The last two days I had a nice couple of workouts. Monday I did 2x16:00 climbing repeats up the local Mineral Springs Mountain at 98%. Again it felt pretty easy so I know FTP is climbing quickly, cant wait for a field test to verify.
Today I rode with my wife on mainly a fun ride but I threw in 2 15:00's at about 90%, but they were highly variable in terms of power. In fact both days the power was up and down within about a 20-40 watt range.
This reminded me of why I prefer to have my Athletes do workouts outside whenever possible. The microbursts, changes in cadence and wattage, different muscle groups used as well as terrain is much more effective than nailing the power right at a certain wattage for an interval. Think about it, how many events RR/crit or TT have you done where the power and cadence is exactly X and never changes?
The trainer is good for some types of workouts like the dreaded "race winning interval" or a crit specific workout with bursts every 15 seconds. Changes in terrain and wind can make it pretty difficult to do those types of workouts accurately. But for the most part, and especially for longer 15:00+ Threshold intervals and tempo work you are better off doing them on the road. Don't focus on the power too much, rather keep it, in a range of bout 20-30 watts and go by feel, glancing down every 20 seconds to make sure you are on target, chances are your normalized power will be very close to your goal.
There are some coaches and athletes out there doing ALL of their workouts on the trainers or rollers. I am still looking for that event that requires me to ride at exactly 365watts for 20 minutes....if anyone finds one let me know.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment