You guys that hang in the power training threads know I'm having a dilly of a time ironing out a defective powertap SL. Still do not have it ironed out, and am waiting for more parts.
Also, I think largely due to my disgust with it's failure over 3 training days, I have begun to question the value of training with power. You hard core "watts" guys claim that it's all about the watts, but I feel you still had to base your watt zones on HR... And I've seen it in posts here how a rider says he's pulling x-watts on one day, and way lower watts the next day at a higher heart rate... They kind of all go together. When I pointed out that generated watts over a distance was a nice average to look at, I got shot down, based on aerodynamics, surges... blah...blah...blah... "Can't compare it"... So if you can't compare it then it's value is?....
All that said, My training schedule for today (see attachment) 1.5 hour ride included 10x1 minute zone 5 efforts on a 3 minute recovery. I remember reading somebody posting how short intervals are over "before my HR even gets it's socks on"... That is true, and I've never argued against HR lag, but odds are, you are still going to be doing the same amount of work. If you need to get to zone 5 from say zone 1 or 2, in 60 seconds, you are gonna have to put out a pretty good effort. Watts or no watts, to do that amount of work you will be WORKING, and pretty hard.
Here's what I noticed based on THIS specific training day, Fast, short duration intervals. On the first one, I overshot the effort, and my speed was dropping like a rock before it was over. The second was more stable, as I understood the effort more, and by the 10th one, I was more "in the zone". Had I been using watts, they would have all been the same, no question. That would have been pretty handy. If the goal was to push hard enough to blow up and slow down, I'd know the watts to do. If the goal was to survive and ramp up the speed and HR to peak at exactly 60 seconds, I likely would also know the watt number.
I'll give you guys this one. Would have been handy today. Even though all we would have really accomplished is a more accurate look at a short duration excercise and writing off the HR lag time.
on the attached image, the difference in the speed on every other interval is the difference between with the wind, and against.
Also, I think largely due to my disgust with it's failure over 3 training days, I have begun to question the value of training with power. You hard core "watts" guys claim that it's all about the watts, but I feel you still had to base your watt zones on HR... And I've seen it in posts here how a rider says he's pulling x-watts on one day, and way lower watts the next day at a higher heart rate... They kind of all go together. When I pointed out that generated watts over a distance was a nice average to look at, I got shot down, based on aerodynamics, surges... blah...blah...blah... "Can't compare it"... So if you can't compare it then it's value is?....
All that said, My training schedule for today (see attachment) 1.5 hour ride included 10x1 minute zone 5 efforts on a 3 minute recovery. I remember reading somebody posting how short intervals are over "before my HR even gets it's socks on"... That is true, and I've never argued against HR lag, but odds are, you are still going to be doing the same amount of work. If you need to get to zone 5 from say zone 1 or 2, in 60 seconds, you are gonna have to put out a pretty good effort. Watts or no watts, to do that amount of work you will be WORKING, and pretty hard.
Here's what I noticed based on THIS specific training day, Fast, short duration intervals. On the first one, I overshot the effort, and my speed was dropping like a rock before it was over. The second was more stable, as I understood the effort more, and by the 10th one, I was more "in the zone". Had I been using watts, they would have all been the same, no question. That would have been pretty handy. If the goal was to push hard enough to blow up and slow down, I'd know the watts to do. If the goal was to survive and ramp up the speed and HR to peak at exactly 60 seconds, I likely would also know the watt number.
I'll give you guys this one. Would have been handy today. Even though all we would have really accomplished is a more accurate look at a short duration excercise and writing off the HR lag time.
on the attached image, the difference in the speed on every other interval is the difference between with the wind, and against.
