Hey All,
Just seeing if anyone has some big numbers on 4 DP or half monty results ? Be great to see some big numbers of athletes using the sufferfest system
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Here is a useful graph you can use to check out how your FTP relates to your other values:
WHY YOU SHOULD DROP FTP AND TRAIN WITH 4DP
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As a general rule, I’ve found most Sufferlandrians aren’t too bothered about sharing their numbers - mostly for the honourable reason of not wanting to discourage someone else. Then general feeling is that your numbers are your own, and if your suffering then you’re doing Sufferlandria proud.
Big power numbers are a bit subjective anyway - are we talking watts or w/kg?
Personally I used to do a lot on Zwift but got stuck in a rut. I improved a lot as a new cyclist but then stopped improving. I found Zwift increasingly difficult to fit into family life due to set start times of races/events, and I was intrigued by 4DP. That started me on The Sufferfest. Thanks to the training plans I’ve broken through my FTP barrier, going from 250w to 279w and makes gains in the other metrics too. I doubt anyone would call these big power numbers, but breaking through my own barriers and finding new PBs are big to me.
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Are you using a smart trainer or a manual trainer (aka dumb trainer)?
I started using a cheap dumb trainer with virtual watts. What you’ll find with Virtual Watts is your power is pegged to the speed of the trainer. So essentially, your power is capped to how fast you can get the trainer moving. This is NOT comparable to actual power on a smart trainer or actual power meter. When I switched to a Smart Trainer, I was able to see my actual power now that is decoupled from my speed. So, winding up your sprint you will put out big numbers before you even get up to speed as you push really hard on the pedals.
So, if you try to compare your Virtual Watts to your own or someone else’s Power Meter or Smart Trainer numbers, you’ll find that the FTP and MAP numbers can be fairly comparable, but your AC and especially your NM numbers will be apples to oranges. In other words… If you have a dumb trainer, don’t think you can’t sprint. 
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Not sure if that’s a general comment on comparison or to me? But my numbers are from a set of Assioma Duo’s.
@Alistair_Brown Nope, not a comment on your numbers. Apologies if it seemed that way. That was supposed to be a response to @Truman, the original author. It’s a comment from my own use of a dumb trainer before switching to a smart trainer a couple weeks ago. My dumb trainer made me feel like i had no sprint power. And since I’m green and never used a real PM I didn’t realize the difference until I got my smart trainer. My current NM of 492w is taken from my dumb trainer. But I’ve done 996w in a workout while using my new smart trainer. I’ll be interested in seeing if I can exceed that in my next FF and seeing how my new 4DP smart trainer numbers all compare to my dumb trainer numbers.
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It’s a good point that comparisons can be difficult between power meters/trainers 
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Smart trainer taxi Flux 2
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I think we would be in for a very close race Alistair 
The FTP and MAP were from Half Monty and the best I have ever done in an actual 5 minute continuous effort is 396W which would put me at 5.18 W/kg 
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That depends on the course and assuming the numbers are correct. On a flat course, you will beat Alistair every time, unless you’re having a bad day…
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What suff training program you use Peter ?
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Good numbers! You would definitely have me on a flat course though!
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I think this thread is a fantastic idea, especially if people keep coming back and update their old post with new info once they finish another training plan or block etc. I think it can be extremely motivational for others to see how hard work pays off and how things move in the longer term even if it feels like progress may be slow in the short term!
As for me:
NM (5 sec): 1255 (16.77 W/kg)
-have done like 13xx outdoors
AC (1 min): 458 (6.12 W/kg)
MAP (5 min): 264 (3.53 w/kg)
FTP (20 min): 209 (2.79 w/kg)
-best ever racing 10 years ago was ~280 at a weight about 15 lbs lower. It’ll come back…someday. Hopefully!
I’m just starting the All-Purpose Road plan so lets see what happens. I’m hoping to stick with it but may end up switching to a more FTP focused plan since it’s the winter and ‘building’ makes more sense right now than ‘sharpening the knife’.
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Sorry for the long post but to give a proper picture I have listed my whole history. Since starting in Feb 2019 I have done:
- Intermediate cycling plan with MAP weakness only the first seven weeks as I was making good progress since I hadn’t ridden a bike much in almost 20 years
- Advanced cycling plan with sustained effort weakness. I got sick for a week at the start of week eight and then stopped riding due to getting burnt out with training and work.
- Bike tour through Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan with four weeks of riding. Typically we did 3 days on one day off and a bit under 6 hours riding each day.
- Took some time off after the tour the did the Intermediate cycling plan with sustained effort weakness. To add a bit more load, for the middle four weeks I rode once a week to work for an extra 55km and in the last four weeks I rode to work twice a week for an extra 110km.
- Advanced cycling - repeated effort weakness. I did races on Zwift every few weeks.
- 200 mile Gravel Grinder sustained effort weakness plan. Week six killed me and I struggled through to week 8.
- Advanced All Purpose Road - sustained effort weakness. Still too hard.
- Intermediate Full Century with strength. I only did six weeks as that left 12 weeks to a race I was targeting which has now been cancelled.
- Current plan - Advanced Mountainous/Hilly Gran Fondo with strength. The advanced plans are too hard in the third week so I have actually shifted this around to do two weeks hard with one week easy.
If I feel OK at the end of a hard week I will do a long race on Zwift on Sunday instead of the endurance ride. I should probably do the race instead of the long tempo type ride on Saturday and keep the endurance ride.
I am a big fan of strength training and also find a lot of benefit in the cadence workouts.
I initially wrote off the intermediate plans thinking that since I had run six days a week for 10 years that I should do the advanced plans but it is hard to argue with the results. I get better on the intermediate type load and don’t improve on the advanced plans despite working much harder. I was probably over-training the entire time while I was running.
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My numbers (not very big though)
Im 187cm and 84kg. (41years old)
These are the numbers from the Full frontal test, numbers from the half Monty overestimate the MAP seriously, at least 20W too high which makes some session impossible to complete.
Been with SUF since end of march this year. Tried Zwift but that was nothing for me.
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The difference between HM and FF is different depending on your rider type.
I did the HM - FF double this week.
Previously, based on HM I had:
MAP 295
FTP 255
After HM on Tuesday I had:
MAP 302
FTP 248
After FF today I had
MAP 311
FTP 228 (I failed this big time)
So, I actually upped my MAP in the FF test from the HM i did earlier this week.
I’m 83kg, 180cm, 44 y/o. After today’s FF my numbers are:
Rider type: Pursuiter
Thinking of doing another HM to get my FTP back up. lol.
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