Why Your FTP Plateaus After Year Two
5 min read
FTP plateaus when early gains slow and your training inputs stop matching the adaptation you need. Diagnose the cause, then make one clear correction.
An FTP plateau usually means your early gains have slowed and your training inputs need sharper targeting.
After a long stretch of consistent riding, many cyclists stop seeing easy threshold gains. The usual cause is not a lost engine; it is a training system that no longer sends a clear enough signal for the next adaptation.
A plateau is rarely one single failure point. It is usually a mismatch between the stress you repeat and the adaptation you want.
The common pattern is training monotony: too much work near the same middle intensity. That can make you good at tolerating familiar efforts without expanding the ceiling that supports FTP.
Another frequent cause is missing high-intensity development. If your plan has little truly hard work, your threshold may be limited by an aerobic power ceiling that has not been challenged recently.
Fatigue can hide fitness. When recovery weeks, sleep, and easy riding are squeezed out, your legs may show lower power for the same perceived effort even though your underlying fitness has not disappeared.
Fueling also belongs in the diagnosis. If hard or long rides are regularly under-fueled, session quality drops and the next workout starts from a weaker position.
If your workouts look the same most weeks, treat signal saturation as the first suspect.
If you rarely include very hard repeat efforts, add a high-intensity stimulus before adding more threshold work.
If power is falling while effort feels higher, assume fatigue is masking fitness and deload first.
If late-session power often collapses, fix fueling consistency before changing the whole plan.
If the basics are already controlled, accept that smaller gains now need more precise stimulus.
In N+One terms: your training system’s inputs have drifted, so the adaptation output stopped increasing.
In N+One terms: your training system’s inputs have drifted, so the adaptation output stopped increasing.
The best leading indicator is not your next FTP test. It is whether you complete the targeted intervals with stable power and controlled effort.
Track normalized power or average power for your key sessions, but compare like with like. A hard group ride and a controlled interval session do not tell the same story.
Pair workout data with recovery signals. Morning resting heart rate, heart-rate variability trend, sleep quality, and perceived fatigue help explain whether poor power is a fitness issue or a readiness issue.
If you use training-load metrics, treat them as context rather than a scoreboard. A rising load without completed quality work can still leave FTP stuck.
Make targeted-interval completion your primary weekly metric.
Compare benchmark interval power only against similar sessions.
Note perceived exertion and heart-rate drift during repeated efforts.
Use resting heart rate or heart-rate variability as a recovery trend, not a single-day verdict.
Record sleep quality and fueling consistency beside the workout file.
Use one quick decision point: ask what has been most consistently true over your recent training. The answer decides the next move.
If fatigue dominates, do not add intensity yet. Reduce workload, keep movement easy, and let performance come back before judging your FTP.
If your plan lacks very hard repeats, add a focused high-intensity block while keeping the rest of the week controlled. The goal is a sharper signal, not more total suffering.
If you live at threshold or sweet spot, replace some of that familiar work with a clearer split between easy endurance and hard intervals.
If fueling is inconsistent, correct that first. A better plan still fails when the work cannot be executed well.
If chronic fatigue dominates, deload now and keep intensity minimal until readiness improves.
If you never do very hard repeat efforts, add a short high-intensity block.
If you over-index on threshold, replace one familiar threshold day with high-intensity work and another with easy endurance.
If fueling is inconsistent, make pre-ride and post-ride fueling reliable before judging the training plan.
In N+One terms: change the single largest misplaced input and hold the rest steady long enough to see the signal.
In N+One terms: change the single largest misplaced input and hold the rest steady long enough to see the signal.
The first backfire is adding more threshold work every time FTP stalls. If the original problem was repetitive stimulus, more of the same deepens the plateau.
The second is testing too often. Frequent tests add stress and can turn normal day-to-day variation into a false story about your fitness.
The third is chasing a higher training-load number without asking what kind of power you are building. Load is useful only when it supports the specific adaptation you need.
Your threshold did not disappear; your recovery inputs, intensity mix, or fueling reliability likely shifted. Fix the largest mismatch before changing everything else.
Do not add more threshold work by default; add the missing stimulus instead.
Do not test FTP repeatedly; use workout quality as the nearer feedback loop.
Do not chase load alone; protect the sessions that target the limiter.
Do not change every variable at once; one clear correction gives cleaner feedback.
Start with diagnosis. Review recent training for intensity variety, fatigue markers, and fueling consistency, then choose the single most likely limiter.
If fatigue is the limiter, deload first. Replace hard work with easy aerobic riding until power and perceived effort move back toward normal.
If missing intensity is the limiter, add focused high-intensity repeat work while keeping the rest of the week easy. Stop the session when quality falls sharply.
If threshold monotony is the limiter, reduce repeated middle-intensity work and separate the week into clear endurance riding and clear hard work.
If fueling is the limiter, make fueling consistent around long and hard sessions before judging whether the new training stimulus is working.
After the corrective block, test only when leading indicators have improved. Read the FTP result alongside interval completion, power trend, and recovery signals.
Your next move is not to train harder by default. Diagnose the main limiter, correct that one input, and let workout quality tell you whether FTP is ready to move.
Why Your FTP Isn't Improving Even Though You're Training Hard
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