Biking outside

sepviva

 So, now that I'm in half-ironman training, the bike sessions are getting longer.  I'm planning on doing the APB rides outside, but how do I do the Saturday rides outdoors?  I'm worried about hitting all the zones and getting the intervals right when I have to deal with stop lights, traffic, etc.  Should I just continue to do these rides on the trainer?  If so, I've been using my road bike on the trainer.  Should I switch to the tribike indoors?

GMAN 19030

By all means get out and ride. I don't follow EN's long ride protocol at all so I'll let someone who does give you some better feedback.

mgraffeo

Yes to outside. Think of the written workout as a certain amount of total time at Z4 that you want to get done, and then the rest of the time at Z3. If a stop light pauses you for 20 seconds, don't worry about it. If a major intersection has you still for 90 seconds, 5 minutes into a 20 minute interval, add an extra 60-90 seconds on at the end.

No need to be super-detailed about hitting the workout exactly down to the last detail. Follow the spirit of it.

Peter Greagg

I just try and get the work done (eg 55 mins @ Z4, and try and hit Z3 for as mutch of the rest of the time that I can).

morpheus

I second what Mike and Peter said.

I'll add this. I start respecting the RPE factor on my rolling hills. It's kind of like race practice. I know that I want to hold Xwatts for 20 min, hill's coming up, control the watts while climbing, hold the watts while cresting, I know that I can't hold the watts going down, but I increase the RPE on the down and on the flats. Just like in our races...control the ups without spiking or burning matches, then do the best to keep the watts up when rolling down, no resting just cuz I was climbing for 5-7-whatever minutes.

William Jenks

Michelle -

Yes, switch to the TT bike and do it outdoors. Give yourself at least a few weeks before you take the apparent FTP too seriously. Both changes affect the FTP. Most people have lower FTP on the TT Bike, but (holding the bike constant) people have mixed results on indoor vs. outdoor. As a result you should just go out and for the first ~3 weeks just consider your indoor Road Bike FTP a good guess, but not worry too much if you can't quite match it (or exceed it, for that matter). That period will let you adjust, and then there will be an FTP test somewhere in the plan pretty soon and you can nail down the number at that point.

On the hills thing... you have a couple choices.... (a) you can try to flatten out the hills and ride it very steady like you will try to do on race day; (b) you can go ahead and flail yourself going uphill. If you read thoroughly Rich's writing on this topic, I think the take-away is that you do need a certain number of practice runs flattening out the hills until you have mastered that skill. Once you are good at it, however, it's something you can turn on and off. If you are confident about your ability to do that, then you can take the 10', 12', 14' etc a bit qualitatively and ride the "spirit" of the ride. The Saturday ride is where you can go out and murdalize yourself if you want, followed by doing the Sunday ABP ride more steady in that race rehearsal mode. AFter all, it's that ABP power that is going to be what you do on race day.

Regarding stoplights, I have no good solution, other than to suggest that if you CAN drive 10-15 to get to a starting point that avoids them, it's something to think about.

tuckerm

William is spot on. Crush yourself on the hills! Use Sunday to ride steady. If you must stop during an interval, just add the time at the end. Or try to plan routes where you can get a full interval in without stopping.