Cycling Intensity Factor (IF) Calculator

About this calculator

Intensity Factor (IF) is a core metric in Dr. Andrew Coggan's power-based training framework for cyclists, calculated by dividing a ride's Normalized Power (NP) — power adjusted for the variability of a real-world ride — by the rider's Functional Threshold Power (FTP), the highest power they can sustain for roughly an hour.

An IF near 1.0 means the ride was raced or trained right at threshold effort; below 0.75 typically indicates an easy endurance ride, while above 0.85 signals a hard tempo, threshold or race effort. Coaches and platforms like TrainingPeaks and WKO use IF alongside Training Stress Score (TSS), which is itself derived from IF, to quantify how hard and how taxing a given ride was, and to plan training load across a week or season.

This calculator takes your ride's normalized power and your current FTP and returns the Intensity Factor, giving cyclists a quick way to classify a completed ride's intensity without needing full training-log software.