 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
A friend has kindly loaned me his Stages PM for a while to try out and I'm wondering what I should look at doing with it to get some use from it. I've used virtual power in TrainerRoad for a while so I know what I can do in terms of indoor training, but am just wondering what other stuff I should try with it to convince me whether or not to get one in the future. I only have a month to play with it though.
So far I have done a few rides with it and I did an FTP test on TR with it this evening. I have a TrainingPeaks account (that I'm also new to) and Strava Premium.
I'm not expecting it to magically make me faster or anything, but an idea of how to make some sense of the data to see if it's something I can make use of would be cool. Any suggestions?
Or should I just ride around for a month with a little window on my Garmin that says 'YOU ARE WEAK'?
Strap it on to your hip, hop in the sack with Mrs (or the other Mr) Stevious and yell "POWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" while doing the duvet disco. Then, post the output results on her.
Give it back before its too late.
Do some hard steady road rides to get a feel for real world watts on the road. Measure HR and cadence as well. Then look at equivalent indoor watts on TR and Stages and match one against the other. Then when you have given it back, you'll be able to mentally calibrate your road rides against TR with some degree of accuracy.
I have a Stages, it reads higher than the TR (between two resistances). But my training is done on the road, mainly with HR and cadence (I ride fixed so cadence approximates power). I never ride on RPE or "feel". If I try, I always go too hard.
Thanks TiRed - good to have some more constructive comments 🙂
yer just get out and ride to get a feel for your numbers, do some sprints, climb some hills,
then work out
5 second
1 minute
5 minute
FTP (95% of 20 minute)
are the critical figures, you can then plug them into the power profile spreadsheet
http://home.trainingpeaks.com/blog/article/power-profiling
don't get hung up on virtual v real, what you want is consistent data to train to,
Do a Power Profile test to highlight your weaknesses - short distance power, medium or long and the train your limiters. Then you will go faster. Done.
Truck pull?
good to have some more constructive comments
Especially given my unintentionally good last sentence typo! 😀
dirtyrider - that power profile thing looks just the job. Bookmarked for later.
CFH - I don't want you to think that I didn't value your input. In light of the clarification mentioned in your second post I offer this response: lol.
I'd do a 'blind' test. Cover up all the new data you have and do a time trail ride, preferably over consistent terrain or on the turbo. Ride like you would usually do making a big effort to make the ride a constant RPE (relative perceived effort) from beginning to end. If you are like most riders when you get home and analyse your numbers your will see your actual power output drop away even though your RPE stayed constant throughout.
One of the biggest things that riding with a power meter taught me when I first started was to take it easy at the start for increased average power output over the whole ride/race.
Interesting idea, convert. I *think* I'm ok at pacing but this would be a good way to tell if I am or not.