I’m currently going through the Hunter Allen + ErgVideo + Computrainer training plan. I did the Explosive Power Sweet Spot Interval ride for the first time. It starts you off at 250% of FTP 3x before you go into a sweet spot interval. I found myself barely getting movement by the third. I think this is the point, but what I found was that I was pulling my Computrainer up off of the ground.
Is this what I should expect? Any other cues to think about?
. It starts you off at** 250% of FTP 3x** before you go into a sweet spot interval.
Did you really mean 25% of FTP?
no, its 3 x 250% of FTP for 20 seconds at the start of the interval
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For me at least 250% of my FTP would only be about 635 Watts. Doable pretty easily for 20 seconds.
I get it for the first two, but die at the very end of the third. What I notice is that I constantly pull my trainer off of the floor. Wondering if that was normal or I should make an effort not to pull up, not sure.
Hard to say. For what it’s worth though I do have to sprint a bit differently on the trainer than I would outside. You’ve got to focus on making a very smooth but powerful stroke instead of standing and mashing like a lunatic like you could outside.
will just have to think of that the next time the workout is scheduled. thanks for sharing.
on the ergometer trainers it seems to help if you get a good head of steam and high wheel speed coming into an interval like that, as you lose momentum quickly. If you can’t make it work, just scale the 250 back a bit, sometimes it’s just harder to hit the higher wattage.
…what I found was that I was pulling my Computrainer up off of the ground.
You sound like you’re not in control. Stay seated and try and get as close to 250 as you can without jumping around on the bike. You’ll get there eventually. In my opinion 150-200% of FTP in a controlled manner is worth more than 250% flying around the place. The session doesn’t look designed to be sprint focused (it’s looks like a high power interval as a primer). Can also try using a higher cadence (100+) going into the hard interval.
I’ll try it out next time. I start out at 100 to 105+ going in. Will also try to stay seated next time.
The Computrainer doesn’t work well with really low cadences at high watts. So you need to maintain a cadence over 50 rpms on high wattage workouts. Maybe that was your problem.
When it was happening, I was in the 80’s to 90’s, but was standing. I’ll have to try to main it seated next time.
Good point to bring up, i have a powerbeam pro and any time i go over 500w i have to get into a bigger gear and higher cadence to spin the flywheel at an higher rpm. Using this method i can stay seated up to 700w or so before its get’s pretty hard. Lets say i am doing 30 second repeats at 550w i will slowly increased the wattage up to 550 all the while increasing the gearing and cadence, then once the trainer hits 550 i start the interval. If i were to just quickly go from 150 to 550 its would be very hard to turn the cranks over, just the way these trainers work.
The further above threshold you go, the greater the variety of ability relative to threshold there will be between people, and this is amplified somewhat on a computer dyno/electro braked device like the CT.
IMO, workouts that include efforts >> threshold need those efforts to be adjusted to suit the individual’s capabilities.
I would have a very hard time doing 2.5 times my FTP for 20 seconds once let alone three times.
I can usually get the first two, its the third I have issues with. I’m toast by the end. Why I’m doing it and training.
Will have to wind up before and will try to stay seated. Just feels natural to stand up when the effort raises that much, just keeping jumping up.