Completed half monty halfway through All pur[pose road plan than completed half monty at end of plan and had a MAP increase +4 FTP decrease -9. Confused as to why I’ve completed all session bar 1 . Thanks
Lots of potential reasons for limited improvements. Our bodies can be improved with training but not endlessly. Improvements are not a linear curve, but flatten out as we reach our maximum potential physical abilities.
@Truman. Ill start of by saying I am by no means an expert here.
Having completed a half month a few times I think I understand how it calculates your MAP and FTP.
The MAP is calculated based on how long you can survive on the ramp section of the test. So the +4 result shows that your training has worked!
The FTP section is based on a few more metrics.
First it would be good to know if you have a heart rate monitor?
The FTP section is an estimation based on your MAP and your ability to maintain a certain heart rate at a given power.
If you are in a room that is not well ventilated or if you are not well rested (or even changed your preferred cadence) all of this could change your heart rate.
I’d recommend doing the full frontal test to get the most accurate results. And maybe put an extra fan in the room.
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Had Heart rate monitor with new lactic threshold down from 177-174. my 20 min power in heart rate range (160-166) in half monty was higher ave 240w @12 week compared to 235w @ 6 week. interesting according to the strava elevate software i had scrubbed off fitness from rest week and week building into 12th week by 3 points
Interesting…
I can see why you’ve asked for advice. Let’s hope somebody else more qualified can jump in.
I think you are heading in the right direction as your MAP is increasing but it’s very strange the FTP has gone down especially with that heart rate data.
You can test you FTP in three weeks time to see what’s happening.
I like to do a FTP test every 3 weeks or so. But that’s because I’m new to indoor training and can make big improvements as I learn technique and make adjustments.
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I had a similar situation a couple weeks ago. My MAP went up 9w while my FTP went down 7w.
The reason why? My LTHR also went down from 157 to 153, so in the constrained section I had to ride to a lower HR which meant I also had to hold lower power to stay within the HR range.
The reason for this was because I had just completed a really long hard session the Saturday before. So on Monday when I did HM I was still fatigued. I could see that my resting HR was still higher than usual. So even tho I exceeded my MAP in the ramp, my fatigue put a damper on my max HR which then had the knock-on effect of lowering my HR range for the constrained portion. Had I not been fatigued, my LTHR value would’ve been higher which then would’ve lead to a higher FTP number.
So, if you want the most accurate FTP number from HM, you need to make sure you’re rested. That’s why in the training plans the HM test is usually on a Wed/Thurs on a recovery week rather than on the Monday. That gives you enough time to recover from your previous hard week.
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Hiya - this has (as @emacdoug mentions) come up as a ‘thing’ and of course no ‘test’ anyone can do indoors without a full lab by their side is ever going to be perfect.
The stand out thing (as Evan said) is the reduction in HR.
That means your heart wasn’t working as hard in the MAP test as it was the previous time.
And when you’re working to ‘max’ then depending on how you’re feeling that day can mean you are unable to hit the same maximum.
What is interesting is that your calculated MAP is Higher, for a Lower heart rate.
the ftp number is just a consequence of not reaching the same HR level this time round but seems remarkably close to previous despite the lower heart rate.
So - 5 min power is higher for less HR …
Top result.
If it were me I’d just manually set my 20 min power to what is was before it maybe a tad higher and I’d crack on training.
The test can’t tell you that as it doesn’t know if there’s something about your physiology that means you’re just in a ‘phase’ of tiredness or different conditions/stress/sleep/nutrition that means that really is your new LTHR. it can only go by what it sees.
But I’d be surprised if it is anything other than feeling different in the day so HR didn’t get as high.
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Thanks for the feedback, I completed a 2.5 hour ride following day with a 245 watt average over 85km and felt stronger than I did 6 weeks ago. gathering from feedback im assuming I just a off day of testing
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