Long time lurker, I’ve registered to join in with this one.
I’m getting close and hope to get there next year. I’m 64kg at the moment, my last FTP test put me at 232, but more recently I’ve held 232 for a full hour on the turbo without dying and averaged 246 for 25 minutes/248 for 20 in a time trial so I think I’ve crept up a bit since I last tested. That puts me at around 3.7. I’m 42.
The short version of how I got to this point is a coach and weight loss. The longer version is that back in my early 20s I was very overweight. I started running and got down to a 3.44 marathon. I then started getting injuries and switched to doing more cycling, but more as a leisure activity than worrying about performance – bike racing looked too scary compared to running! The weight crept back up gradually and although I did start time trialling and a bit of bunch racing I felt that I was far too old to do much more than club events and mid pack finishes in open events, and I didn’t really train that well or do much about my weight.
About this time last year I decided to do something about my weight. I was about 86kg by that point. After a few months of focussing on my diet I went to an event with a charity auction and ended up bidding on (and winning) a year of coaching for about 10% of the proper price. Stupidly cheap and I thought that even if it didn’t work out, at least I’d given it a shot. Starting FTP was around 220 at roughly 80kg so about 2.75.
The pandemic actually worked wonders for me – working from home meant time to train and rest properly, with very few social or family engagements to get in the way! And I was able to control what I ate without office snacks and networking drinks tempting me.
My FTP hasn’t shot up hugely, but even a couple of watts extra alongside weight loss helps. I’m now trying to keep my weight stable for a bit more of a build phase.
Part of why I’m lurking here is I’m trying to decide what to do when my paid for year runs out – whether to keep going with the coach (because it’s definitely working!) or whether the main factor is the fact that my compliance has been so high, and any sensible plan would have done a similar job.