this is a off shoot of this thread.g-boaf wrote:....eeksll wrote:...
The reason I am interested is, I am currently doing some long intervals on a turbo trainer 3/4 x 10min, 2x15min , 2x20min and although I am holding the same "virtual power" or same cadence on same gear for all the intervals. I feel like the first 5 mins is harder than the last 5 mins of each interval (something like that anyway).
Now, on your observation that the first 5 minutes is harder than the last 5 minutes, that tells me that you've not warmed up properly. What sort of warm up are you doing?
If you wanted, try something like this:
Warm up: 50-85% over 8 minutes
Easy: 40% over 4 minutes
Active: 85% over 30 minutes (cadence 80-85rpm)
Easy: 40% over 8 minutes
Active: 85% over 30 minutes (cadence 80-85rpm)
Warm down: 40% over 8 minutes
That's a pretty good workout, you'd do maybe two of them a week. They don't feel super difficult at first, but near the end you'll start to notice it. Do a three or four weeks of those and see how it goes.
Warm up is 10 - 15min. I don't think its warm up issues as it happens in the second interval as well. I should clarify its not "easy" but I expected it to get harder.
I haven't done any FTP tests yet as I am still trying to sort out some technical issues with trainer/app and I am also doubting the trainer is consistent across the entire interval.
What should a 2x20min interval session feel like? the following is my data for a training session I did today. I sort of expect the interval to get harder but the HR graph is pretty much how it felt long and consistent. I am not sure my legs have the strength to go up to the next gear and maintain it ...
How to know when to increase ? just try it and if I blow up, go back down?
160bpm is pretty low for me, i can easily maintain 170-175 for running over an hour if not higher. I don't really have much cycling data of this sort as up until recently riding has just been about riding, not training.
note: the power comes from a virtual power calculation from Elite app, not a real powermeter.