FTP After 50: Keep (and Grow) Your Threshold

Author: Murray Davis

Portions of this article were drafted with assistance from Microsoft Copilot. The author reviewed, edited and approved all content.

FTP stands for Functional Threshold Power.

In plain terms, it’s the hardest steady effort you can hold for about an hour on the bike. Coaches use it as a practical marker of your sustainable aerobic strength, and it helps set training zones (easy, tempo, threshold, etc.).

Functional Threshold Power (FTP) remains trainable for master’s when intensity is dosed and recovery protected. Use structured field testing anchored to power‑duration models instead of relying on single‑point FTP estimates [1].

VO₂max is a measure of your aerobic engine—basically

• Higher VO₂max usually means you can produce more power/pace for longer before you fade.

•It’s often described as your “ceiling” for endurance fitness (while things like FTP are more like how much of that ceiling you can sustain).

Volume and intensity changes across the season explain a large fraction of VO₂max trajectory in aging athletes, underscoring the value of periodized builds and unloads [2].

Key takeaways:

• One to two threshold sessions per week are enough.

• Build for 2–3 weeks, unload for 1 week.

• Consistency + endurance support steady threshold gains.

Club activity: Monthly 20–30‑minute TT on a fixed route to track progress. TBD

References:

[1] Leo P et al. Eur J Appl Physiol (2022). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00421-021-04833-y

[2] Burtscher J et al. IJERPH (2022). https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/17/11050