needs?

II.

If you tested your ability to produce repeated efforts with diminishing recovery periods, what would that reveal that your FTP test doesn't?

1 Real-World Example

I recently had a monthly review with a cyclist that I coach. He is a high performing masters athlete that I have been working with for a while now.

He has done a few early season events with very encouraging performance but when I reviewed his power profile data and other metrics I couldn't see any obvious changes.

There are some gains in his very short term powers (less than 30s), indicating a possible improvement in pure anaerobic capacity but the big pushes in his events are longer. The only explanation is that he is better at repeatedly going hard and recovering, and that isn't something that shows in the power-duration curve or other metrics.

He has had a very consistent winter of training and consistently put the work into high intensity intervals combined with repeated VO2max efforts to address identified weaknesses, so the gains in producing repeated power follow from our training plan.

This is a perfect illustration of gains in fitness that aren't immediately obvious from simple power tests like FTP.

He is now backing off the shorter race efforts in preparation for a big endurance challenge... exciting times!

Book a free consultation with us to develop a personalized approach that works with your physiology rather than against it. Just like with David, our masters cyclist described above, the insights from our discussions could transform your approach to training and performance. Just click this link or the button below to arrange a time that is convenient for you.

Book a consultation to explore how we can help you develop sustainable training patterns that work for your life.

Keep moving forward,

John and Clare

The EBR Newsletter delivers evidence-based endurance insights every Friday. If you know someone who might benefit from our systematic approach to endurance challenges, please forward this email.