Goldencheetah average power chart software#

Of course, if you ride a 60-minute main segment, your average lap power is your FTP and there's no need for adjustment.

Why the calculation? It's because FTP refers to the highest average power you can hold for 60 minutes, and, according to Coggan et al, you can probably hold about 95% of your 20-minute figure for 60 minutes. If you averaged 280 watts, for instance, 95% of 280 (0.95 x 280) is 266 – so your FTP is 266 watts. If you've followed the protocol above, take your average power for the 20-minute main segment and work out 95% of that figure to get your FTP. Once you have your first FTP figure you'll know whereabouts you should be aiming in future. Riding at the right intensity will come with experience. You might go off too hard and fade towards the end, or you might start too easy and have to ramp it up a lot towards the finish. Your aim is to produce the highest average watts possible over the 20-minute main segment, which means working to your maximal steady-state power. They suggest doing the test on a fairly flat road or, if you're a first timer, on a steady climb or into a slight headwind, the idea being that this will force you into putting out a maximum effort for the entire 20 minutes. 10-15 minutes pedalling at endurance pace. Get up to speed and then try to hold that speed as steadily as you can.Ħ. Main segment: 20-minute time trial, putting out a strong, steady effort for the duration. 10 minutes pedalling at endurance pace.ĥ. Start at a high pace and kick it up in the last minute.Ĥ. 3 x 1-minute at 100rpm cadence with 1 minute easy pedalling in between.ģ. Hunter Allen, Andrew Coggan and Stephen McGregor suggest this protocol in Training and Racing with a Power Meter:Ģ. Thankfully, they have become far more accessible in recent years. Power meters were once an option only for professionals and those amateurs who were both ultra-keen and loaded. You need a power meter on your bike or a smart trainer with an integrated power meter to measure FTP.

We'll come back to their arguments down below, but let's go with it for the time being. Not everyone holds FTP in such high regard. TrainingPeaks uses other measurements too – Normalized Power (NP), Intensity Factor (IF) and Training Stress Score (TSS), for example – but ultimately everything comes back to FTP.

Goldencheetah average power chart software#

For example, all of the personalised workout targets and data analysis in the TrainingPeaks online and mobile software platform is based on FTP. That's the theory upon which the use of FTP is based, and it has been hugely influential in the cycling world for years. When your power output is just below FTP, you’ll be able to maintain it much longer. When your power output exceeds your FTP, you’ll fatigue quickly. FTP is the maximum power you can maintain while your body can still clear excess lactate being produced by your working muscles, allowing you to sustain your effort.Īccording to cycle coach Hunter Allen, also co-author of Training and Racing with a Power Meter, 'Your lactate threshold (or FTP) provides a solid basis for any power meter-based training program, because your level of effort when exercising at a given intensity depends upon your power output relative to your power at FTP. Your lactate threshold can only be truly determined through blood tests.Ĭoggan says that lactate threshold and FTP are closely related. It is the point at which lactate begins to increase exponentially in your blood. Lactate threshold refers to a specific physical change in the body. Lactate threshold and FTP aren't the same thing (while VO 2 max is the measurement of the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during intense exercise). 'As such, it is more logical to define training zones relative to an athlete’s threshold power vs., for example, power at VO 2 max.'

'Power at lactate threshold is the most important physiological determinant of endurance cycling performance, since it integrates VO 2 max, the percentage of VO 2 max that can be sustained for a given duration, and cycling efficiency,' says Andrew Coggan. The concept of FTP was developed by Dr Andrew Coggan, co-author of Training and Racing with a Power Meter.

We'll come back to measuring your FTP in a bit. Performing a 60-minute maximal test is very difficult, of course, which is why many people prefer to calculate FTP as 95% of the highest power they can average for 20 minutes. Your FTP is defined as the highest average power that you can produce for 60 minutes. One of the first things most riders do when starting to train by power is to find out their FTP as a means of defining training zones, using online training tools, and having as a benchmark for measuring changes in fitness over time. FTP stands for functional threshold power and it's usually described as the highest average power output you can sustain for an hour, measured in watts.