Originally Posted by
burnthesheep
I feel like your 4DP thing is a good thing though as once power gets into repeatable VO2 efforts, sometimes folks can't do the % over 100 in those sets by just basing it off 20min or full 45min t0 70min times.
Yes the 4DP helps to set accurate targets for VO2 and shorter sprint efforts. It just gives a more accurate power profile across the various time intervals. I use the Sufferfest training plans, so it makes sense for me to use their 4DP test. They have a more simple ramp test as well, which estimates FTP and VO2 max power. I find that they correlate pretty well for me, but it doesn't seem to work for everyone. A lot of people report over-estimated FTP results for the ramp test vs 4DP. I'm not surprised as the 4DP test is really hard to nail properly. I usually take the 4DP at the start and end of season and perhaps do a couple of ramp tests in-between. My power is pretty consistent, so I'm not making big changes to my interval targets.