Coach has prescribed the following for tomorrow:
After 15’ w/u do HIM Intervals 4 X 15’ in Zone 3 with 5’ recoveries. My power range for Zone 3 is 190-227 watts.
In the past, I’ve been too aggressive and set the Erg file at 220 watts for the full 15-20 mins and I’ve totally blown up after the first int.
Should I structure the 15’ ints like this:
5’ = 200
5’ = 205
5’ = 210
Or, does it really matter and should I just set it at 210 watts or something and go?
The minutiae are inconsequential. Just get on the bike and train.
I’ve always just done them all at the same power. If they’re too hard then I reduce the power of all the intervals.
However, if you wanted to increase power during the interval, you could do something like:
0.00 0
0.50 135
0.50 135
10.00 200
10.00 200
25.00 210
25.00 135
After warming up for 10 min, the 15 min interval starts at 200W and ends at 210W. The CS software will gradually ramp from 200 to 210W over the 15 mins. No need to create your own steps and it will do it in much finer gradations.
Hi jackbauer.
I gotta ask this one to you…not being nasty, but I just feel like somebody has to step up and ask it: “how come your coach can’t answer this question?”. I recall you threatening to fire one coach at one time, is this the same one or a new one? Now, maybe he/she has answered but you want another answer from someone else? It could just be for extra entertainment, I suppose.
My take on your question is this: what means your “zone 3?” IF it is a zone definition that is supposed to align with the Coggan zones in CyclingPeaks as referenced to an FTP estimate or test, then I would say that doing 4x15 of them in THAT definition of zone 3 should be really quite manageable. If they are too hard, I would conclude your estimate between 190-227 as THIS zone 3 is way way too high. If you are fried after one, something is amiss.
If your Zone 3 aligns actually with the Zone 4 of the CP Coggan zones, it would definitely be an extremely hard workout, and I’d expect you to be unhappy somewhere during the third interval, and really chuffed during the fourth.
Is something askew with the Zone 3 estimate here that we need to know before answering? Are you calibrating the CT correctly?
I’m trying to be helpful, not negative.
Paul