Is there a purpose to the slight variation throughout the 20 minute interval? I know for me personally, having a non-smart trainer, I tried to vary the power as close as I could but ended up just maintaining the same power and ignoring the 10-15 watt change.
I know for me I had to turn-off the interval notifications for the first time ever as it was a bit frustrating to have the end of an “interval” but maintain the same power.
For me, the rolling intervals make the time go by a little bit faster. Doesn’t really change the stress of the interval, and on a fluid trainer it’s kind of meaningless. Erg mode makes a bit of difference here, obviously.
I think they are put in there to mimic the conditions of riding a bike outside. Riding outside you are never holding constant power. As the pack surges or if you hit a slight incline or a gust of wind hits you. You need to make small changes in your power output to keep your speed constant. This helps you train your muscles to be able to make those small adjustments while you are riding in an environment those above mentioned factors are not present.
I love Eclipse. When I was new to TR, it annoyed me as well.
Then I used the little sections to make the 20min main interval to go faster.
After a while, the main advantage I saw was in fine control of my power. Yes there is variance in the power. But trying to hold as pinpoint accurate average power as possible has had very good benefits. Namely pacing and being good at holding a very low VI in TT’s and bike legs of triathlons.
Ah ha - I wonder if I change the power smoothing a smidge if it would help. I never thought of how it could help with pacing, I was always under the impression that if I could hold power within 5 watts or so it was “good enough”.
If you’re within 5 watts in either direction, you’re effectively perfect. I think this is a great use case for a bit of power smoothing; makes it easier to see your 5-10 second average, and tune out all the little spikes that naturally occur.
