Hitting and maintaining target power

Training
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Hello. I’m new to training and TT since the last week of January. Up until recently, my training has been quite easy in particular various sweet spot and endurance workouts. I was starting to think my FTP was too low. I did my first over/under interval training last weekend. It was tough and I had difficulty getting to the right target power and maintaining it.

I’m riding a Kona Dew PhD with a 34/50t chainring and 11-32t 10spd cassette. My trainer, Tacx Satori, isn’t that smart. I’ve managed cadence and power through gears. I have a manual resistance lever on the home trainer, but haven’t used it. I’m not really sure when I should. I have read somewhere in the forum to stay in the smaller chain ring, but maybe that was for ERG models.

At first I was overshooting target power and by the time I got to it the interval was over. I started to anticipate the Overs, but couldn’t maintain Target. During yesterday’s workout (Tallac), I couldn’t stay at target. Is there something I should be doing with my setup such as moving to the larger chainring or with the manual resistance lever?

Any pointers are welcome. Thanks!

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Here’s yesterday’s workout.

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  • Correct, this gearing recommendation does not apply to your Tacx Satori trainer.

  • You need to shift gears on the bike to hit your higher and lower power targets, along with any desired cadence you would like to use.

In your case, you can also use the manual resistance control on the trainer. This may be necessary depending on the power targets you are hitting and the ability of the resistance unit and your bike gearing to reach those targets.

It may take some experimentation to find the right mix of bike shifting and resistance unit setting that works best for your needs.

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