I was an avid cyclist in my 20’s from 2001-2007 but most just trained with an HRM and didn’t really have good wattage tools. So I know I was fit but not in a fully quantifiable way. Fast forwad to now I’m in my mid 40’s and working to both improve my fitness and get weight off and so far I’m actually loving the relative ease and capability to track my efforts, weight, wattage and heart rate.
So after a couple of months of work and nearly daily riding I finally felt up to taking the 4DP evaluation. Having done it without reading too much beforehand I can definitely say I wish I knew two things better at the start: which gears to be in for specific efforts, and I wish I spent more time outside of erg mode now because I didn’t really have the feel in slope mode mode dialed in. That said I didn’t bonk out on any efforts too badly so that’s good.
I did create one ‘anomoly’ for myself which is that I really went all out on the MAP test (my legs were just two sacks filled with bones and lactic acid at the end) and since my recovery and gearing going into FTP wasn’t optimal I probably whiffed on that a tad. The result was my MAP getting gated to 142% of my FTP so clearly I have some work to do as I continue to rebuild my base.
For the rest of the week though I’m just looking forward to some pretty normal Z2 rides and chilling out throug this winter weekend.
Welcome to the forums @Joshua_Vaughan . There are some pretty great articles on fitness testing in SYSTM and how to get the most out of both Half Monty (the ramp test) and Full Frontal.
Edit: I shoulda added CONGRATS for getting FF done. It’s daunting at the very best of times. And, as you’ve already learned, pacing is likely the most critical aspect of it. Way to get after it!
The one upside of just jumping in and doing it is how much better that works than being paralyzed about it. I want to improve and having a solid test that I can reflect a number of different ways (fitness, technique, fuel, etc.). Now I can just focus on riding for a few more month’s while I wait for things to warm up and when I get outside this spring I won’t start riding with a massive training defecit. Once I’m feeling confident that I’ve made some real improvements in late April or early May I’ll be able to use the advice better and get myself better prepared by tackling individual segments with a better understanding of how to do them. Of course, there is just no substitute for giving this the best effort possible as you do it.
When I first arrived in Sufferlandria, I rode G.O.A.T. and didn’t even finish it. Then two days later I rode Full Frontal to get useful numbers for ongoing training. I didn’t read anything ahead, wasn’t terribly well prepared, but now I had a baseline to start a training plan, and I’ve never looked back. So, here’s to you, Joshua! And to a future with lots of delicious suffering!
If you didn’t BONK, you didn’t do the test right! hahaha
Congrats on getting it done. It’s easier to do in the winter than in the summer, but it’s still nasty regardless. I just took it about six weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised with my results. (In hindsight, I think equipment upgrades had a lot to do with it and think my FTP has probably been undereported for a couple of years or so…)
I think it may be helpful to view this as a test run for future attempts, especially since it was your first go. Don’t read too much into the results, important as they are. They’re not binding! Use them as your metrics for training within the SYSTM app, yes, but remember they’re very much flexible based on how you arbitrarily felt on the day you took it, and, more importantly, how much you WILL improve in the future (as you take it again and again in the future).
Learn how the test felt. Deconstruct how that affected you at various points throughout the four efforts. Evaluate how you can better approach it next time. Try to distinguish where it was taxing on you more so mentally and where it was physically. Keep that in mind next time you attempt it.
Most of all, remember to take them regularly (I am speaking to myself here too! Only recently have I decided to take it once every X weeks as is recommended. Up until now, I’d just done it randomly, sometimes only like once a year.)