Poll: What's your Functional Threshold power?

meandmybike

Hamish,

Interesting power difference between twins.

Are they identical or fraternal twins?

Would you say they are equally enthusiastic about their training? Or is one naturally that bit more gifted?

Very curious as the father of identical twins.

Thanks.

acoggan

I think it's pretty clear that you're overestimating these guys' functional threshold powers, probably by about 10% or so. That's evident from the fact that 1) the first rider only trains at 400 W, i.e., at 87.5% of what you state as being their functional threshold power, and 2) the values you report would make either of these riders capable of more than they have accomplished to date. For example, given McGee's background (the 2nd is McGee, right?) as an endurance trackie he should be able to take the hour record easily with a functional threshold power that is ~7% higher than what Boardman's was when he set it just before retiring. While I'd love to see him take a shot at it and it's certainly possible that he'd go further than Mosenka did, he hasn't shown anything in road TTs to date to suggest that he'd break it by the margin that your numbers suggest.

mises

Huh? You seem to be saying either that the % of fat used for a given effort and duration is not a trainable factor of performance, or that there is no genetic variation in fuel utilization. I must be missing some unstated assumptions.

acoggan

No, I'm sauing that the percentage of fat used for a given effort/duration is primarily a function of 1) your functional threshold power (which is assumed to be the same in this case) and 2) your chronic diet. Age and sex have minor influences as well, but again those are also the same here.

fergie

Both are Kiwi riders. As for doing efforts at this level it was 3 days out from last years World Pro Road Race so he may have been tapering. These tests were done in the lab in 1995 before they had a Kingcycle. NZ won the U19 World Teams Pursuit title last year and I was told that riders for this year would need to have a 350watt power output at their anaerobic threshold to be considered. I don't coach either of these riders I was invited to help out in a training camp. Before some of these guys head back overseas I am going to try and get them tested so I am comparing apples with apples.

As for the twins the weaker one has been racing track but both were really affected by flu over our winter. In the racing the difference is not so great. For a 16km TT on a slow course they sit around 24.21 and 24.41 using aerobars and aero wheels (U17s not allowed disc wheels). The stronger one at present is showing far more cofidence and focus with his training. The weaker one did have 5 crashes last year and also has a hard time grasping the unfair nature of bike racing (why he does the work and gets sprinted at the finish etc).

Hamish Ferguson
Cycling Coach

PSUcycling

I did a little research and need amend numbers a little.

power @ 20min ~320 and 30min @ 307

weight at time of rides: 143-144

age: 23

caveat: Last year was the first year that i had structured training (full time school and worked 2nd shift 2002-04), let alone a powermeter. That being said I did 3-4 races on my power meter, so many of my peaks and races were not recorded. The best 20min power i have is from a technical crit midseason...

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Chann McRae Cycling Coach
Velossimo Racing Team
Racing Blog
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whoawhoa

Hamish, thanks a ton for the wattage info on the juniors. That's something I haven't been able to find a ton of, so thanks for the perspective. However, how was power measured in these tests? (both procedure/power monitoring device) Over 24 minutes for a 16k tt seems ridiculously slow for these wattage values.

bigbevans

Yes and the huge difference in their FTP (320-245)would not really put them 20 seconds apart.

fergie

It is a very slow course. Very exposed, very twisty course, hard to set a rythem and the surface is a very large chip designed for heavy traffic and stock movements in a rural area.

Between the two I suspect the weaker doesn't like testing and has motivation problems when nothing is on the line.

Testing in the lab using a Kingcycle and their own bikes.

I have to wonder how accurate the testing was back in 1995 with those two future Pros. Aussie track team riders from 1994 had a FT of 358 watts. This was however at the end of their short off season (4 weeks) while our guys were being tested four weeks out from Nationals.

Hamish Ferguson
Cycling Coach

Camoscio

joule

Expect not my best effort, but a recent 90 min session where I selected my best 60 mins within yielded.

Age: 49
Category: 5
Current wgt: 135 lbs
Average Power: 240w (3.9 w/kg)
Nominal Power: 260w (4.2 w/kg)
Max heart rate: 188 bpm
Threshold heart rate: 167 bpm
VO2 Max: 64.9 ml/kg/min
VO2Max at threashold: 81%
Yrs racing: 1
Current hours training / week: 9 - 11.
Peak hours training / week: 15.

Since the data came from the best 60 minutes of a 90 min training effort, I expect my current FT would actually be a little higher than quoted above. Hopefully by start of race season weight will be down to 130 lbs (59 kg) and power will be up to 260w+.

bikeguy

Age: 29
Weight: 72-73 kg, 183 cm, 6 feet
60 min continuous power: 315 w
75 min continuous power: 300 w
VO2 max: 74 ml-kg-min

Best results: my 1 hr training power has moved up about 15% since my last race but best was a 30 km TT at 37 km/hr, rolling course Mercx style, and without slicks. I can attest to the fact that indeed racing itself improves performance.

BulletBob

Question - I'm 47 years and have just started training again and testing for my FTP on a computrainer. I believe it is 260, but it is hard to tell when I hit FTP. My legs don't feel heavy like they used to, they just feel dead. Does that sound right - the change of feeling with age?

RapDaddyo

FTP: 325w
Age: 62
Wt: 80kg
Cat: 4
Yrs Racing: 5 yrs in 1970s, 6 months recently
2005 Results: 2x1st, 2x3rd, 1x17th (45+ age group)