Trainerroad expectations

[E65Ross]

Had a look earlier, I did Gilbert about 18 months ago when I didn't have a power meter, but my kickr was the power source. The kickr reads about 7.5-8% higher watts than my power meter (so if my power meter says I'm doing 100W the kickr would report 108W).

When I did Gilbert 18 months ago my FTP was set to 226W on the kickr, and now it's set to 234W using the power meter (so about 252W on the kickr) and looking at the HR graphs they were awfully similar....despite effectively putting out over 11% more power.

[ALawson]

Good to see you have made progress.

First Chaingang of the year last night, averaged 21mph over there and then the same (4 up) for 20 miles. 1 chap was flagging a bit which did bring the average down a bit, 2 of us were doing good stints at 24-25mph. Average HR was pretty manageable, and the impressions from other others was my pace up the slight inclines was better than last year.

I think that is a direct consequence of some of the 120%+ FTP intervals on TR.

Will probably get the bike back on the TT Thursday and do the end of week 1.5hr session.

[E65Ross]

ALawson said:

Good to see you have made progress.

First Chaingang of the year last night, averaged 21mph over there and then the same (4 up) for 20 miles. 1 chap was flagging a bit which did bring the average down a bit, 2 of us were doing good stints at 24-25mph. Average HR was pretty manageable, and the impressions from other others was my pace up the slight inclines was better than last year.

I think that is a direct consequence of some of the 120%+ FTP intervals on TR.

Will probably get the bike back on the TT Thursday and do the end of week 1.5hr session.

That's good going! pushing 24-25mph isn't easy (at least not for me!) I'm going to start looking at doing some group rides and we'll see how that goes.

It looks like the general build and sustained build plans have changed, too. I remember not long ago they changed the sweetspot ones so I'm wondering whether or not they're soon to change the speciality phase plans.

Also weighed myself this morning and I've put on 2-3lbs so should soon do another FTP test and reassess W/kg. I will say since weighing just that bit more I do feel better on the bike.....I guess it's getting the balance between being as light as you can whilst still being quite strong...

I'm going to try "Trojan" tomorrow....being a non-sprinter this is a workout I've actually attempted twice, and failed at....twice and they were both days when my FTP was lower than currently.

[ALawson]

I am wondering what is stopping me spending an afternoon copying all the TR plans down and then stopping my subs. With Garmin I can make a training plan and just follow it on that (or switch to zwift).

Obviously you wouldn't get the great motivations subtitles popping up, but I am happy to miss the quadrant drills.

[E65Ross]

ALawson said:

I am wondering what is stopping me spending an afternoon copying all the TR plans down and then stopping my subs. With Garmin I can make a training plan and just follow it on that (or switch to zwift).

Obviously you wouldn't get the great motivations subtitles popping up, but I am happy to miss the quadrant drills.

Not sure about you but I use a Wahoo Kickr, so I use ERG mode for my trainer which I think is great.

[langy]

Tried something out tonight and compared the power estimate from TrainerRoad's Virtualpower with data coming from my Tacx Booster and my new Quarq power meter. At 200W on TR, my Quarq (linked to my Garmin) was reading approx 230W and was consistently reading approx 15% above TR's Virtualpower.

Guessing I'm going to have to do another FTP with data coming from my power meter, so I can have some meaningful training zones throughout the rest of the season.

[ALawson]

I am using Vectors with a classic I.e. Stupid turbo!

[langy]

Mine is a dumb turbo as well, but you can change the resistance.

[wobert]

I'd planned to go out on the roads tonight, but late afternoon it started raining, so I opted to do a TT session instead.

Bear Creek took my fancy, under/overs.

Tried to aim for 200w on the unders and 230w on the overs. First set was ok, but started to flag halfway through the second set. (Remember my FTP is 192)

Finished ok though...

[E65Ross]

Well...I finially finished Trojan. Wasn't too bad, and considering I couldn't do it before despite a considerably lower FTP really shows I've improved, so I'm pretty chuffed about that. Tough but certainly not that bad!

[ALawson]

wobert said:

I'd planned to go out on the roads tonight, but late afternoon it started raining, so I opted to do a TT session instead.

Bear Creek took my fancy, under/overs.

Tried to aim for 200w on the unders and 230w on the overs. First set was ok, but started to flag halfway through the second set. (Remember my FTP is 192)

Finished ok though...

Good work seeing as your overs are above FTP, how did you find it immediately after doing an over? Last few always kill me!

[E65Ross]

wobert said:

I'd planned to go out on the roads tonight, but late afternoon it started raining, so I opted to do a TT session instead.

Bear Creek took my fancy, under/overs.

Tried to aim for 200w on the unders and 230w on the overs. First set was ok, but started to flag halfway through the second set. (Remember my FTP is 192)

Finished ok though...

Well done. I think you definitely need to do another FTP test though. You got an IF of 0.99 for a 1 hour ride, despite a warm up/warm down.....that should be basically impossible, or certainly insanely hard.

I'm going to be doing one in 3 weeks or so.

[wobert]

ALawson said:

wobert said:

I'd planned to go out on the roads tonight, but late afternoon it started raining, so I opted to do a TT session instead.

Bear Creek took my fancy, under/overs.

