New resident of Sufferlandria as of this week and I had some questions after my 4DP. I got a flag for my 1 min power being greater than my 5 minute power by more than 190%. I feel like I really tried on my 5 minute power, but having recently moved to 6,000 ft from ~1,000 ft, I can believe these values given that I’m probably not fully acclimated to life at altitude especially at that level of cardiac effort. I used to do sprint triathlons and endurance mountain bike events, but my FTP has never been above about 205 W (~2.2 W/kg), so I’m not a very strong cyclist. Also, the difference between my actual 1 minute power and the corrected 1 minute power is only 3 percent, but I’m more curious to the answer on a physiological level.
My results from the 4DP were as follows:
NM - 1050 W
AC - 406 W corrected to 389 W
MAP - 205 W
FTP - 170 W
With my personal goals having been described as “intense” for most, I’m already planning for a knighthood when I get back to a semblance of my former self. I’ve been scanning the forums over the past week and I’m very inspired by all the stories and comments of support from one another. Really excited to be here.
@Durant Welcome! I had trouble with MAP too during my 1st Full Frontal. I think it is fairly common. I would suggest proceeding with your plan but keep an eye on how hard or easy the workouts are. You can adjust as needed based on the below chart.
Thank you for that link, looks like a wonderful guide. I love that they thought about the days when you feel good and the days that you don’t. I picked out a 10 week plan to start and it currently has the Half Monty scheduled at the end of the sixth week, so we’ll see how that goes. Really looking forward to training again. Thanks!
@Durant Also be sure to check out the Mental Toughness Program videos including the associated workbook. It is really helpful for setting short and long term goals and getting into positive habits related to training:
Yep, I added strength training, yoga, and mental toughness. I used to rock climb at the collegiate level which came with a few mental blocks as I progressed onto harder climbs. Definitely a huge part of continuing performance improvements.
Great work on completing Full Frontal those initial 4DP numbers. Like any fitness test, pacing can play a part as you get more familiar with the efforts during the test, here is some guidance you may find useful next time round along with your first test experience.
If you want to re-confirm your MAP, taking a few days recovery and then completing Half monty can also be helpful here
Thank you, I’ll run the Half Monty when it comes up in my training plan. I think that I thought AC was based on VO2 and not MAP, so that’s probably what lead me to think my MAP shouldn’t have been as affected. Makes sense now considering my move to life at altitude, whereas I obviously didn’t lose my muscle strength to produce my AC/NM efforts. That was the first time I think I ever had to pace a 5 minute effort, but I thought I was doing a decent job, so we’ll see how I do the next time around.
Currently going through the Couch to Crusher plan and after doing Downward Spiral and Blender (Mini Version), I feel like the targets are right. I was pretty roasted after the last few AC intervals at the ended. I’ll post the results of my Half Monty run in a couple of weeks.
Here’s the mid plan update, which was delayed a little as I was trying to squeeze rides in during the end of the summer hiking season. Few days above 13,000 feet and a sleeping few nights at 11,600 feet certainly couldn’t hurt…
I was certainly surprised as I was able to stick through all of the ramps in the Half Monty, but my HR during the original test was over 165 bpm, so I was definitely trying the first time. I think the huge jump is partially explained by my body adjusting to the altitude here.
I don’t think you’re supposed to be able to reach the end of the ramp in HM. The ramp test is designed for you to fail part way into the ramp. If you do manage to complete the ramp, then it has probably underestimated your MAP.
It doesn’t seem far off currently, I felt like I was going to fail the next ramp (if there was another one.) Early on in the plan, the workouts seemed difficult, but after week four, the workouts seemed easier, so I started doing them at 110%. With how much of a jump this is, we’ll see how it looks when I do another Full Frontal in November.
As a final follow up at the end of this plan, here are the results from my 2nd FF.
NM - 1171 W (+121 W) +11.5%
AC - 449 W (+43 W) +10.6%
MAP - 262 W (+57 W) +27.8%
FTP - 214 W (+44 W) +25.9%
Overall, very pleased with these increases. I peaked around 1400 W which was very surprising to see. I’m going to do the Mountainous Gran Fondo plan next since winter has officially started in the Rockies now.
