Hi there,
i just finished the 2nd week of the plan and i had to reduce my FTP a little bit because i thought it was too harsh on zone 3.
The plan is about 4,5hrs/week. anyone knows what is the best way to spread the workouts on a week? im currently doing 1 per day and its getting too tough that i cant even finish the last Threshold intervals. im not totally toasted but almost there… Or is it supposed to be hard in order to improve my endurance/threshold power? thanks for any insights!
How did you set your FTP?
Threshold efforts should be a 7 or 8 out of 10 in terms of RPE (rate of perceived exertion). Maybe touching 9 at the end of a 20+ minute interval.
If they’re harder than that then I suspect your FTP is set a bit too high. Did you do the Zone Benchmarking workout?
You should spread the workouts throughout the week. Take a look at them before the week starts and identify the “hard” and “easy” ones. Make sure you do the hard ones on, say, Tuesday and Friday, and on the preceding days eat a ton of carbs and do either no rides or the easiest rides.
ETA: You probably should have told us that you didn’t finish the last two workouts you attempted. Having seen that, I’m pretty sure your FTP is set too high, especially if it’s at the same level as when you did Giza. Your heart rate trace on that workout is not what I’d expect for something of that difficulty.
Hi David, thanks for the tips.
i did a ftp ramp test before and i think i was probably full of energy in that day:P. so after doing a couple of workouts i reduced my FTP from 290W to 260 which seemed to be more realistic (i think i can hold this for 40min)…
i think i was not spreading the workouts properly and putting too much stress one day after the other. i will follow ur tip and see how it goes. thanks
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The ramp test is a great starting point but will overestimate the FTP of certain folks. I know it overestimates mine. The person who made the ramp test gave a scaling factor range Zwift can use, and they chose the midpoint but the midpoint isn’t going to work for everyone.
So it’s a good start to an estimate but not as accurate as a 20min test and if you’re dying on shorter threshold intervals in your workouts when you are reasonably rested then it probably overestimated your FTP.
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Same here, when I used to regularly do ramp tests before long covid, I’d often be threatening to do or finish the 400W interval (giving a 300W estimate) but it was only in early '22 when 95% of a 20min effort became 300W+.
The challenge with an FTP ramp-up test (typically lasting around 20 minutes) is that it can sometimes overestimate FTP for beginner riders or those returning after a long hiatus. This is because the test gradually increases intensity until the rider can no longer maintain the effort, assuming they are capable of sustaining longer efforts at or near their threshold power. In such cases, examining the 1-hour power (from your power curve) may provide a more reliable starting point. Personally, going up AdZ, it’s a more realistic view of my FTP -now, I hardly ever do a ramp up test.
I like the ADZ suggestion above, if you can use something like a Garmin to monitor your power from the start of the ADZ lap to the end then go absolutely flat out on that lap it’s pretty decent.
Just use your gears and ride it as you would the real Alpe d’Huez (a controversial opinion I know).
Hi,
i just did The Grade and my FTP was much lower then by the ramp test. the issue i have with the grade is that i tought i was pushing a sustainable power but it was too much and i could maintain for the whole grade. what i still dont get by the Grade is if the number showed when you finished the Grade is your FTP or simply the AVG watts. Nonetheless, the number showed by the Grade (if FTP or not) fits more with i believe should be my FTP. by using this number i see effforts on the threshold power starting to feel more then a simple Zone 2 which i believe (gut feeling) makes sense…
A ramp test will overestimate your FTP if you are strong at anerobic (high zone) work as opposed to more aerobic sustained work.
The Grade produces an FTP number which is an estimate based on your performance on The Grade compared to how others have performed and what their FTP is/was. See Review: Zwift’s New “The Grade” FTP Test | Zwift Insider
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you are right. i can do relatively high power (for my standards :P) at short bursts but holding, lets say on threshold , for long its tricky. At this point, im entering zone 3 at exactly 200W. i can literally feels that i need to push more and its not as easy as keeping 190W for hours. i guess would this be an indication that my zones are well defined, or a simple coincidence?
