Friday (not) Training

Hi

Yes, lots to do today so decided to take a rest day from training, I reckon this is 100% allowed at this time of year, as long as it doesn't become a habit! ;-)

Anyway, Lorena and I got lots of things done which was good and I've taken what I think is significant step forwards with planning my training, by planning my workouts in a different way using the ERG+ package I bought from TrainingPeaks.

Basically I'm going to move towards planning all my ergotrainer work using the ERG+ package and basing all my training files on FTP percentages rather than using notepad to write .erg files using absolute wattages.

There are many benefits to doing things this way, the main ones as far as I am concerned are:

1) The facility to use preconfigured workout "shapes" to make my ergotrainer workouts more "road relevant" and interesting to ride.

2) The ability to convert road generated power files (from say a chain gang ride) into .erg files which will allow me to "re-ride" these outdoor rides on the VeloTron during the Winter when the weather is poor.

3) The ability to "uprate" or "downrate" by various percentages the .erg files generated from outdoor rides making them harder or easier in a controlled and predetermined way.

4) The ability to "uprate" or "downrate" by various percentages, and with just a couple of mouse clicks, the .erg files I use for my structured training sessions to add training stress in a controlled way and over a period of time.

5) The facility, as required, to scale my workouts and share them with others. This is simply achieved by now basing ALL my .erg file loads on percentages of FTP (relative rather than absolute wattages) and by simply knowing the FTP and weight of another rider I can "scale" any workout for that rider. Very clever this!

6) Complete ease of .erg file manipulation when my FTP changes. Simply alter the FTP setting and, because the workouts are based on FTP percentages, the .erg file loads are automatically up or down-rated. No more fiddly editing.

7) Automatic`calculation of TSS and IF of a .erg file, as you produce it. The numbers which will be generated by the workout are known in advance as an aid to forward planning.

There is lots more but the points above are my main reasons for going down this route. The first thing for me to do was to produce a small spreadsheet which calculates wattages for 1-200% of FTP which I'm going, initially anyway, to use to plan my workouts until I properly get myself into this new way of thinking, I'm sure all the percentages will soon become second nature :-)

It's been an interesting day in one way and another!

ATL: 70.4 CTL: 84.7 TSB: +8.0