Re: Normalized Power & Perceived Exertion
Now I know why I have not done well in the CRIT after spending a lot of time training over the winter. What Phil Ston said about spending long winter on trainer make sense. I have improved about 10% in my TT and hill over the last year. In Sept 2004, my power was at 3.9 watt/kg at 20 mins. By April/May 2005, I have improved to 4.3 (No weight change). I thought with that kind of power I should be able to stay and compete in cat 4/5 races. However, on my first crit race this year, I did not do very well.I will be following a similar program this winter again. However, I am adding more CRIT like effort in Feb and March to my program to make sure that I will be ready for the Spring racing.
In addition, I have experienced similar power drop problem as frenchyge describe when performing similar training on trainer. Mine is in the basement and have two fans blowing. However, I felt like I didn't have enough oxygen.
Thanks for your comment.
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Originally Posted by Phil Stone
I can relate to that quote & I came up with all kinds of elaborate (some quite extreme) ways to make trainer time more like a real ride. I now work for Tacx & I can add to Andrews points about inertia & road feel. As you climb in the saddle wheel inertia is low & chain tension is high. The fact that your chain is under constant tension forces you to apply pressure at all angles of the pedal stroke including the famous 'dead spots'. Most trainers are closer to replicating this long climb feeling hence the painful legs that many of us (yes include me in this group) feel when they first ride the trainer. Its like having a long mountain pass placed into your garage. Trainers such as the Velodyne use a large flywheel which can make the trainer feel more like your riding on flat terrain as the inertia is much higher & thus chain tension lower.
If you mix road & trainer then your unlikely to adapt to a particular type of effort. Spending say a whole winter on a trainer should result in you feeling quite at home tooling up any local long climbs but probably in need of a few weeks adaptation to get your crit/track legs! The main point though for indoor trainers is the actual training of your engine! Regards Phil www.tacx-video.com |
