Zone consistency-outdoor riding with power

trigirl1203

 As many of you know, I'm new to power this year-I've been training all OS on the trainer with power and established my zones.  But, I went outdoors for the first time yesterday and have a whole new set of questions.  

How do you stay consistent in your zones during workouts?  Where I live, I'm forced to hit many stoplights, hills, etc...and I was having a lot of trouble staying in my zones.  And downhill-forget it.  My FTP is roughly 185 and downhill I was going 30+ MPH but my watts were around 30.  What gives? I was trying to get my watts as high as I could, but they would drop so low downhill that it killed my average.  

And wind-how does that factor in?  

I'm sure Ill have more-but this is what I can remember now.  Thanks for any advice.

 

Steven Ford

It gets better with more riding outdoors, as far as riding downhill it is hard to maintain wattage when going over a certain speed.

Into the wind should not make a difference as you just ride your watts.

 

Over time you will get a feel for how you are doing then confirm it by looking down at PM.

 

 

kimmydct

I noticed the same thing in my first outdoor rides but then realized I was still hitting my zones/intensity factors even though my average power was lower. I have since updated my Joule dashboard to show NP and IF in addition to AP. The hard efforts uphill balance out the downhills which NP takes into account and AP doesn't.

tim cronk

Lauren , What I do and I think alot of EN members do is just try to accumulate the time in each zone specified in each workout. In other words if the plan says 2x20 ftp that is 40 minutes at ftp. Let the roads, lights etc dictate the intervals, just start and stop them when convenient , stay safe and dont force them, and if they end up as 1x15 2x10 3x5 that still adds up to 40 minutes. Try to find road that suit your needs . Obviously much easier to do intervals without going downhill but dont worry at all about the wind. Power keeps you honest. Tim,

Michele Cellai

Don't forget that going outside can also change your FTP. Inside is very controlled. Outside is variable. Most folks have different numbers, mine are only about 10 watts off. Intervals are difficult with lights and hills. I try to use every uphill as an FTP interval. It takes practice to ride steady in any zone.

Peter Greagg

As everyone has said, it takes practice to get to know how to ride steady(ish) with power, so don't sweat it too much and just get in the work as Tim says.
Because I spend so much time in Zone 3, I know what that feels like from all that practice — so I just look occasionally at the LYC to confirm.
Because I am about to do my 1st 140.6, my stready Z2 rides have been a bit more challenging to stay in that zone through lack of familiarity.
FWIW, I always do my Z4 intervals on my Computrainer on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and then I do the rest of that WO on my TT bike outside.

Al Truscott

Like everyone's said, let the terrain and traffic dictate the length of the intervals. I usually try to plan my ride so a downhill is my "recovery" phase. I live in an area of many 300' hills, about 1-2 miles long. A flat between hills + the hill takes about 15-25 minutes (depending on effort level), and the downhill is about 2-4 minutes, then hit the flat again for another interval. And road choice is critical. I don't mind driving if need be to avoid a sea of traffic lights/stop signs.

Finding a place to do VO2 intervals is actually pretty easy for me. I just go to a segment of hill on an isolated road (say in a park) and ride up it for 2.5 minutes 4-6 times, coasting back down and circling at the bottom. The FTP intervals are hardest to plan for, as I'm wroking hard enogh so it's hard to pay attention to traffic, road hazards, etc. Peter's strategy of doing those on the trainer is one I follow for a weekly one hour FTP workout thruout the year. 

The Saturday FTP + rides I do with a group, which rides in a more rural area. Strength in numbers (when it comes to fighting the traffic).

trigirl1203

Thank you for all of your responses. I'll post additional questions after my next ride, I'm sure

bkcomiskey

Lauren: In terms of wind, if it is tail wind or head wind it is very much like what the others said in terms of hills. For the strong crosswinds we often get, there is an increased effort to keep the bike straight and you might not be able to hit your power targets due to the extra work.

salzmadh

To all-
These are some good suggestions. I posted a similar question without seeing this one in the general training section. I have had very similar problems training in downtown chicago with not only stoplights but people and pedestrian traffic.
-I really like Tim's idea of increasing the flexibility to get the total amount of FTP time into a work out and dividing based on the location of required stops. seems like that will provide a lot more freedom to accomplish the task given limitations of terrain.
-I agree with Steven - I rode half my ride yesterday into a pretty strong headwind, it was actually much easier to nail my watts and hold them consistently (much, much easier than trying to ride and hold a certain speed as I had done previously without a powermeter)
-I think that the concept of learning the "feel" of the zone will be useful. right now, i too am spending a lot of time watching the power on my garmin.
-until garmin finishes the firmware update ont he 500, I'm stuck using lap power as a surrogate of trying to hit the mark.
-also - re your first comment about watts dropping at a certain point when going downhill-much of what i have found/read on wiki etc seems to suggest that once you hit a certain speed and are going downhill spinning through your last year that it is "ok" to take a break as your ROI to maintain any element of power output at that point will be significantly higher for any incremental gain.
I'll keep my eye on this thread too to see what other ideas come up
-David