How many watts can you earn in winter

The end of the year is the time to set new goals for the next 12 months, in addition to being the time of the season for cyclists to lay the foundations of training that will allow us to perform at our best. During these winter months, one of the points we can work on is improving our FTP watts.

Take advantage of the winter months to establish the foundations of your fitness

For those who train by power, the FTP remains the main reference value although in recent times other metrics have become important for fine-tuning training. However, the FTP figure still largely determines our level as cyclists.

We remind you that the FTP or Functional Threshold Power in its English acronym is defined as the maximum average power that a cyclist is able to sustain in an effort lasting one hour. A figure that can be expressed in absolute watts or relative, the famous watts per kilogram. In general terms, we can establish that the average cyclist usually has an FTP between 3 and 4 W/kg, from there upwards we would be talking about sports cyclists with a certain level and, beyond 5.5 W/kg, we would enter the professional field, up to the over 6 W/kg that World Tour category cyclists handle.

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Although winter is the time when training theory says we should prioritize aerobic work sessions to build a good base for improvement, the reality is that many do not have the possibility to do long outdoor training sessions due to the limited hours of sunlight or the weather, so we have to do other types of work relying on the roller.

The question that arises for many is how much can I improve by doing this type of training? Like everything, it will depend on many factors. If we are beginner cyclists or starting from a very low fitness level, good winter work can give us up to a 20% improvement. However, if we are experienced cyclists with a good level, an improvement between 5 and 10% would be a more realistic figure.

The good thing is that current interactive rollers allow us to do a good job to improve the FTP, so if we are consistent and carry out good structured work, it is possible that we will achieve a good result that will allow us to reach the time change moment when we will have more time to ride outdoors with a good level to continue working on.

Good sessions to improve the FTP on the roller could be progressive sets, for example, 10 minutes at tempo pace, 10 minutes at sweet spot, and 10 minutes at threshold, repeating several times; or the more typical 2x20 or 3x15 at threshold pace that allow us to do a very consistent training session in just one hour.

In any case, any time we can spend outdoors doing long rides and improving our aerobic capacity will be extra points in our winter work that will allow us to reach a better fitness level when spring and summer arrive.