This is a hot topic, and there is so much information out there that it is difficult to know where to start.

I will do my best to cover what i feel are the most important parts and i will provide you with a few links that go into stuff in more detail.

FTP: functional Threshold Power,if you have done any power research on the web you would have seen this mentioned about 4 million times. so what is it and what is yours? well there are about 9 ways to work out. some of them involve 1 hour time trials at your limit. others involve old data and some tricky formulas, but the one i have chosen involves a simple 20 minute blast at maximal effort and then you take 96% of the average power you generated for that ride. Simple.

so lets say you averaged 280 watts for your 20 minutes. then your FTP is going to be 268.8 so call it 269 watts. What is important here is to make sure that you use the same test each time. no point measuring it over a 1 hour time trial one month and then 96% of 20 minutes the next. so stick to one method and use it all the time.

once you have your FTP you can use Power Training Levels spreadsheet to get some good power training zones.

This is about as simple as anyone can make it. It does not need to be massively complicated and in depth, but if you wanna read all about it then head here

Improving your FTP will improve your performace so in a few days i will write another article about training with power and what you should be doing with your new zones that you have worked out.

This post is tagged Cycleops, FTP, Power, SRM