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Training to power zones

Robert Tierney
over 4 years ago

Hi all,

I have just started being coached.

The coach wanted me to ride in Zone 1 (135-165)  with Zone 3/4 on hills (200-250) as part of my first session.

I have my Garmin set up with Avg power, power, power zones etc.

I tried to ride as instructed today by following "avg power" - which ended up being 164 (ie within my range) - but when I analyzed the results I was only in Zone 1 for 30% of my ride.

How can I ensure I stick to Zone 1 as much as possible?

If I had to ride at a particular cadence - this would be very clear using the cadence or avg cadence fields - as cadence is more controllable.

Incidentally I also tried to follow "power" and "power zones" fields but they jumped around quite a lot.

Thanks for any advice.

Rob

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I suggest you discuss things with your coach. Sometimes it might be advisable to maximize your time in zone (use the workout screen for that), sometimes it might be better to stay in zone with regards to lap power (usually short intervals) or lap normalized power (usually longer intervals). 

    For outdoor workouts my coach tends to focus on lap power / lap normalized power while indoor workouts (maybe even with ERG mode) allow for a duper controlled workout. 

    For many people focusing on lap normalized power results in a metabolic demand roughly similar to the one you would experience if you were riding constantly with that power, but your mileage may vary. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to DerDembo

    Thanks for the reply. I talked to him in the meantime and he suggested to aim for avg power or avg normalized power to be in the required zone - anything else would be too difficult/wieldy to monitor.

    Again - thanks!

    Rob

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I think most people use 3s Power rather than (instantaneous) Power as smoothing out the jumpiness of the measurement, while still being responsive to actual changes in power.

    And Average Power is the average for the whole ride, so it's not going to be a useful guide as to what you should be holding over specific terrain. I'd suggest looking at 30s Power, or Lap Power (especially if you press the Lap button at the start of each climb) to look at the consistency of holding target power over varied terrain.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to mcalista

    Thank you for your reply and suggestion.