I did my first Full Frontal today after 5 weeks of training based on Half Monty results.
My MAP and LTHR were identical to the Half Monty but my FTP was much (-17) lower.
I think the Full Frontal FTP is a more realistic assessment of power I could hold for an hour.
Could the difference be because I am an Attacker and the Half Monty rewarded that more and assumed a higher FTP? My key question is: do I now dial down my FTP in my profile?
Logic says ‘yes’ but I have completed 12 Sufferfest sessions (I alternate Sufferfest, Indoor Rowing and Weight lifting) over that last 5 weeks all at 100% using the higher FTP.
My AC has to go up by 22 now so maybe one will balance the other in terms of getting a good workout!
All suggestions gratefully received.
Hi @Mikey I’m classed as an attacker and my HM and FF FTPs are the reverse but the higher FF is recent and the lower HM was 6 weeks ago so difficult to tell. On FF the 20 min section is very dependent on pacing. Going out either too high or too low will make a difference and bring the result down. How consistent was your pace/power?
After the first minute or so (when it dawned on me I wasn’t going to hold my HM predicted FTP it was pretty steady - survival mode!)
Having the same MAP and LTHR plus a strong one minute leads me to believe it wasn’t a bad day but just more work needed on sustained efforts!
Which is why I’m wary of dialling down my profile FTP too much.
For me, as you can see here: Expected harder training session I took a long time to get up to the right power level. Basically I was trying to find the right gear for a cadence in the right range for me. Overall, it felt like the right amount of effort (I was spent at the end) but I maybe could’ve got a better score if I’d got up to the right level earlier
If you’re able to do the workouts at 100% then I’d stick with the higher score if it were me. Everyone has good days and bad days, though
That’s exactly what I experienced - I sense an indoor rowing (and weights) background further exacerbates my ability to ‘blast’ over my ability to ‘spin’. At least I know where to focus.
My initially rider type was a time trialist, but i think that was artificially based on my usage of a dumb trainer with virtual watts. This made my sprint power look unnaturally low so it looks like my power profile was close to flat. However, after switching to a smart trainer, my rider type has changed to a pursuiter. And my FTP scores have been higher on my last 2 HM’s, but lower on my FF’s. According to the 2 HM’s I did last month, my FTP should be around 20w+ higher than what my FF from 2 weeks ago shows despite hitting my highest MAP score ever. When I work hard enough to get good MAP scores, my FTP definitely suffers. I couldn’t get comfortable at all during the 20 min portion of FF despite feeling good for the entire 5min portion. This despite doing a lot of longer threshold and endurance efforts during the Metric Century plan. All that work that SUF has given me on MAP efforts seems to have paid off. Now that my FTP seems to be my new weakness, after I finish my current short training plan I may need to focus more on FTP efforts instead of MAP efforts for a while.
Just done Blender - kept my FTP dialled up to Half Monty estimation not 4DP reality. Despite being my longest Sufferfest session I (just) made it and whilst all was hard the bit that really made my eyes bleed were the final 3x4 mins - highlighting FTP as my relative weakness. Great session thank you.