Sunday Training

Hi

VeloTron

Well, a day of great excitement indeed, the day I'd planned to use the first ErgVideo in anger. I had not intended to go out on the road today and planned to ride the motor pacing ErgVideo and see how it went. I had heard from the programme developer that the motor pacing session was hard and as this was my first try at this type of training, a road simulation, I elected to ride it with an FTP value of 90% of what I think is my current value rather than 100%, this proved to be a wise move!

I found watching the screen to be an excellent incentive and it was only at the end of the session that I realised that I hadn't turned any music on, the time also passed more quickly that usual for this sort of session.

I found the whole experience extremely realistic and I have no doubt whatsoever that this replicates the rigours of road riding extremely accurately. In addition to the fact that the programme worked flawlessly the figures predicted in advance of the session by the system in terms of TSS, NP, IF, VI etc. were very accurate and I would use them in the future with complete confidence when planning workouts or training sessions and plans.

This was indeed a tough session, it lasted just over 83 minutes and my NP for that period was 266W, predicted by the system to be 268W. The whole session was hard and just manageable, I am sure as I do more of these my ability to handle the required pace/load/effort changes will improve which is exactly my reasoning behind starting to use this system for some of my training. It is both interesting and encouraging to look at the power (yellow) and heart rate (red) distribution graphs below. The graphs are very different from a 3D ride I did last weekend where the workload is rider determined rather that system determined. It is human nature to back off when it is uncomfortable but an ErgVideo or ergotrainer session doesn't allow this, you just grind to a halt!



Last weekend's 3D ride had very little in L5 and L6 in power terms, today's ErgVideo ride was a very different experience.

So, much more to come from this method of training but my first experience has been extremely positive and I am completely sold on the system. Another huge benefit is that this effectively takes care of my birthday and Christmas presents for quite a while to come!

To review this workout: click here.

ATL: 59.1 CTL: 58.1 TSB: 6.3

[Uploaded 14/02/2010 17:07:43]