Percetage of FTP for OLY & HIM

I use CP rather than FTP, but if closer to 2.5hr then 80% for HIM. If longer (towards 3h), slightly less, maybe 78%.

This requires
a) you have properly set your thresholds. This is critical
b) you test these targets in workouts before the race.

For Oly, a tad higher than 90%, around 92.

Edited by marcag 2015-06-09 10:50 AM

My FTP is dialed in pretty close.

I was curious what others were doing. I have an OLY this Sunday and have IM Muncie coming in July.

I was thinking about the same for HIM but for the OLY I was thinking more like 85%.

How long will you be on the bike for the oly and what is your total race time?

Shane

How did you figure out your FTP ?

I test about every 8 weeks.

I meant more how do you test ? What is your protocol ?

My OLY time should be well under 3 hours.

HIM should be well under 6 hours.

I am new to power which is why I have so many questions about race execution and power. Training and testing with power is now second nature. I am actually training for my 3rd IMLou. I just have a few OLY's and a half on the way.

Did you zero in on a percentage that works well for you for IM ?

For my last Oly: average power was 85% of FTP, Normalized Power was 88% of FTP, and I ran very well (meaning the bike effort was likely on the easy side of optimum), total race time was just under 2:20, bike time was around 1:07. It was very windy but otherwise race conditions were unexceptional. I usually target Normalized Power at 90% of FTP for an Oly.

For my last HIM: average power was 72% of FTP, Normalized Power was 77% of FTP, I ran poorly but I hesitate to draw conclusions regarding the bike pacing because it was again very windy (10min longer on bike than planned), stupid hot, and I made a very bad pre-race nutrition mistake. If I had a do over on that race I'd execute the bike with no changes, only change my breakfast plan, I was aiming for Normalized Power to be 78% of FTP.

Regarding FTP, I use my current best estimate of Normalized Power for a 1 hour performance given adequate rest/recovery and race motivation. I've never tested my FTP, only estimated it and I suspect few triathletes have done a true FTP test, only different estimation methodologies. I'm not even going to try and explain my estimating procedure but it involves Golden Cheetah's CP graph and a long history of power files.

I must be a slow typer because you guys got in like 3 replies each for my one :-)

I can type at 37% of CP or 40% of FTP :-)

Well played, did you mean 40% of CP and 37% of FTP?

Edited by mikec123 2015-06-09 2:33 PM

I use estimated FTP test. However I am confident I can hold that power for an hour.

This is my first year racing with power. I have been training with power since last October