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Handling workout %'s as power changes
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I had a thought, and didn't understand how this works. I see all these plans and workouts for power based training using %'s.

When should the %'s start being broken down by your starting power? Instead of 10% over or 20% over for everyone.

A hypothetical: a year ago you were at 200w and would do power intervals at 110%, or 220w. A 20w difference. But, now you get to 300w. That's 30w. And some monster dude at 400w gets to do 40w over.

So, the amount you're going over is increasing as your power goes up.

Is this a product of how you "tickle" the physiology to change? I know the % is usually written as some kind of suggested range, but that range can often vary pretty far.

What gives? Upper % range with lower power and lower % range with higher power as your starting point, perhaps?
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Re: Handling workout %'s as power changes [burnthesheep] [ In reply to ]
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It is still the same increase relatively though. I am not sure that whether my increase is 10,20,30 watts bigger than someone else's matters at all if we are still each doing 110% of FTP.

My foray into time trialling at the age of 60
https://sixtyplustimetrialling.wordpress.com/
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Re: Handling workout %'s as power changes [burnthesheep] [ In reply to ]
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burnthesheep wrote:

I know the % is usually written as some kind of suggested range, but that range can often vary pretty far.
What gives? Upper % range with lower power and lower % range with higher power as your starting point, perhaps?

Training is an art of improving performance: increasing fitness\efficiency\power\speed\endurance\form\strength etc. power zones are only one of many tools to accomplish this, yet many people decided to use only single tool to train because it is convenient.
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Re: Handling workout %'s as power changes [Johnnybike] [ In reply to ]
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Johnnybike wrote:
It is still the same increase relatively though. I am not sure that whether my increase is 10,20,30 watts bigger than someone else's matters at all if we are still each doing 110% of FTP.

Exactly. That's kind of my question. Does the physiology work that way? As in you have to up the work by a % to get a change. Like making enough lactic to make yourself deal with.

I can't see any stroke/vol stuff in the heart keeping pace that way as the power jumps are bigger. That's my misunderstanding.

Maybe a good article/read would be handy for my question. I just want to understand better what I'm trying to do.
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Re: Handling workout %'s as power changes [burnthesheep] [ In reply to ]
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Making it a fixed wattage difference would make no more sense than a fixed percentage. In fact it would make less.
Training zones and percentages are not a precise science. An adaptation that is properly stimulated at 220W is not missed at 219W.
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