Did my FTP test ride this morning. It's no joke man. Anxious to see how much I can improve now.

Yes, and Peloton is totally falling on the sword here for poor child supervision, IMO. When I took delivery of our Tread+ they were very informative of the risks, etc and adamant about removing the safety key when not in use to lock the treadmill. To be fair, the slatted belt is exposed under the treadmill but it's so substantial I'm not sure how they could enclose it without making the thing much larger. That said, there are inherent risks with most pieces fitness equipment and the safest thing one can do for their children is not allow access to that equipment. I don't have kids and will not be sending my Tread+ back, FWIW.

if your people don't come and check on you during your FTP you are doing it wrong.

CFTXAG10 said:

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bthotugigem05 said:

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Yeah that one was really nuts (Olivia's HIIT and Hills, PR candidate for sure)

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Y'all weren't lying. PR'd at a 488 output. Over 15 miles and 702 kCal burn. That was nuts. I might take that one again and shoot for over 500.

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And it happened today! First time over 5 Hundy (531)

TraditionsPD said:

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if your people don't come and check on you during your FTP you are doing it wrong.

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It should not be something you want to do again for a while.

tbirdspur2010 said:

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Nitro Power said:

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mrsbeer05 said:

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Did Alex's ride to greatness and my data got lost. Oh well, it was a great ride.

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Game 2 or training session? I have done both games and intended on using them as my FTP results. So far not so good. During the second game my average output was 342 while my FTP test was average output was 348, so that was a bit disappointing. And we lost the second game, also disappointing. But as Matt says just realize there is always room for improvement.

Between my last 2 FTP test and the AT Games, I just am not seeing the progression I would expect, and I don't understand it. When I'm doing the PZ rides I always ride at the top of the specified zones and most times when the rest is at Z1 I stay in Z2, so I feel strong in the training rides, but flop on the FTP test.

Any ideas?

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I think you and I are in the same boat, man. I'm not "good" at the FTP test (probably need to adjust my approach if I wanna see improvement from here). But in the right 20 class, I can smoke it on par or past my FTP test rides. Some of that is just pure competitive spirit (like that AT Ride to Greatness Game 1 we were both in, or just a group of Sessions riders who push me), and I get that, but I also tend to push myself to ride the top of my zones in the standalone PZ classes. So for guys/gals like us, there's a point when our windows for improvement are minimal because we're training near our max/overtraining (like, when Matt calls out Z3, I'm always creeping into the sweet spot, and most of my "Z4" efforts creep into Z5 unless I'm already wiped, etc.). So like mrsbeer said about Matt's advice (and my wife admonishes me about this, too lol), I've started to pick one ride per week where I force myself to ride no higher than the middle of my zones. This week, that was the AR in the power zone challenge going on right now. Next week, I might pick one of the 45 min classes to do that. Still in the trial and error phase to see if this works for me, but I'm a *little* different in one respect--I'm not seeking to improve my FTP in the short or medium term. Training right here is kicking my tail damn near every ride, so I'm just trying to let my body acclimate for the time being.

Sorry for rambling. You've been doing this longer than I have, so I know I'm not saying anything earth-shattering lol. Just my $0.02 since I've been thinking along similar lines recently.

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My best advice is to paraphrase Matt and Christian Vandevelde and say sometimes you need to back off to go faster. The intensity you guys bring to every ride is amazing, and can be good up to a point, but above a certain training density, it can be counterproductive. Believe me, I understand how the farther up the leaderboard you get, the harder it is to fight the urge to compete. If you are not giving your body time to recover after really hard rides, you aren't going to get all of the gains from those rides. When seeking FTP gains, shorter high intensity classes (like 20-30 min HIIT/Tabata rides or AT's ride to greatness rides) are not necessarily going to give you the best bang for the buck. They will raise VO2Max some, and will work some on your lactate threshold, but they are not necessarily the best classes to take more than a couple of times a week. For FTP gains, I would focus more on the 45-60 min PZE and PZ classes for most of your rides, and then throw in 1-2 per week where you go really hard if you want. During those PZE and PZ classes it is ok to go towards the top of your zone, but resist the urge to ride higher, as it can be counterproductive to what you are trying to achieve with the ride. If you start working into more anaerobic energy pathways, you are not building the aerobic capacity it takes to increase FTP. Instead of working into the next zone up, work on being really smooth and steady in the saddle with a higher cadence. That steady faster cadence is what will help you maintain endurance late into the FTP test instead of needing to stand and go to really heavy resistance, where you are far less efficient.

So, instead of the "once a week I dial it back" philosophy, I would work with a "once a week I let it rip" concept instead, and each time you do one of those, make the next class you take one where you deliberately ride at or below the middle of your zones as a "recovery" ride.