I bought a powermeter....now what?

[ColinJ]

If you're finding it easy, then surely by definition it is easy. And vice versa

I suppose it depends on how you look at it... whether 'easy' applies to the effort or the terrain.

Actually, I am probably mixing up 'ride' and 'route'! You can make a hard route easy by using low gears and riding slowly, or make an easy route feel hard by riding it at TT speed.

 

[Eric Olthwaite]

If you're finding it easy, then surely by definition it is easy. And vice versa

I've always wondered about this with respect to cardiac drift.

If for the same speed and terrain I am 10bpm higher at the end of a long ride, I've often read that I'm not working any harder, that's just cardiac drift. But the way I see it is, I am working harder, because it takes more effort to go at 16mph after 3 hours than after 30 minutes.

 

[Tooth]

So i have a Road Bike For about 2-3 years but i Just recently started to ride more often.
I bought a wahoo kickr v5 and rode about 2000km since mid november. The FTP Test on zwift showed 350w but the Maximum i was able to Producer for an real hour was about 320w.

I installed the wahoo Fitness App an added the powermeters, but i havent Seen my poweroutput. Maybe i have to configure something in the App to Display also Power.

I might be able to race with that stats, but i just like to have the data and compare them over time. For me its about motivation and be able to pace some of my efforts.

 

[rivers]

Heart rate and perceived exertion are more variable than power. I sometimes make my coffee a little too strong in the mornings, which will increase my heart rate, as will temperature and hormone fluctuations. With perceived exertion, any number of things can skew how I'm feeling and how much power I'm putting out. Now, if I'm tired that's not such a big deal as I'll dial it back. But if I'm feeling good, it has the opposite effect. Last week, I was so happy to be commuting to work that I basically ended up in sweet spot the entire ride and didn't even realise it. And my heart rate was mostly in zone 2/3.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I’m sure they are very good for ‘serious’ cyclists but not for Pootlers like me, especially considering the cost.

Don’t think the power metres can measure below 5W.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Heart rate and perceived exertion are more variable than power. I sometimes make my coffee a little too strong in the mornings, which will increase my heart rate, as will temperature and hormone fluctuations. With perceived exertion, any number of things can skew how I'm feeling and how much power I'm putting out. Now, if I'm tired that's not such a big deal as I'll dial it back. But if I'm feeling good, it has the opposite effect. Last week, I was so happy to be commuting to work that I basically ended up in sweet spot the entire ride and didn't even realise it. And my heart rate was mostly in zone 2/3.

But are more reliable at indicating how hard you are working.

Power only indicates how much external power you are generating on the bike. RPE and HR indicate the internal load. Now you might say, yeah but there is a lag in HR. Indeed there is. But if you are working so hard your Heart is struggling to catch up then clearly you aren’t keeping it easy. RPE though is bang on the money. If you can’t tell from RPE how hard you are working then you’ve lost touch with feel and your body.

You ended up in sweet spot which is not easy 😹

 

[mattobrien]

But are more reliable at indicating how hard you are working.

Power only indicates how much external power you are generating on the bike. RPE and HR indicate the internal load. Now you might say, yeah but there is a lag in HR. Indeed there is. But if you are working so hard your Heart is struggling to catch up then clearly you aren’t keeping it easy. RPE though is bang on the money. If you can’t tell from RPE how hard you are working then you’ve lost touch with feel and your body.

You ended up in sweet spot which is not easy 😹

I’m going to disagree on RPE, my session today was 2x25mins at 93%. The first block was pretty comfortable, the second half of the second interval toughened up. My RPE was higher in the second interval than the first, as was my HR. Power was stable through both blocks. Had I been working to HR, then I’d have eased off in the second interval, similarly if I had been working on RPE.
I train everyday and haven’t lost touch with feel and my body, it just feels tougher the longer I go and the more intervals I do. Tiredness kicks in, but needs to be overcome in order to complete the work.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I’m going to disagree on RPE, my session today was 2x25mins at 93%. The first block was pretty comfortable, the second half of the second interval toughened up. My RPE was higher in the second interval than the first, as was my HR. Power was stable through both blocks. Had I been working to HR, then I’d have eased off in the second interval, similarly if I had been working on RPE.
I train everyday and haven’t lost touch with feel and my body, it just feels tougher the longer I go and the more intervals I do. Tiredness kicks in, but needs to be overcome in order to complete the work.

That is not easy though is it? Or do you think it is?

 

[mattobrien]

That is not easy though is it? Or do you think it is?

It’s a moderate session. Not particularly challenging as it‘s sweet spot, not top end Z4, Z5 or more. The RPE increased with duration as power remained the same.

The point I wanted to make was that my training would be severely impinged if I worked to RPE instead of power. RPE varies with duration at the same power. Watts are watts, if you need to meet a power number then you meet the number

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

RPE is like HR, totally variable on a day to day basis and subject to external factors. A watt never changes.

 

[cougie uk]

RPE is like HR, totally variable on a day to day basis and subject to external factors. A watt never changes.

So you'd need the HRM too. If you just pay attention to the power and ignore the elevated HR it's easy to overtrain.

Has the OP come back yet ?

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

So you'd need the HRM too. If you just pay attention to the power and ignore the elevated HR it's easy to overtrain.

Has the OP come back yet ?

Not necessary really. HR is a response to demand, but one that can be affected by anything from lack of sleep to caffeine intake. A steady power based effort can result in very different HR's in the same session and on different days.

Providing you're riding to the prescribed interval and periodically retesting via FTP test/Ramp test and keeping your data current, you're more likely to overtrain just winging it.

 

[cougie uk]

Must admit my HR seems pretty steady. Decreasing for the same power with training. Never noticed any effect from caffeine or sleep.

Power is great for training but HRM is so cheap there's no reason not to have it.

 

[si_c]

My HR variability for sleep deprivation is similar to that for effort. Rarely rises above 165 even when doing high power intervals or an hour long 80% effort.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

It’s a moderate session. Not particularly challenging as it‘s sweet spot, not top end Z4, Z5 or more. The RPE increased with duration as power remained the same.

The point I wanted to make was that my training would be severely impinged if I worked to RPE instead of power. RPE varies with duration at the same power. Watts are watts, if you need to meet a power number then you meet the number

We were talking about riding easy. Not moderate, not hard, but easy. For those RPE and HR is more than suitable. Even for hard, RPE is very reliable. RPE is RPE.

You don’t need to meet a power number. Go as hard as you can whilst completing the intervals. Some days you’ll feel better and put out more watts, some days not as good, less watts.