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Three sessions to raise your FTP

These are three of the sessions I use with my own coaching clients to build threshold power. Download them straight into Zwift or TrainingPeaks and ride them today. No email, no sign up, nothing to fill in.

Set your FTP first. Every one of these is written as a percentage of your threshold, so they are only as good as the number you have got loaded. If yours is a guess, or more than a few months old, it is worth two minutes to check it. Find your FTP from your recent rides, no test needed.

The sessions

Pick one and get it done

The dotted line on each profile is your threshold. Anything above it is over, anything below is under.

How to use them

Getting a workout into Zwift and TrainingPeaks

Zwift

  1. Download the .zwo file using the button above.
  2. Close Zwift if it is running. It only reads the workouts folder on startup.
  3. Find your Zwift workouts folder. On Windows it is Documents\Zwift\Workouts\, on Mac it is Documents/Zwift/Workouts/.
  4. Inside there you will see a folder named with a long number. That is your Zwift ID. Open it.
  5. Drop the .zwo file straight into that folder.
  6. Start Zwift, choose any world, then go to Workouts and look under Custom Workouts. It will be there.

If you cannot see it, nine times out of ten Zwift was still open when you copied the file in. Quit it properly and start again.

TrainingPeaks

  1. Download the .mrc file using the second button.
  2. In TrainingPeaks, open the day on your calendar you want the session on.
  3. Click the + and choose Workout, then Bike.
  4. Open the Structure or Workout Builder tab and choose to upload a file.
  5. Select the .mrc and it will build the session against your current FTP.
  6. It will then push to your head unit or trainer app the same as any other planned session.

The .mrc is written in percentages rather than fixed watts, so it always scales to whatever FTP you have set. Update your FTP and the sessions follow it.

Riding these outside? You do not need any of the above. Work out your target watts from the percentages, write them on a bit of tape on your top tube, and find a road where nothing makes you stop. A long drag or a steady climb is ideal. Junctions and roundabouts will ruin the efforts.

Where to go next

Fitting these into actual training

Three good sessions are a start, not a plan. Doing them in the wrong order, too often, or at the wrong time of year will not get you where you want to go. If you want the whole thing structured around your event and your life rather than guessed at, that is what I do.

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Ride Harder · rideharder.co.uk · Workout files are built in your browser when you click. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is stored.