Training Load and FTP
Frank Overton
There is a clear relationship between training load and your FTP. The more you ride the faster you will get, right? Right.
Listen or Watch our Podcast on the Topic!
In this graph (from your Optimize screen tap "Load") the athlete increased his training load from 33 to 64 over the course of 3 months. As a result, his FTP increased from 260w to 284w - following CoachCat's 16 weeks of sweet spot plan.
But this riding more and increasing training load works only up to a certain point and then what? How do you get your FTP to go even higher?
The answer my fellow FasCat lies in 'switching from base to race'. Switching from base to race involves lower volume, higher intensity training. Aka Polarized training and when combined with a pyramidal style training has been proven to be more effective than only polarized or only pyramidal training (1).
When you build your base with our 16 weeks of sweet plan your FTP goes up to 75-90% of your true FTP potential. The remaining 10-25% can be achieved by switching to interval training plan and this is where the relationship between training load and FTP 'breaks'.
At this break point power still goes up for two reasons:
1) the athlete is fresher, more recovered and can produce greater power output during their interval training sessions
2) the athlete has achieved combined aerobic adaptations** that enable the higher power output.
**mitochondrial density and cardiac output (2)
Here is how we structure annual training using pyramidal, sweet spot training followed by polarized interval training. You can see how power goes up as training load goes up during the sweet spot base phase. However when the athlete switches to polarized training the relationship to power output and training load no longer applies.
In summary, concentrate on rising your training load during your base phase but then switch to high intensity interval training to raise your FTP the last 10-25%.
References
1. Fillipas, Luca; Bonato, Matteo; Gallo, Gabriele; Codella, Roberto, "Effects of 16 weeks of pyramidal and polarized training intensity distributions in well-trainer endurance runners" Scand J Med Sci Sports, 2021 Nov.
doi: 10.1016/j.bbagen.2013.10.012. Epub 2013 Oct 12.
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