Power Meters / Powermeters (SRM, Powertap, Quarq, Ergomo, Vector, Stages, power2max, P2M, 4iii, InPower, Cinch)

You sure it's not just you tired/powerful legs?

What is it's calibration value? Is it within the correct range?

The acceptable range is 500-524

http://www.cyclepowermeters.com/powertap-garmin-calibration-check-76-c.asp

You sure it's not just you tired/powerful legs?

Don't thinks so - 2x20s are pretty much bang on usually.

IIRC the calibration value is 7000ish - I gather that's not good.

I'll be doing the test in the link you posted, once I have a known weight / or once I find my luggage scales.

7000? On which head unit? You'd be more than 20W off if that was the case.
Is it reporting higher or lower? 20W could maybe be unit heat or I once had a tyre go down mid-interval on a Computrainer - wondered why I was creeping up to 45oW when the trainer was set to half that!

On a Garmin 910xt, reporting lower than 2 different brand new Wattbikes

I'll have a new powertap to test against next week on the same turbo / head unit setup

The readings from the powertap on the road are consistent with the readings on the turbo, given perceived effort & the whole turbo-power-is-lower-than-road-power-for-the-same-level-of-perceived-effort thing.

You're comparing two different power units then so 20W isn't much different given the scope for RPE variation and the differences in the units themselves.

@hippy makes a good point - powertap claim there accuracy as +- 1.5% so at 300W that could be 304.5W or 295.5W

So that's a potential for 9W difference between perfectly operating powertap units.

Comparing against a Wattbike (which rumour has it are far from accurate) and this could be even more.

Do Wattbike measure at the crank or the hub? If its at the crank then you also need to add in transmission losses as well.

IIRC the calibration value is 7000ish - I gather that's not good.

If it's an old-style Powertap then the 'calibration' number is actually the serial number. My Bromton's calibration number is always -6029.

That makes a more sense - the reading itself has never changed.

I'm going to hang a big weight off the pedal some time this week.

This is a bit more of a training question than strictly a power one, so if it should be elsewhere let me know.

After some time off work over winter when I was able to put in some miles, my endurance was good. However, work over the last 8-10 weeks has been all consuming with 65/70 hour weeks the norm. Work is also stressful, so sleep has been poor too.

Obviously, training time has been hit and I'm lucky if I've got the time or energy for a Sunday club run. I'm just about keeping fit with the daily commute, but longer rides are noticeably harder in terms of endurance and it's this I want to focus on getting back as quicky as possible.

My question is: What's the best riding, in terms of best bang for buck, to get me back to strong endurance again? Lots of 1-2hr tempo sessions? Longer 3-4hr zone 2 rides?

Thanks in advance.

Sweet spot

Method 4 here: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/methods-of-endurance-training-part-3-tempo-and-sweet-spot-training.html/

Training plans: http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com/2014/02/06/smarter-turbo-training

(have you read Coggan's book?)

Cheers Amey,

I have read it and am familiar with the idea of SS training. If I'm honest, I worry I don't have the energy for a couple of SS sessions a week. I think it would finish me off. I did 75 mins at tempo last week and that felt hard.

It may be that until work/life balance settles down I shouldn't be thinking about training. It's just that I feel like I'm losing all of the benefits of winter and don't want to have to start all over again.

interesting that article seems to talk about %of HR rather than % of FTP, seems rather strange...

any idea what the sweet spot % of FTP is...

If we refer back to the last article I wrote on training zones, then ‘sweetspot’ intensity is between the upper end of zone three and lower end of zone four – or 88-93 per cent of FTP power or threshold heart rate, and between 75-85 per cent of maximum heart rate.

http://roadcyclinguk.com/how-to/six-things-need-know-sweetspot-training.html#gTj3YQBLKbU0M7uT.97

Interesting, spent the whole of Sundays TT just below that range if I have my FTP right...

https://www.strava.com/activities/301686518/overview

must push harder next time, but i'm still only just really learning what i'm capable of in a TT, so I know next time that the power I averaged is a baseline, and can push on another chunk!

Sweetspot Climbs are good for muscle endurance.

For your CV system to react you may want to push harder for a Shorter interval.

To gain a bit of both, in the shortest time possible - 40/20s

I've been doing a great job of building my CTL. But I now have my parents visiting so cant really Train for 10 days. I'm sneaking in a compressed 40/20 session every 2 days to hold on to my current form.

4mins - 60% FTP = warm up
10 mins 40/20s = 40sec 110%/20sec 40% x 10 reps
2 mins 40% FTP = recovery
10 mins 40/20s = 40sec 110%/20sec 40% x 10 reps
4 mins 40% FTP = recovery

So 30 mins.

Its not the best session in the world. But its bloody short. The 2 min recovery break is too short, so the HR gets a ramp in the second session, and 40/20s are awesome for lactic Processing, so the legs get great benefit.

1 minute 120% ftp, 1 minute 80% ftp. Repeat (until literally) ad nauseam.

83-97%

50s should be ridden like 25s. You'd get your 2min if you rode harder. Worry about your position once you've got the pacing right.

Neither of these interval ^^ are sweet spot training. The idea of speetspot is best bang for buck endurance. It's to allow you to get near threshold without tipping you over the edge so you are cooked in an hour. It's meant for longer sessions, not short-arse VO2 intervals!

Read: http://www.fascatcoaching.com/sweetspottraining.html

I've never ridden a 25 so hard to know how I should ride those...like the first half of a 50...?

Sunday was a test of if I could sustain 85% for 50 miles and still run, which was successful, as previously the most I've tried is 200watts for 3 hours, I also learnt I have more to give, especially if I'm not running afterwards, and I know there are lots of minutes here and there to be had with moar power, faster wheels, slightly improved position and arguably more favourable conditions although I quite enjoyed it on Sunday, buy I may as well try and grab as many at once and move from middle of the pack closer to the competitive end!

How did you stick to "85% of FTP" if you've never ridden an hour flat out? Are you using an estimated FTP? In which case you should ignore your powermeter and ride on feel then check your power meter afterwards - otherwise you're deciding your pacing off some arbitrary number rather than your body. Don't you race 40ks in tri?

The good thing is it's scientifically proven you'll get better at pacing every distance the more your ride each distance.

My best 40k last year in a tri was at an average power of 208 watts, so not really representative of what I seem to be able to do this year. also there is the small matter of having spent 25 minutes fighting and having to do a 10k afterwards!

if I did it on feel I'd be pootling round in 2hours 22 still like I did in the 100 last year...

If we are basing it on the hardest 1hr I've ever ridden it would be 248 watts which was the first hour of Sundays ride, which was definitely not balls out, I'm currently using my estimated FTP based off my best 10 of the year so far which was 301 watts...

I was taking 'bang for buck' to mean most effective for shortest duration. So getting cooked in 30mins was my intention.

Proper sweetspot training requires 20+ min intervals. Which you do at sweetspot instead of supra threshold to allow you to manage a few of them. Say 3 x 20mins, With 5 min recovery breaks, and 10 mins for both warm up and warm Down. So it ends up being 1 1/2 hours. At least.

I do shit loads of sweetspot climbing. Although not really by design. Its made me very fit while not moving my FTP a single W. For racing (number on me, not front of bike) those with loads of Ws and little fitness can get into, and hold, the faster groups. Whereas I get dropped, finish late, and feel fresh as. Bastard annoying. So I've set aside a sesion or 2 a week for supra threshold climbing and/or 40/20s. It actually saves me time too.

getting cooked in 30mins was my intention.

That's fine but it's not sweet spot training. If you want to hurt yourself in the shortest time do tabata until you fall down.