One of the benefits of the KM test he says is that one of the advantages is that, after a few of them, you get to be able to “feel” the point when, as he puts it “you start to fatigue a lot faster at that point than you do before it”
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Once you finish the test how is the FTP calculated?
It’s the average power from the test.
His test uses a target power that you think you can average for the effort. You start below the expected average and then increase the power after 3-5 minutes, and then again at 15 minutes. The more you do this, the better you get at it.
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Here’s KM’s blog post, from TP, where he describes his test vs the traditional 20m test.
The average power of which part of the test though? It’s not of the entire protocol because that includes warmup, etc.
The description in the article states:
Before doing any of the following FTP tests, you must do a long and thorough warm-up. Your FTP will be equal to the average power of the “entire test”, and I double check it with the WKO modeled FTP.
He differentiates between test and warmup, therefore it’s the entire duration of the test, not the warmup. So if you do the baseline test, it’s then 35-45 minutes or TTE (whichever happens first).
- 10 minutes at 92-95 percent of target FTP
- Increase to 100 percent of target FTP for 15 minutes
- 10-15 minutes gradual power increase until exhaustion
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I saw that, but the protocol he apparently posted on Trainer Road (First FTP test ever - is it valid? - #9 by rswagler) doesn’t even match up with the protocol in the linked article. Based on the protocol posted above, I presume the “test” would start at 10 min @ 96%?
The protocol isn’t magic. Keep it simple, along the lines of the classic Friel or KM’s and do a proper warmup, then a 30+ minute time trial which is basically progression 3.
Pay attention to the end of the article:
if you already are good at pacing, Friel’s “solo ~30 minute time trial” is basically a shorter version of progression 3 in that article. If you aren’t good at pacing, you can do a ramp test or 20-min test to get an estimate of long power. Then use that and realize you can’t “fail the test” unless you refuse to pay attention to your body sensations.
Yes, the test starts below the “target” power, for 10-mins.
Best would be to ask him direct, by email or on his IG account. You’ll then hear it from the horse’s mouth, and possibly get some additional info.
It’s TrainerRoad, where the protocol is listed into defined steps, probably for the ERG users on that platform.
