Project 250 – Part 3 – Final Test Results

The 10 week Sufferfest “Plan with Dan” is now complete and today was judgement day which meant my second run through of the 1 hour 4DP Full Frontal Test. To say I was concerned was an understatement.

Before we get to the results lets just quickly recap how we got here. Earlier this year I was frustrated with my lack of ability to ever increase my FTP number above around 225W. Having stumbled across the Sufferfest “Plan with Dan” program at the end of March I decided to give it a go.

In Part 1 and Part 2 I covered the first 6 weeks. Things were looking positive at the end of week 6 but since then life and events had got in the way a little bit and during weeks 7 – 10 I missed 6 out of 24 sessions. Fortunately other training covered some of those gaps but at the end of Week 9 I competed in Blenheim Weekend Warriors which certainly left my body tired for several days afterwards. Would I be firing on all cylinders for the all important test?

Luckily, week 10 was all about tapering for the final test so the rest was perfectly timed and even though I only did 2 of the 3 prep rides I was feeling ok by the time the weekend rolled round.

Below is the full calendar of what I have covered during the 10 weeks. Sufferfest sessions are in bold and black with red details showing Intensity settings where adjusted from 100%. The blue text show the time and average power I delivered during the session. Any additional training is listed in green and it’s position shows if this was done before or after the Sufferfest Session if it was on the same day.

With a busy family day planned for today it meant my best option for taking the Full Frontal test was first thing in the morning, so at around 7:30am I was getting my head and body in the right space before jumping on the Wattbike Atom.

Before climbing on to the bike I turned on the Wahoo KICKR Headwind that I had borrowed from Stu and set it to it’s lowest speed. Stu was also recovering from Blenheim before heading off to compete in the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon in San Francisco so did not need it. It’s the first time I have ever used a fan for a turbo session. Historically most of my turbo work has been on a bike in the garage over the winter where temperatures have been cold. But with the Atom being in the lounge and the weather being a lot warmer than it was 10 weeks ago I felt it was a good option to help me get my maximum result.

The scores I had to beat were;

5 Sec (NM) – 648W

1 Min (AC) – 376W

5 Min (MAP) – 272W

20 Min (FTP) – 227W

Unlike all the other sessions where I run the Atom in Ergo mode for the 4DP Test you need to be in the Gear mode as you need to be able to easily control the power you are putting out at any point. This works well for efforts that are around 20 seconds or longer but for the short 7 second sprints you start the test off with it’s really awkward as it simply takes longer than that for the system to sort itself out.

So as was the case the first time I did the test I struggled again to find the sweet spot in the 2 max power efforts. It’s too easy to over or under gear and never be able to get the legs spinning sensibly. I thought I saw a number above 700W briefly in one of them so I was hoping that would show an improvement.

Next comes the 5 Min effort. This one scares me the most. You are told to go all out for it as otherwise you impact the validity of the whole test. So with 272W previously achieved I had a target of 300-310 in my head to try and achieve a 10% increase. I put the Headwind to max speed and started the 5 minute effort at just above 320W. After 3 minutes my heart rate was north of 172 and I was dying so I had to ease back a bit to just above 300W; I was able to squeeze out a little more as we approached the end. It looked good.

The rest before the 20 minute effort was very much appreciated but all too soon the effort was looming. Having started out with a target of around 260W in my head and wanted to be at a cadence of around 95rpm, I quickly discovered however that I was struggling to find a suitable gear and cadence. I had a choice between a gear which was slightly too high power but a cadence that was below 90 or one that at 95rpm had my power below 250W. This was frustrating.

It took a few minutes of swapping around and trying things before I settled for the lower gear with a cadence of around 100rpm, which was giving power around 260 – 270W.

The first 5 minutes were hard but ok. Heart rate had climbed rapidly to around 164bpm but was now only increasing slowly.

