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

Yep, lots of reading (and then asking skinny/others with knowledge when I inevitably get stuck).

My intention is to use the turbo twice a week to do some focussed workouts.

Ideally I'd like to race some of the Cyclocross season, so I'm aiming for an increase in both endurance and threshold power.

Therefore (and please tell me if this is idiotic) I was planning on 2x20 (Eichorn) on Tuesday nights and 1min/130%FTP intervals (Bird) on Thursdays.

What say you LFGSS hive mind?

For cross I would focus on short hard intervals and recovering from them quickly.

I don't really see the need for 2 x 20s, let alone for cross. Do lots of short over/unders to get good at dealing with lactic.

trying this at the moment http://www.bicycling.com/training/fitness/race-ready-six-hours-week (for cross/silly fixie crits)

For cross I would focus on short hard intervals and recovering from them quickly.

This is Bird - intervals are at 130% of FTP:

Do that but without the recovery

I don't really see the need for 2 x 20s, let alone for cross. Do lots of short over/unders to get good at dealing with lactic.

Last time I raced 'cross I averaged 300 watts for the hour, right now I would (according to my recent test) only be able to deliver 260 for that period, so I wanted to drive muscular endurance with some longer sweet spot intervals, increasing my FTP.

5 x 2 min 10 x 1 min 10 x 0.5 min

8 x 15sec/45sec recovery, 6 x 1 minute/2 minute, 3 x 5 minute/10 minute.

Just do some cross races

And do hill climb sprint repeats. Running.

But honestly if you suck as much as I did you'd get more benefit from spending the time learning to dismount and remount properly

Hah! I never put a foot down, always track stand - discovered today that that means I absolutely suck balls when it comes to clipping into a pedal. Either pedal.

That aside, I do want to do some turbo work to develop power and endurance - I'm curious to see what (if any!) gains i can make with a bit of application.

5 x 2 min 10 x 1 min 10 x 0.5 min

At what power?

110-120% FTP, 130-150%FTP, all out

i thought 2x20s were supposed to be done at FTP?

just getting back into the swing of training at the moment so copied @Dammit workout by doing 2x20 @90% too easy in my opinion, but that might be because i'm using my best 25 power as my FTP rather than a predicted one from a CP20 test...

i do think i go too easy in the recovery as well...

slacker

Recovery should be easy, that's why it's recovery.

I'm with you on short efforts for cross.

However the recovery thing depends. You can average over the workout the effort of the race (inc recovery). Or go for total rest and blast the intervals way above ftp.

Both are are good but it's worth deciding which your going for. They do different things.

(I think you know ^this... but it should be said).

To get fit for cross then specificity is best. Get out on your cross bike and do those seated accelerations, the high speed dismounts, remounts and high intensity efforts, I.e. race pace, for 10 mins.

To get fit for cross then specificity is best. Get out on your cross
bike and do those seated accelerations, the high speed dismounts,
remounts and high intensity efforts, I.e. race pace, for 10 mins.

... ALL while the turbo is balanced on the log pile....

I know I say this all the time. But 40/20s for lactic management. Basically they are short over/unders, which have been tuned through a fair amount of research.

40s at 120%- legs start to burn but HR doesn't get too high.
20s at min - heart recovers completely. But not legs.

Im not 100% sure of the theory behind this. But it's very much based on balancing HR and lactic clearing.

I do sets of 10.
Preferably 2 or 3

I also fear low muscular endurance.

For which I do 2 or 3 times 20 at sweetspot.

I was planning on doing that and 40/20s over the winter.

But that 300 watts would've been bursts of high power, followed by short periods of recovery, rather than a time trial effort where the output remained consistent. You need that aerobic base, but once the race season starts most of your training should aim to replicate the efforts of a race.

Anyway, there's a race at Herne Hill a week on Sunday. In at the deep end.

Better get my bike built next week then and be as Rolf as possible in trying to not come last.

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What time in the week day do people do turbo?

I've been doing it before work for months and found it ok, but been really struggling recently. Prefer to get it out of the way and also quite like elevating my metabolism for the day, rather than it happening through the night. I'm awake for around 45 minutes before i train and have a small breakfast (coffee and banana or similar) then eat properly after.

I just find it quite hard to summon the motivation to train after work, but am 90% sure I'd feel stronger and perform better.

Is there any science (or bro-science) behind when in the day is optimum for a workout?

Train at the same time you'd race is probably sensible. A lot of people report lower power in the morning, jury is out as to whether you get a lower training load.