Tried to aim for 200w on the unders and 230w on the overs. First set was ok, but started to flag halfway through the second set. (Remember my FTP is 192)

Finished ok though...

Good work seeing as your overs are above FTP, how did you find it immediately after doing an over? Last few always kill me!

Other than elevated breathing and a bit of sweat, most else.... :-)

Seriously, the first set was straightforward, second set started ok then I started to tire, third set ok, but worked to the baseline level initially, then went for broke on the last intervals....

[wobert]

E65Ross said:

wobert said:

I'd planned to go out on the roads tonight, but late afternoon it started raining, so I opted to do a TT session instead.

Bear Creek took my fancy, under/overs.

Tried to aim for 200w on the unders and 230w on the overs. First set was ok, but started to flag halfway through the second set. (Remember my FTP is 192)

Finished ok though...

Well done. I think you definitely need to do another FTP test though. You got an IF of 0.99 for a 1 hour ride, despite a warm up/warm down.....that should be basically impossible, or certainly insanely hard.

I'm going to be doing one in 3 weeks or so.

I'm not totally au-fait with some of the acronyms, presumably that means the work level as a percentage of maximum effort?

I wasn't totally spent at the end, but I knew I'd done a ride.....

I agree another FTP is due, may make that my next session, planning a ride out on Sunday am before my folks land, so it'll be next week before I can schedule one in...

[E65Ross]

wobert said:

E65Ross said:

wobert said:

I'd planned to go out on the roads tonight, but late afternoon it started raining, so I opted to do a TT session instead.

Bear Creek took my fancy, under/overs.

Tried to aim for 200w on the unders and 230w on the overs. First set was ok, but started to flag halfway through the second set. (Remember my FTP is 192)

Finished ok though...

Well done. I think you definitely need to do another FTP test though. You got an IF of 0.99 for a 1 hour ride, despite a warm up/warm down.....that should be basically impossible, or certainly insanely hard.

I'm going to be doing one in 3 weeks or so.

I'm not totally au-fait with some of the acronyms, presumably that means the work level as a percentage of maximum effort?

I wasn't totally spent at the end, but I knew I'd done a ride.....

I agree another FTP is due, may make that my next session, planning a ride out on Sunday am before my folks land, so it'll be next week before I can schedule one in...

IF is intensity factor. Basically....an IF of 1.00 is, by definition, something that can be sustained for an hour, no more. 1.05 is your 20min test (so, by definition, this cannot be sustained for over 20mins). So the fact you had 0.99 in a 1 hour workout with a warm up/down indicates the bulk of the workout was a fair chunk over 1.00....so if you weren't absolutely dead at the end, you likely need a new FTP

[ALawson]

This ride was an IF of 0.91 for almost 2hrs travelling time. 250W NP based on 275W FTP and 160TSS.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1645547...

Legs felt pretty good. May do a 8min test tonight, Palisade or actually go out on the road to a long hill and do an 8min equivalent test on that.

[E65Ross]

ALawson said:

This ride was an IF of 0.91 for almost 2hrs travelling time. 250W NP based on 275W FTP and 160TSS.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1645547...

Legs felt pretty good. May do a 8min test tonight, Palisade or actually go out on the road to a long hill and do an 8min equivalent test on that.

Just out of curiosity...what's your general average L/R balance?

[ALawson]

E65Ross said:

Just out of curiosity...what's your general average L/R balance?

Its normally 49:51, 50:50 or 51:49 which that ride is.

The platform thing is always +14 ish on the right pedal.

I know if the balance goes out from the above parameters then the PM batteries are getting low. Left knee has had a few issues ie grade 2 tear or ACL, full rupture of MFPL so left leg does feel stronger at times.

[langy]

I completed my 1st workout tonight using my Power Meter sync'd to TR and there is a big step up in numbers. Previously I was using the VirtualPower function for my turbo.

My FTP is currently 212, based on an 8 min FTP I completed in mid Feb. Tonights session was following a GCN workout (up the Passo Giau) and I recorded data on TR's using a FreeRide workout.

After looking at my 'medals' in TR for tonights session, my max 20 minute interval was 266, so in theory, my FTP could be revised to 266 x 0.95 = 252 which is a massive jump from 212 (an 18% increase) . See https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/5636402-...

I think I will do another FTP on Saturday, so I can get a true measure and set my power zones.

I thought I had done that particular workout before, so I could see if my effort (HR, cadence, distance etc) was similar, but it was the 1st time I've completed it.

Must admit, I'm happy with the result.

[E65Ross]

Well done Langy, it's great having more accurate data isn't it that's what I love about training with power....you can truly monitor your progress.

Tough one for me this morning.

Did my usual warm up first before a spindown and then "broken finger" with 2 more efforts added at the end including a sprint

https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/5654179-...

I must say that the intervals from "kern" are pretty tough....I wasn't feeling too fresh today and the 1st 2.5min effort at 105% into the 2nd set I was having those moments of doubt but persevered and managed to dig myself out of it. The efforts after weren't too bad and got into the groove a bit but certainly had to work.

That concludes the 3rd of a 4 week intense block....then I'll do a recovery week and I'll try another FTP test after that. Although based on today I'm not sure I want anything much higher