The Tour of Sufferlandria has begun and I’ve just completed Stage 1, Rubber Glove. This 1hr Sufferfest video incorporates a 20 minute FTP test. I first did this video/test back in November 23, 2013 and was a little disappointed that my FTP remained the same as it had been for all of 2013 at 288. I really struggled in the last 10 minutes and couldn’t hold the power output and had to slow down a fair bit just to finish. Yesterday was a different story. The test was still very hard, but at 10 minutes in I knew it was going better and I knew I’d make it all the way at or above the required power. I even managed a 1 minute sprint right at the end. The reward for training? An 8% FTP increase from 288 to 311!
New FTP
The down side of this is that Trainerroad scales all the workouts against your current FTP, so the next 8 stages of the Tour are going to be even harder. Big stage today, 2 hours of “fun” with It Seemed Like a Good Idea At the Time.