I finally decided to not use auto pause anymore on my Garmin. For the known reasons (e.g. inflated wattage and speed).
The problem is that i now have more trouble pacing and interpreting my power metrics.
with auto pause: I mostly relied on avg lap power, while keeping an eye on 3s power. When i stopped, e.g. for a traffic light or train, i knew that this gave me an “unfair” break from the interval. I usually extended the interval then (by feel - maybe 2 minutes more for 1 min stop) and kept the original power target. This was of course highly unscientific but made sure i rode evenly and didn’t surge. In general, it felt like an okay-ish approach.
without auto pause: When i need to stop, the average power drops. After starting again, the metric is useless. I could try to chase the original target but this would bring me in a different zone, often it’s impossible. So the actual avg is somewhere below the target (depending on random duration of stops) - and it’s also not easy to determine later if i did well or not.
So how do you deal with this? Any advice is appreciated.
I use auto-pause, if i get stopped by something and i feel it’s significant, I’ll take some of the recovery time away between intervals.
Otherwise, i continue on with my interval without caring. Longer intervals are arbitrary lengths of time and shorter intervals i can’t watch power anyway.
The only time i don’t use auto-pause is while racing.
I don’t give in to the purists view on average power. It creates more problems than it solves.
I agree with this. Tried auto-pause and it just caused a lot more headache and interpretation problems that it was worth.
Just leave it on, and use both NP and AP to gauge your efforts in training. I’ve found it’s quite reliable in most situations.
Garmin still stores your stoppage time as well and you can easily see it in Strava so you can mentally adjust with a grain of salt if you had a big break in there for whatever reason (like a flat change.)
if I have to stop or something interferes with my ability to push target watts for an interval, I just hit lap, wait until the interference is gone and then start a new lap and continue where I left off and continue to use lap power as the metric. I then put a note in the file indicating that I did so.
without auto pause: When i need to stop, the average power drops. After starting again, the metric is useless.
Your getting this backwards, with auto pause the average power metric is useless. Without auto pause you’re getting the real data. As for how to deal with it, you either accept that your average power will be off (because it is) or you find other routes/train indoors when specific intervals intensities are needed.
If you are in the middle of a 20 min interval, get stopped for a light and don’t pause your device, you’ll have a difficult time getting back into the right effort if you rely on average lap power to guide your effort.
You’ll spend the rest of the time over your prescribed effort.
I don’t really care what my average power for the entire ride is. While doing intervals, i only care about the interval time. The rest is what it is. I never compare one ride to another using average power unless it’s a race where i don’t have auto pause turned on.
Of course you could just hit the lap button after the stop but a lot of people use pre-programmed intervals to guide their workout.
The only time I do true interval work on the road is when I know the course and adjust my intervals to fit the course. There’s really only one place local to me to go uninterrupted for 20 minutes so that’s where I go occasionally. The indoor trainer is the place for dedicated interval work, the great outdoors is for enjoying a hard bike ride (in TT position) and sharpening your bike handling skills. Lately I’ve been doing a couple of really strenuous workouts a week indoors and using my normal 39 mile town loop for easier rides.
I’m fortunate enough to live next to a park where I can easily do 20 min intervals.
I also do them in a velodrome, I haven’t ridden an indoor trainer since February but I do agree that it’s a good place to do pure/dedicated interval work.