10 minutes in and I was struggling so I instinctively eased off a fraction. Then my head kicked in and I started to talk to myself. The main thought I used was;

“This is what the last 10 weeks hard work have been about. Leave it all on the bike. No regrets!”

With that I kicked the cadence back up again and I alternated on focusing on getting through the next minute or not focusing on anything at all – distracting myself by watching (couldn’t hear it) the glass blowing youtube video my son had randomly playing on the TV. I think I was watching it more than he was.

Slowly the minutes started to count down. Then with around 3 minutes left to go I started to feel faint.

Now I have never thrown up during a test before but I was seriously concerned I might be about to pass out and fall off the bike. I slowed for a moment to catch my breath. Before looking down and focusing on spinning my legs and catching my breath. My heart rate had slowly climbed and was now at around 172bpm.

2 minutes to go – “10% left, you can do it”

90 second – “Shit was that only 30 seconds of effort”

60 seconds – “You can do anything for a minute”

30 seconds – “OK that wasn’t true but you CAN do anything for 30 seconds”

10 seconds – “Dig deep, keep them legs spinning”

And collapse.

But you can’t you have to recover over a few minutes before the final 1 minute effort. I could feel I was spent but I just had to get through the final effort.

The 1 min effort started ok at well over 450W but by 30 seconds in I was already dropping below 400W and I just had to grit my teeth and give it everything I had but by the end I had blown completely.

I was so releaved to finally save the test and climb off the bike, I had to sit down – for a long time – I was totally spent. But unlike normal I was not a deeply sweaty mess. The KICKR Headwind had done a fine job of keeping much of the sweat at bay. And no doubt had helped reduce my Heart Rate as well. How much? Well I think I will run a test cycle soon to see how much it helps,

Eventually I had the energy to check out the results of the 4DP Test.

WOW!

5 Sec (NM) power had increased by 8.6% from 648W to 704W. Not bad but defintiely room for more improvement both in power and my technique on the Atom.

1 Min (AC) power increased by 6.1% from 376W to 399W. Not good but I was totally spent this time round so was pleased I showed any improvement at all. But think there is some serious work to do in this area.

5 Min (MAP) power increased by a massive 14.7% from 272W to 312W. Really pleased with that improvement.

20 Min (FTP) power increased by an even larger 17.2% from 227W to 266W. Shocked, amazed and very very pleased. Even more so because even if you use the more traditional 95% method for calculating FTP from a 20 min test that comes out with a score of 253W.

Average increase across all 4 measurements was 11.7%

I had also changed my rider type from Rouleur to Time Triallist. That one I believe fits my mindset and current capabilities better to be honest.

So I achieved my target and surpassed my expectations, but did I answer the questions I had raised at the beginning around why I was struggling to improve beyond around 225W?

• Incorrect Training – I honestly think this was a key one. The sessions I went through over the 10 weeks were much more varied than anything I had ever done in training plans before. Some were easier than I would have done, others were tougher but I believe the variety really helped.
• Incorrect Measurement – I think the 4DP test brings an extra level of information to the party but I wouldn’t say the FTP Test is a bad way of measuring general improvements. To be honest I don’t think the assumption that you can take the 100% effort for the 20 minute run even with the previous efforts having happened is correct. There is no way I could have sustained 266W for an hour. But to be honest is that important, for me it’s about measuring improvement and the 4DP Test gives you more areas in which you can target improvements.
• Inability to Suffer – I definitely went deeper on this test than I have ever gone before, not by much, but I was still wobbly and sweaty 2 hours after the session and felt very tired through the whole rest of the day. So maybe the plan helped me be better prepared mentally, or maybe this time I just wanted it more. At the age of 50 I know things are generally heading South so I have to make the most of everything I can.

Importantly though no matter which way you measure FTP I had achieved my target of getting it to 250W and actually exceeded that, along with improving my overall bike fitness. The only questions is;

“What next?”

Project 300?

Oh, and if Stu thinks he is going to get his KICKR Headwind back he might have a fight on his hands.