I’ve built a low-volume training plan in Plan Builder (I have one endurance gravel race and 4 marathon MTB races for 2022). In the fall, I’m supplementing the TR workouts with outdoor rides, and would like to keep the outdoor rides at tempo/endurance efforts.
Is there a location in the TR software that tells me what my current tempo target power level/range is? Or, what my current endurance power level/range is? I can see my PLs for each of the energy systems, but I’m looking for something that says “Your current tempo range is YYY-ZZZ watts.”
I have heart rate monitors and power meters on my bikes, so I can keep to a specific level or range on them. I just wanted to use TR’s assessment of my current fitness to set the power level for those kinds of rides…
Yes, look at any completed inside or outside workout. Scroll down until you see Power Zones. For a power based training platform, it is well hidden
For HR zones just keep in mind what Dr. Coggan said in the “Power Training Zones for Cycling” article posted above:
“Relating or translating the specified power levels to corresponding heart rate (HR) ranges or zones is somewhat difficult, due to the inherent variability of HR as well as individual differences in the power-HR relationship (even when referenced to threshold power).”
For example my Coggan endurance HR zone is too low, so I’ve individualized mine and found that Friel HR zones for endurance and tempo to be a better starting point.
The only other thing worth mentioning is that the Ramp Test may or may not give you a good estimate of FTP, and a good estimate of FTP is what you want to set power levels for endurance, tempo, sweet spot, and threshold workouts.
A whole other concern, agreed. So the zone ranges are confidence intervals on top of a hidden confidence interval (what your FTP actually is, Va what the ramp test estimates it at).
I haven’t had really high peak power relative to my threefold power in the past, so the rates for me might be different…
I’d go with the Ramp Test estimates of FTP and zones. If possible cross check against HR if you have good power-to-HR data in different zones (“triangulation”). Longer tests can be revealing of the relative accuracy of the ramp test estimates, even something as simple as how you feel after doing 10-20 minutes at threshold.
