Mid training plan half monty - FTP same, MAP imcrease LTHR up 5

Training
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I am in the middle of my first all road training program. Completed my 4dp before the plan and am very sure I gave it my all. While I did not USE the bucket, I am VERY glad it was there. Diagnosis was sprinter, ftp 200, map 233, lthr 173, and max 999.

Now that I am half way in the program, I went through the first half monty and have ended up with some “interesting” results, but not sure how to interpret. Basically my FTP went down 2 to 198 (assuming this is within the margin of error) but my MAP went up to 278 and my LTHR went up to 178 as per the app.

My garmin unit is also tracking the same information, and reports my FTP is 193, and that my LTHR is still 173. Different system of course, but interesting.

Honestly I don’t know what it means.

Why would LTHR go up? Does it mean anything or is it just a reference number.

With the lack of an FTP change, does that seem to indicate my MAP as a limiting factor? Now that it is increasing, will it have a knock on effect so I can get my FTP up through the next portion of the training?

I am not new to training, but switched from Zwift as I always found the rides grinding, never quite hard enough on the short and HARD sections, and never quite easy enough on the tempo work. The Sufferfest is the opposite, easy is “easy”, and hard is… well, you all know already :smiley:

Any ideas? If its just “you are doing what you should, keep doing it” Awesome.

Either way, wish me luck, shovel and hammers all weekend.

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Sounds pretty standard to me. How long have you been using SUF? Is this your first training plan?

When I started I did the all around road training plan had similar results. There was a lot of MAP training and my MAP kept going up in every test while my FTP stayed about the same.

After that I switched to more endurance-based training plans and found more FTP training and that was when I started to see some FTP increases.

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Hi @Scot,

I’m not familiar with the Half Monty test as I only do the full 4DP. I like to compare apples to apples.

If it were me I’d not worry about the delta in the FTP value. For me, an FTP test is one where I measure with a laser, mark with a crayon and cut with an axe. Your value went down 1%, to me that’s in the noise and for the value in Garmin, could be a different calculation being done.

I’ve found that LTHR can be affected by a few things…

How dehydrated I am. Dehydration leads to less blood volume. Less blood volume leads to higher heart rate.

How much training stress have I seen in the previous day’s? If I’m knackered I won’t get near a rested LTHR during a test.

I try to do the tests under as close to the same conditions as I can get especially the week leading up to the test(s) including drinking a gallon of water per day.

~Rik

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It does not sound unfamiliar to me. I have been using SFest for approximately a year and a couple of remarks re your results : - 1) I have found the 4DP to be much more accurate / stable over time than the Half Monty. My HalfMonth results were much different to my 4DP which made me skeptical of the HalfM…My subsequent 4DP results were consistently better and comparable to the previous ones. I would not use the HalfMonty as a benchmark. Bottom line - I only use 4DP as my benchmark. 2) You do not mention the time difference in your 4DP vs HalfMonty - but I think it should not be closer than approx 6 weeks apart. Else it will not provide definitive results/trends 3) the fact that you LTHR went up is very good, its indicative of improved endurance.

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4dp was done right before the all road training program start, half monty is done on schedule as part of the plan. I believe 6 weeks.