Chris,
My 2 cents:
My initial obsession about my FTP has pretty much faded away. I used FTP in order to place a level of fitness on myself, so the workouts on Zwift would be appropriately hard and as beneficial as possible, fitness wise.
But, I just found any kind of program to eventually become to hard, and I did NOT see a whole lot of improvement to my fitness, AND I was more or less constantly tired, sore or over trained.
I lowered my FTP to make the workouts easier, but figured that maybe, just maaaaybe, the Zwift workouts weren’t the best for me, neither physically nor mentally.
I did a lot of reading, spoke to two pro riders and an acquainted who works for a big team in the pro tour, and through them I got to know about the 80/20 approach, which I’ve been sticking to that ever since then (about seven weeks now I think).
What that means, in few words, is that I do 80% of my riding at an easy effort level, zone 1 and zone 2. It should be mentioned here, that 80/20 training do NOT use the same kind of zones we normally are accustomed to.
To begin with, I had to base my power on some number, as performing blood lactate tests (which is what is recommended when setting up your zones in the 80/20 method) was not an option for me. So I used an approximation, based on the FTO Zwift gave me, Training peaks and ICU intervals. And then I lowered that initially 10%, then changed that to 5%.
My training since that moment has been fantastic! In all measurable ways. I’m never too tired, never having dips in my performances, and seeing great improvement rather quickly.
I started out at around 221 FTP, and now I know for sure it is between 250 and 256. And that is a power I can sustain for a long time.
I’ll keep following the 80/20 approach, and every week I will see some improvements, just as long as I DO NOT RIDE TOO HARD on easy days, and DO NOT RIDE TO EASY on hard days.
And also, I am a very heavy rider, 105kg, so I know that in order to really improve as a cyclist, I also need to loose weight. Minus 7kg since my new training regime, of course combined with a good diet.
The joy I now feel when I go out for my long outdoor rides is impossible to put a value on.Rides I used to really struggle with, sections of the courses I found hard, hills from hell and so on, - are now easier, thus I KNOW for sure I’m getting better.
A couple of months ago I did a century (in km’s) and I found it really hard on the body and mind. I did one recently and it was just a pleasure.
I don’t know what I’m trying to say with this, if anything at all, - but I wish I understood earlier, that Zwift and it’s FTP might not be the best way for me. I’m sure it works for some people, but not for me. And as improvement is what is driving me on, it very important hat I see progression in my training.
When I didn’t, I got depressed and love for riding my bike.
I have no affiliation at all with this site, but if you would like to know more about 80/20 training, take a look here:
And if you have any questions I’ll gladly answer them.
Good luck, enjoy your riding, or else you risk getting sick of it.
Cheers,
//Matt