Power meters · Public discussion

Training on Turbo Trainer & power to train at?

Started by mac_220 · · Last activity · 3 posts · 1,478 views

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Power meters
Published
21 July 2007
Last activity
21 July 2007
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mac_220
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3
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Indoor trainersFTPPower metersTime trials

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  1. Original post
    mac_220
    Archived post
    #1

    Hi Everyone,

    I asked a question on a thread a while back about why I would find such a big difference in the power i can maintain on when training on the road or inside on the turbo trainer. Earlier this week i managed an average power on a time trial of 280watts for 38 minutes, my FTP is about 266. So started by training on the turbo trainer today because the whether is awefull again.

    Planned to do a 2 x 20 session at level 4 so between 242 to 280 watts. Started the first interval and managed to average 239watts. the perceived exhertion was very high and i struggle to maintain a similar power output for the 2nd interval.

    the question i have are:

    1. How should i work out the target power i should be training at on the turbo trainer because i can't maintain the power i can on the road
    2. Should i do a formal test on the turbo trainer then use the values obtained from that to set my training zones for the turbo trainer?
    3. If i can't maintain the values i can on the road what adaptations will i get as i'm training at a lower level?

    Any guidance would be much appreciated.

    Regards,

    Mark

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  2. robkit
    Archived post
    #2

    first off, i share your pain, the weather in the uk has been apalling this year, and before long it'll be autumn. i still blame the never arriving spring for frying my brain last year.

    do you know that the turbo is calibrated to the same "power" as whatever is on your road bike? i have one that could be calibrated, basically made sure it was showing the same sort of number when riding around FTP with a turbo mounted road bike.

    i cant quite suffer the same on a turbo and i think most are the same...you dont have the same cooling breeze (do you have a big fan?) or physcological distractions...but i beleive you have to eventually be training at the same power even if it takes time to adjust...else favor training on the road.

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  3. mac_220
    Archived post
    #3
    robkit said:

    first off, i share your pain, the weather in the uk has been apalling this year, and before long it'll be autumn. i still blame the never arriving spring for frying my brain last year.

    do you know that the turbo is calibrated to the same "power" as whatever is on your road bike? i have one that could be calibrated, basically made sure it was showing the same sort of number when riding around FTP with a turbo mounted road bike.

    i cant quite suffer the same on a turbo and i think most are the same...you dont have the same cooling breeze (do you have a big fan?) or physcological distractions...but i beleive you have to eventually be training at the same power even if it takes time to adjust...else favor training on the road.

    I'm measuring the power with my powertap on the road and on the turbo trainer, so hopefully the power measurement should be consistent, although i did wonder if having the back wheel clamped into the trainer would effect the power measurement.

    I have a big fan and it sounds like a propellor plane when its on full. I absolutely killed myself today, way harder than the TT i did earlier in the week but for a much lower power. I think heat is probably a big part of it. I can't see how i'm going to get to the same power on a turbo.

    I've got a old set of rollers i'm going to fix so i can see if there's any difference on them.

    It really annoying especially with the weather, i don't mind the rain but when the roads are flooded and closed getting out on the bike just isn't practical.

    Thanks for the reply.

    Mark

    Report

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