So since I got my Powertap wheel in January 2012 and started my season training roughly at the same time I have been collecting as much data as I can. Here are my numbers from the beginning of January 2012.

From my background of  rowing I knew I was not super unfit and I was suspecting I had more endurance type profile than a sprinter one.

My power profile confirmed that.  I have a true time-trialist curve and I have the sprint of an old woman. (A sprinter type would have the values sloping in a reverse fashion across the chart, while an all rounder would have the numbers line up close to a straight line.) Since the main goals this season are the National TT Championships in Bulgaria in end of June and the Non-pro TT championships here in The Netherlands I have a good starting point. Although my starting Functional Threshold Power (FTP) was only 3.6W/kg, I am a big guy at 2m (6’7″) and 90kg (200lbs) for a relatively flat course an FTP of 330W+ should be ok.

I have also been testing my FTP every couple of months so I can adjust my training load accordingly. All my other values have been improving as well and around September I will post an a full season recap.

Here is the testing protocol I used for obtaining my power profile. It is a very straightforward method. It is further simplified if you have programmable bike computer so you can input the intervals and you don’t have to mess with buttons while testing.

You can test 5s and 1min on the same day; 5min and FTP measurements are best performed on separate days.

You need to block out a week, most likely in the very beginning of your training season to get all the data. If you are unable to do that, the most important metric is FTP. All of your future workouts will be based on percentage of FTP. You will need a heart rate strap and your bicycle equipped with a power meter. For analysis you can use the Golden Cheetah, Training Peaks, Cycleops Power Agent.

Here is the testing protocol:

Day 1 (Tuesday): 5s and 1minute

20min easy spinning, you should feel warm and your muscles loose;
3-4 short bursts at high gears (53/14-17) with 2-3min in between each NOT done at maximum! After the last rest period give it all you got for 7-8s. Make sure you are slightly overgeared before you start the effort. You have 1 or maybe 2 efforts when you really are at your peak power.

Spin easy for 10minutes; get the looseness back into your legs. When ready punch it hard and give it your maximum for a little more than a minute. Your power will fade during the effort. It is important you are going full gas as the 1 minute mark passes, otherwise the average will be much lower.

Day 2 (Wednesday): Rest
Go out and do 1h easy spinning to get the accumulated fatigue out of your legs.

Day 3 (Thursday): 5min
20min easy spinning
3min at medium effort
6min easy spinning
Start the 5min at a hard sustainable pace (not too hard). After about 2-2.5min,  try and accelerate. Last minute should be all out.

Day 4 (Friday): Recovery

Day 5 (Saturday): 20min FTP
10min easy spinning
10min at slightly higher effort
3min at medium power
6min easy spinning
Start your 20min effort at a hard sustainable pace. At the 10minute mark accelerate, last 3 minutes go all out.

Your FTP is approximately 95% of your 20min average power.

Note: Training analysis software can ‘extract’ your best intervals from all your data files, therefore you can follow your progress as time passes.

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