I have the 18 wk SS plan, Im in the first regeneration week. During my 20 min test, done indoors, I managed a 220 avg. So I set to 220 since it was indoors and seemed reasonable to set without the 5% reduction as indoors tests low as far as I understand.
So what does one look for in a test to understand if we met our capability. My SS workouts don’t feel too difficult, HR rises throughout. The test didn’t have me wanting to puke but was tough.
Did you go as hard as you could for the whole 20 minutes? If yes, then you did it right, good work.
Simple as that. Your power curve indicates to me that you paced it properly so there really is not any more to infer, espouse or guess at - that is your 20 minute MAX power output. Keep #FtFP’ing and when it comes time to test again - go just as hard and measure how much you improved.
To @FRANK’s point, if you went as hard as you can for the whole 20 minutes, that little 20% bump in the last few minutes would be very hard to manage. Although it’s always tempting to get up and give it for the last minute of a test (and the first minute, too), IMO it’s important not to do that. You should pace yourself so that you simply cannot give any more at the end. Your cadence should be flagging, you should be shifting gears often searching for the right one, and at the end of the test you should be empty. These are the sensations of a
maximum effort. An example of what empty means: the last several times I’ve tested, I literally had to get off my bike and lay down on the side of the road. A good pacing tip: with 25% time left in the effort, you should be questioning whether you can keep up that pace.
That said, IMO it’s better to err on the side of caution when setting zones. If you set your FTP too high your aerobic work will be too hard and it won’t have the intended effect and you will progress toward overtraining. If your FTP setting is too low, you will quickly realize this while training, and you can give yourself a little bump up until the training “feels right”. It takes a lot of experience to pace a test correctly, so don’t get too focused on the bark of the trees when you’re really need to look at the forest! Good luck!
