Honestly pretty shocked to have come back today to another FTP bump, and this time up by 4 watts.
Really surprising.
I don’t feel like I did much different today. But I did do a proper climb, which isn’t the primary one flagged up by Strava. For me it’s the Full Longridge Base to Jeffrey Hill, which is 4.74km at 3.4% for 163m of climb. I know it’s not anything mega by worldwide, or even perhaps UK standards, but for little old me it’s a good test.
Here’s the takeaway from me based on this though: climbing, and riding longer. These are the two core things that grow FTP from my experience.
When I have seen the most gains, and been at my fittest, I have been riding a lot (think 5+ hours a week), and that would include a hard climb – something akin to the Epic KOM on Zwift, or greater.
Neither of those are things I have been doing this year even. But in the last few weeks I have upped my cycling length and intensity by a fraction.
Overall though, whilst surprised I am pleased and definitely feeling a bit of a confidence booster that what I’ve been doing lately is working and starting to show some impact. I definitely think I need an easier day tomorrow, which I am not yet sure what that will involve. But whilst the weather is holding – at least, not raining – I am going to try to keep heading outdoors. It does wonders for my stress.
