Feedback on Rdies - New PT User
I have done all the podcasts and read the wikis. I can definitely see improvement in my cycling since I have been using the PT. My FTP is somewhere in the 220-230 watts range. I would love some more specific feedback and coaching from the team. Here are some of my recent rides.
http://tpks.ws/op0h - April 26th SPR tri (1st race of the season)
http://tpks.ws/uU6x - May 10th Sat ride
http://tpks.ws/2TJo - May 13th Tue ride
http://tpks.ws/ezum - May 15th Thurs ride
Thanks so much!!!!
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Comments
Tom,
Probably better if you asked what questions you have so that the Team can you their specific input.
Since I am new, I am still in that I don't know what I don't know phase, so I am not even sure which questions I should be asking.
Here are the improvements I have noticed since I started cycling with power:
1. Significantly reduced my tendency to hammer out the hills. I still see spikes but learning to manage my gearing better and the pressure I apply to the pedals.
2. This has also improved my ability to ride steady over longer rides. I used to see a huge taper after -25 miles; now I can maintain for 30-40+ miles with no issue.
3. I have also increased my cadence - still in the low to mid 80s but much improved.
4. Fine tuned my long ride nutrition, which has also helped.
5. My average speed has increased from 13-15 to 17 on my city rides
Here are my questions based on my limited knowledge/experience:
1. My VI seems high even when I feel like I am closely monitoring my watts - any thoughts or coaching on what I need to do specifically to improve in that area?
2. Any feedback on IF as well?
3. Any other coaching based on those experienced with power would be great as well.
Thanks!
Thomas...I'll try to help:
1. VI. Basically, a number that tells you (retrospectively, after you download your data) how "smoothly" you applied power. It's a comparison of avg power to normalized power. If you were to ride on a flat tarmac with no wind and just sit on 200watts your VI should be 1.0. The more hills you have to ride or wind you have to fight, the more difficult it becomes to keep that number 1.0. For your workouts (ie...not race day or RR rides), you really don't care about VI. You are going to work hard up the hills to build strength or do 15-20min Z4 intervals, or 25min Z3 intervals, etc., with short rests in-between. Your VI is going to be high (1.15-1.2 for example)....that's OK. That's what it supposed to be. On race day, though, you want to try to stay close to 1.0. Every time you power up a climb you are "burning matches" that you will need to keep running on your pace later. When you coast down a hill, you are giving up free speed, and this alters your VI too (works both ways....up and down hills). So, I ignore VI except on race day and RR (most important is to look at your VI from RR rides to see how evenly you are applying power). On race day, it's done by the time you're able to look at that data!
As for hills and VI...at some point it becomes an issue of watts/kg! For those of us with not enough watts and too many kilos, some hills are just too steep to maintain reasonable momentum/forward progress (ie....I'm gonna fall if I go any dang slower to keep the watts in range here!). On those hills, you have no choice but to get up the hill! You ride up it slowly or walk up it! It is what it is. The steeper the hill, the lower your FTP, the more you weigh, the harder it is to stay at your goal watts on that hill. The point is to not ride up a 4% grade of 2miles length at your FTP or at 0.9IF on race day just because you can. You CAN do that (others around you WILL be doing it and you will feel like you should too), but you should NOT do that. They are either "doing it wrong" or they are superfast/uberbiker dude and are not out of their goal IF while blowing by you going up that climb. Either way, you do not want to follow them by standing up and mashing up that hill or cranking up your watts to get over that hill. That is burning a match...it will come back to haunt you later. Try to keep your watts at your goal target watts (there is specific guidance in the wiki as to which climbs you can bump up your effort a LITTLE on climbs) all the way over the top and stay on your watts down the backside. For example, I just did my first full two days ago, and yo-yo'd with the same folks up and down hills all stinkin' day. They'd pass me going up, I'd catch/pass them on the descent. They'd pass me on the next climb...rinse and repeat...over and over the rollers of the north IMTX bike course....you get the picture. Difference is, my VI was 1.05 (not great but decent "smoothness" and they will have higher VI's by definition (they burned matches that I saved). I ultimately passed those folks when it flattened out later too!
2. IF. Basically, it's your normalized power divided by your FTP. It is "percent effort of my ride, based on 100% = FTP". This is how you pick your "goal watts" for RR and race day. There's a ton of stuff in the wiki regarding what IF you should choose based on your estimate time to finish the bike distance. This is where your RR helps you figure out what IF to choose for race day. The one variable that you have to "choose" first, is "how long will it take me to ride this course". Granted, "how long" depends on "how hard" I push! Recommend you look at the bike section of the wiki and the standard/usual goal IF for your distance (I'm only familiar with HIM (which is typically in the 0.8-0.85 range) and IM (typically 0.68-0.74 range). You make your best guess at an IF that will allow you to run strong off the bike and try it out (RR ride with brick run afterwards, or you can do the race distance and then look at the bike power target chart to make sure the TSS points you accumulated (TSS = (IF)2 x hours x 100) keep you in the green zone on the chart).
For your RR rides and race day, recommend you set one field to 3s NP for your constant/near instantaneous feedback on your effort. Another important field (IMO) is lap NP. Set your computer to autolap every 5miles or 15mins or 30mins (I prefer 5 miles or 15mins) and try to make that number your goal watts. The better you keep your 3s NP on "your number" all the time, the closer your 5mile lap NP will be to "your number". My goal watts for IMTX was154. I tried to keep 3s NP on 154....but it's bouncing around that number constantly. But, I'm watching my lap NP too, which is resetting every 5 miles. So, I have instant feedback, and a sort of "rolling" feedback every 15-20mins on how well I'm doing at racing at the right effort. I also have a field set for IF....but it is for the entire ride. After a couple of hours, it becomes very hard to change that number much. I'm using it to try to teach myself to complete rides at my goal IF....I tend to finish 2-3% below my target....despite all that number chasing I'm doing constantly and every 20mins. Definitely not a ninja yet!
I'm not sure I helped you any....you may already know all that and have different questions? You said you've watched the podcasts on power and read the wiki, but have you downloaded and watched the training and racing with power webinar series (it's ~4hrs in all, broken into 3 parts (3 or 4....can't remember for sure))? It is a "must" if you haven't done it. It's not free, but is worth the $....I'd be lost without starting with that.
Analyzing your rides (asking members to do that is what I mean) is really going to be more useful for your RR rides or a race file. Training rides are gonna look messy, with crazy VI and watt spikes, etc. That's actually sort of what you're doing to yourself on purpose. RR rides and race day are about trying to make it look "boring" basically.....flat power, flat HR, steady cadence.....speed will be very variable.....which is why many of us don't even have mph on our computer displays.....it doesn't matter, doesn't guide your decision on how hard to ride. Watts and HR matter. Speed is what it is.
Hope that helps some.
Will look for your RR data Thomas.