Tips training within Power Zones on outdoor rides.

[GasCyclist]

Hey Guys,

Finally got around to doing my FTP test two weeks ago using the rubberglove sufferfest vid (Not fun!!!) and last week was my first week on the sufferfest novice plan. I didn't have a problem keeping to my desired power zone when on the trainer but once I went for an outdoor ride the power changed constantly and made it hard to stay within the zone consistently.

I did my outdoors riding at the local park (Parramatta park) which is not flat but doesn't have any climbs. Changed the power reading from 3s which I used on the trainer to 10s. Should I be using 30s.... Does seem like a very high delay.

How do you guys go about training with power on outside rides with such constant flucuations.

[Alex Simmons/RST]

The variability in power output when riding outdoors is normal. Some power meters may also artificially introduce variability to the second by second power numbers due to the way they calculate power.

To make life a little easier, most display a 3 to 5-second rolling average power value. Even so, you should expect power to vary, because that's what actually happens.

There's no need to ride within a tight specific power range, rather you should ride to elicit the appropriate training effect which means riding at the right overall intensity for the duration intended.

e.g. let's say you intend to do some intervals in the range of 240-260W.

That's doesn't mean "though shalt never ride outside of that power range", rather that the average power for the interval should be somewhere within in the range. Being a little over or under the target range during an interval effort is neither here nor there. Metabolic responses simply don't happen so quickly for that be a cause for concern.

Obviously you don't want to ride at 500W for one minute and zero for the next either, that's taking it too far.

Also, avoid playing a game of "chasing your power tail". What I mean is responding to the power meter display and immediately changing your effort level, which tends to result in an overcorrection, which you then end up responding to and over correcting the other way.

Just ride and make subtle changes to your overall effort level so that the general trend is about right.

For general riding, really you don't need to be overly concerned with the numbers on the screen, after a while you'll get to know overall what level 1 / 2 / 3 riding feels like.