I think The Grade is a great and innovative addition to Zwift—something truly different. A lot of so-called routes in Zwift are just slight variations of the same thing, but to be fair, I’ve never done an all-out effort on it because, for me, it’s too short to provide any real training value. In fact, I hardly ever do an FTP test. I find an up-to-date power curve gives a much more realistic view of fitness—a short race, a few climb portals, a hard climb up AdZ, and a hard 100K outdoor ride tell me everything I need. It also seems like more people are moving away from ramp tests and similar methods due to their limitations. Ramp tests often misjudge FTP by favoring anaerobic power, overestimating sprinters, and underestimating endurance riders, while also failing to account for Time-to-Exhaustion (TTE) and true sustained aerobic capacity, but hey this is just me 
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I wonder how that number compares to your estimated FTP from intervals.icu, which you could get from any decent hard effort
hi Paul,
i checked intervals.icu and the eFTP for The Grade ride was 248W, On The Grade itself was 236W. Idk, but adjusting my FTP to about 260W feels more realistic than the ramp test i did in the end of last year of 285W. i think i can confirm that the ramp test overestimate my FTP. im sure i cant hold this power for more then 10 min…
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To add Im a anaerobically gifted person. This came out when I was still doing lactate-testing for my FTP. To show the difference:
- Zwift ramp test FTP: 290-300W
- Zwift 20min test FTP: 265W
I would really recommend doing the 20min test AFTER doing a good warm-up with sprints instead of ramp tests.
Only thing that botters me a bit is that the power and heart rate zones can’t be manually entered.
Zone 2 can be vast different for the same reason between people; depending where your aerobic threshold is.
For instance if someone is constantly training threshold and vo2max, they might get a higher FTP in Zwift but their zone 2 or aerobic threshold might not go up as much due to lack of aerobic/endurance training.
So it’s really important you go by RPE or feel as someone said above. You can also use the talk or breath test to see if zone 2 IS really your zone 2. So training might feel way too hard because those zones aren’t correct with your body.
very interesting point. i think the power/heart ranges are also not totally fixed (i mean in general) I see people considering the top of zone 2 about 75% of FTP and others 70%. RPE for me worked quite well in order to cross check if my zones are in the right range. Today, it fits very well. if i increase by 10W from my zone 2 upper limmit i can feel already that im pushing into a different zone,…if this makes sense…
Other point, in general im using FTP mostly to check if im improving or not. so, its a relative number and i tried to keep the same test result to avoid changing the variables. i might jump to the 20min test as you suggested but also sticking with it to be able to compare.
What you said is key—why are we doing an FTP test? The purpose matters. Generally, people take an FTP test for one of two reasons:
a) To measure training progress – A way to see how your fitness is improving over time.
b) To establish a bias for future interval workouts – Using the result as a baseline to structure training zones.
If you’re testing yourself, a Ramp Test can be a great tool. It pushes you to failure in a way other tests don’t, and in real-life efforts, we tend to hold back a little. But if your goal is to set a systematic FTP for training, it’s a different game.
Think about it—when a Ramp Test is coming up, we might take a rest day or do a light workout beforehand. Then, right before the test, we load up on sugar and caffeine and go all out. Sure, that might get you a PR, and it could work as a proxy for a 20-minute race. But for a Grand Fondo plan? Not so much—because you can’t rely on those ideal conditions every time (above all, if you aren’t actually writing the plan).
yep, you nailed it.
in the end is to have a check point on any improvement and of course to calculate the power zones. Normally i dont sugar up before a test, i do actually taking max 1 day rest.
im more interested in a power curve to check the critical power which todays fits with the power that i can sustain “forever”. currently im very picky on the numbers just because i will do the Mallorca 312km and there is a cut off time. About 20W can make a difference in making or breaking. im currently training on the upper boarder of my zone 2 and trying to increase gradually every week (about 5-10W). im trying to check if i can actually sustaina that power for the first 3-4 hours.Thats the main reason why i want to know as good as possible, the power that im able to sustain for hours
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Swift/Zwift journey in Mallorca!!!
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