A lightbulb moment

I did my fourth 20 minute ftp test yesterday as I had felt that some of the Trainerroad sessions were getting easier, which meant that somewhere, my aerobic fitness was improving. It had been the best part of two months since my last test owing to having serious manflu ( a mild cold) when I should have conducted the last one. This one was slightly different on a couple of counts. Firstly, I did the test in my rather cold shed, the thinking being that I would not get so hot as I normally do in my well-insulated kitchen and therefore this might help me push out a couple more watts. I also spend more time upright, rather than down on my aerobars, which is how I had conducted the test before. After listening to the Trainerroad podcast, they advocated that you simply have to try to get as many watts out as possible and if that means being in a more 'road' position instead of a tt one, then that should be the way to go.

The test this time felt much harder, I guess because I am starting to bump against my limiters a little bit, and I had a definite fade in the middle part of the test,  but the result was good. 240 watts, compared to my last test at 230. That's not too bad at all and I can now power a pretty standard domestic lightbulb for an hour (in theory anyway). Along the way, I also improved on my best power averages for 2,3,5,10 and 15 minutes.

So using some back of the envelope mathematics I have done approximately 70 Trainerroad sessions and increased my ftp by 35 watts. So every session is helping me to add 0.5 watts to my ftp. OK, I know it's not as simple as that and that there or other factors in play, but the numbers  work quite nicely and at least for the time being it is pretty motivating to still see the numbers creeping up. 250 watts plus is an obvious target now and my watts/kg is now up to 3.33. This weekend sees me start my first 25m tt of the season. Not a fast course but I am hopeful that with some ok conditions, I should be very near the mark I set last year.