I have read a few posts here and elsewhere that rides sent to intervals can help calculate my FTP automatically, can someone advise what I have to do to see it or to have it calculated for me? Missed having the automatic FTP calculations from TR!
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There is something like this. This is an estimated FTP and has the symbol eFTP. It should be on the chart
It should also be on the chart
If you donāt see it, you can pull it out of custom charts.
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Just to make 100% sure you understand, they are talking about https://intervals.icu/ the product so if you need more help there itās best to ask on their forum 
but many of our users use this product as well.
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Ah, I see it! Did not know it was right there when opening the activities! Does eFTP usually record less than your actual FTP? I guess that is a result of not having a max effort interval during your training ride?
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You need max effort intervals for eFTP to offer reasonable suggestions. For example, if all someone does is ride zone 2, their eFTP will not be accurate.
You can set the minimum duration on the Settings page in intervals.icu.
Dave
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Yes, I donāt like this aspect of the way every one does eFTP, I keep wanting to build something different (I tried once and failedā¦).
Everyone is so FTP driven, but you should not base your training strategy based on max efforts unless it happens to be the period of your training that you should be basing it on max efforts Peak periods or pre-event periods are the optimum time but some people do well with some level intensity at different times. There has been a recent trend in some pros of all out 1 minute intervals once a week through a base period for example.
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Hi AntonTD,
There are cons and pros to automatic ftp calculations. The pro is that you donāt have to do a test, which always takes time and rest days.
The con is that the result is not very accurate. As a coach, it is my strong opinion that cyclist focus to much on their ftp values. You see this with all the 12 week (or less) āftp builder programsā.
They are the equivalent of the lose weight fast diets. These programs let you do High intensity intervals for a couple of weeks and, voila, your ftp has risen.
But thisis not the result you are after. FTP meassures only a part of your fitness. It meassures the upper end of your powerspectrum. If you would do very limited zone 2 training your ftp would still rise after a program like this, but you would still collaps on the first 100 km ride and not be able to use this power if the hills are at the end of the ride.
Please keep in mind that real, long term progress comes from consistent training around your lactate threshold and your aerobic threshold.
The more specific your test is, the better it will predict your progress. Most field tests are estimated outcomes. A lactate test actually meassures our progress.
So how do you deal with this in real life? Make some time in your schedule to do an ftp test as well as an aerobic test. Book a test session with a pro analist once a year. It is important that you let the pro meassure your blood values.
You heard what Alex said: he tried and failed. I know Alex and he only offers things that are proven to be right. As soon as he offers an eftp, I will take it. Untill that time I rely on testing.
Have lots of fun, Coach Robert
Hi There,
my first post here, just starting having fun with TR. Hope Iām picking the right thread I just did the a couple of workouts and now I tested myself with āTD Ramp Test (Automatic)ā. At the end a pop up appeared asking me if I want to update my FTP (currently set to default 100), and I said yes. Issue is that in my profile FTP is still 100. I see I can manually update it. What value would it be meaningful? I mean if I go the the report for āTD Ramp Test (Automatic)ā I see a lot of details. How should I use those to manually calculate a reasonable FTP?
Thanks for any help, and sorry if this is not the right place!
t
Hi and welcome, maybe your FTP is 100, but that sounds strange. Can you send me the URL from our website to your completed activity?
Hi Alex,
thanks for the prompt reply, everybody was saying Alex-is-always-on
URL is Trainer Day.
Screenshot is:
t
Not always on but yes I take customer service as serious as I can. Thatās strange that you clicked update and it stayed at 100. It should be 150. Itās .75 X your best minute which was 199w.
Perfect thanks! Iāll update manually according your suggestions. Great support!
Best
t
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What do you refer to with āthe wayā? Is it the single-ride eFTP?
This is not the actual eFTP prediction if I.icu, I am sure you know. There is a chart in the fitness chart that shows I.icuās analysis of the whole training history, including increases from max. efforts and decrease over timeā¦ It still is only reasonable if one has repeated max efforts as time goes by. (Similar discussion for, e.g., TP and Xert left out;-).
Major issue with this is that it uses any relevant best effort, and for short ones that. Igor contain significant anaerobic contributions if you just do 5 min allout after warmupā¦ etc.
I.icu also has the FTP/CP/Wā calculator on the power page, which is a better approach because it uses (clearly documented) approaches to calculate these numbers and you can even compare the different implemented formulas, incl. multi-point calculationsā¦
Personally, I still adjust (increase/decrease) my FTP for training purposes based on RPE and EF of intervals I do regularly (4 x4ā 120 % or 2 x 20ā30ā 90 % are good measures for me), esp. during race season. This is avoiding further load from tests, as brought up by @Robert_UCL 
Yes, I am pretty sure intervals is also based on max efforts so if you are doing base training only or zone 2 it will go down when in reality your actually two hour aerobic performance might even be improving and for most of us 2 hour aerobic performance is more important than our 20 minute test time.
So what happens is people get attached to this FTP calculation and their training can be dictated by their eFTPā¦ or they pick a training plan that improves this estimate. For some riders this can be ok, but for many they would be better off just ignoring FTP all together other than a rough estimate of training intensities. I am just making up this theory now, but I would say eFTP or FTP improvements are most critical during a peak period of trainingā¦ I have not thought that well through but it sounds right
Well, kind of ā sure. As mentioned, you can choose different models for CP/FTP calculation on the Power page of i.icu.
For instance, you could choose Mortonās 3-parameter model:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00140139608964484
Sure I use Wā CP calculations a lot but you still need max efforts and if you donāt do max efforts in longer durations it can cause issues that increases in short durations can actually lower your estimated critical power āFTP.ā
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